Replacing Old Modern with New Antique at rduwtf.com

Reader JZ pointed us to this discussion at Urban Planet, about the new Wake County Justice Center. We love the Garland Jones Building and really don’t understand why this project can’t wrap around the existing building. We’ve made jokes about tearing down buildings that have the distinct appearance of the past era in which they were built and replacing them with postmodern buildings that look like the past. Sadly, that seems to be the case with this project: a bland postmodern building that could have been built in any city, in any year since 1990. Similar arguments have been made about the Garland Jones building; it is an unoriginal example of modernism, designed by an out-of-state architect and similar to bank buildings across the USA at the time of construction. But it currently presents a nice stylistic element in the fabric of Raleigh’s downtown and the quality of the construction materials is beyond what would be specified in a similar building today. There is an effort in the design of modern urbanist buildings to make a large building seem like a collection multiple buildings, to break-up the monumental feeling of a building that occupies an entire block. Why can’t they DO THAT instead of simulating it?

Thanks for the tip JZ!

4 Responses to “Replacing Old Modern with New Antique”

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1 Administrator Feb 18th, 2008 at 9:47 am

JZ wrote a nice homage to this building over at NewRaleigh.com : http://www.newraleigh.com/articles/archive/everything-comes-at-a-price-a-living-eulogy/
2 A Loud Arcane Toad Feb 24th, 2008 at 7:49 pm

Meanwhile, our County Manager, who should at least be talking more in terms of pragmatism, instead turns to abrupt denial.
3 JZ Feb 24th, 2008 at 10:40 pm

I’d love to see Mr. Cooke explicate his reasoning as to why a 48 year old structure could not be considered historic. There were entire neighborhoods in the 1970s being declared historic with structures built in the 1910s and 1920s considered to be contributing.

Phil Stout’s response to citizen inquiry about why the GJ building must be torn down: http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/Wake-Justice-Center-t15710.html&st=140&p=916021

As the thread continues, one sees that there are many who have observed the County’s lack of ablility in turning over all the stones before making a decision. Seems to indicate a bit of prejudice…..an etymological pun of sorts……revealing the limitations of the County Commision, the Manager and staff alike……
4 JZ Mar 9th, 2008 at 1:32 pm

Another good link discussing the values of preservation of Modern buildngs:

http://www.aia.org/aiarchitect/thisweek08/0307/0307t_fixler.cfm

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Replacing Old Modern with New Antique

4 Responses to “Replacing Old Modern with New Antique”

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