May 2015 | Eyesore

Commentary on architectural blunders in monthly serial.

Behold the new Government Center Transit (“T”) stop in Boston, Mass., with the 1966-vintage “Brutalist” City Hall looming balefully in the background. What you see here is the artist’s computer rendering. See below for a photograph of the actual thing under construction.

Thanks to Architecture blogger David Brussat for illuminating the failures of this humdinger:

— 32 feet tall, will be covered with pigeon droppings in a week
— No way to clean except w/ fork lift
— Poorly detailed – Norman Foster on the cheap
— Looks like KMart does Renzo Piano

I’d add that the actual entrance pavilion (if that’s what it is) looks remarkably like the New York Thruway rest stops of yesteryear — homage to a 1957 Soviet cafeteria.