I suppose it's fitting that the office interiors on this thing are as oppressive as the street facade. For all the hype we've endured, this project is a giant missed opportunity.
I stopped by last weekend to shoot some pics of CalTrans. I walked up the the exterior construction fence, and held my camera over fence top to shoot photos of what is called the "Eli Broad Plaza" - the security guard next sitting nearby told me to stop, that "they don't want you taking pictures of the building" and if I persisted, he would call the police, even though I was standing on a public sidewalk. I didnt feel like making a point of it, so walked across the street to get my pictures, and eventually the rent-a-cop drove off, and I walked back to where I was originally. But the whole experience seemed like an apt metaphor for the building.
now that we've seen pictures of the interior, i have to say that its a tough competition between the interior and exterior as to which is more boring, morose and downright awful
its a common misconception that government buildings have to be this way and there is not much scope to do anything else...though i do not have an example in america, i can quote many from India, where many architects made very interesting government office structures. One should think that we could do a bit better here in america
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I suppose it's fitting that the office interiors on this thing are as oppressive as the street facade. For all the hype we've endured, this project is a giant missed opportunity.
Thanks for the photos, though.
I stopped by last weekend to shoot some pics of CalTrans. I walked up the the exterior construction fence, and held my camera over fence top to shoot photos of what is called the "Eli Broad Plaza" - the security guard next sitting nearby told me to stop, that "they don't want you taking pictures of the building" and if I persisted, he would call the police, even though I was standing on a public sidewalk. I didnt feel like making a point of it, so walked across the street to get my pictures, and eventually the rent-a-cop drove off, and I walked back to where I was originally. But the whole experience seemed like an apt metaphor for the building.
now that we've seen pictures of the interior, i have to say that its a tough competition between the interior and exterior as to which is more boring, morose and downright awful
its a common misconception that government buildings have to be this way and there is not much scope to do anything else...though i do not have an example in america, i can quote many from India, where many architects made very interesting government office structures. One should think that we could do a bit better here in america
so much for FormZ architecture
some light reading / reporting on CalTrans from Pasadena Star News
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