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Ferdinand Building's Dutch roots
By adamg on Fri, 01/02/2015 - 9:15am
The Globe interviews the Dutch architect who designed the new Bolling muncipal building nearing completion in Dudley Square.
Municipal buildings are notoriously unpleasant and user-unfriendly - mazes of confusing corridors, lookalike cubicles, dim light, and salvaged furniture. But this one is different.
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Comments
Dutch???
So there are no Boston, Mass, or US based architects to do this? Interesting - we encourage contractors to use local labor - but the city doesn't hire local professionals whom I understand could really use the work?
Then again - if you read the papers, you'd think Elkus/Manfredi was the only architect in this town and they probably don't do municipal projects - just cookie cutter office and residential (exception is the planned building over Neiman's - which sadly will probably never be economically feasible)
Does look like a nice design though. Hope it works for the employees.
Local architect of record
When an out of town architect is used for design there is usually a local architect of record who does most of the on-the-ground work. In this case it is Sasaki out of Watertown. And given how fantastic the Bolling Building I am personally thrilled the design competition was won by Mechanoo.
Municipal buildings are
Not until late 20th Century architects got hold of designing them. The problem isn't municipal buildings - the problem is architecture as a profession.
I'll agree with that
Somerville City Hall, Cambridge City Hall, Cambridge City Hall Annex, and Arlington Town Hall are all well laid-out and reasonably pleasant to visit. (These are the only local municipal buildings I have visited at all frequently.)
What a crazy thought
Designing buildings for their users' needs, instead of the trendiest architectural fads and fetishes!
The Bolling looks like the Transportation Building
From the images seen from a quick Google search of the Bolling Municipal Building the structure looks no different or user friendly then other cold corporate structures. To commission a non Bostonian/American architect for this particular tax payer funded politician's vanity project points to a need to pass legislation to hire local. Otherwise the building is a terrific example of "institutional corruption".
"Institutional corruption is manifest when there is a systemic and strategic influence which is legal, or even currently ethical, that undermines the institution’s effectiveness by diverting it from its purpose or weakening its ability to achieve its purpose, including, to the extent relevant to its purpose, weakening either the public’s trust in that institution or the institution’s inherent trustworthiness." - from "Institutional Corruption, Defined" by Lawrence Lessig.