… with the usual massive windowless Brutalist suspects; of course, Boston’s City Hall Plaza and its evil twin, DC’s FBI building, continue to dominate the rankings.
While scrolling through images, UD discovered MIT’s Simmons Hall – a dorm – and she was excited to see that this project
… wait — THIS project
is a noteworthy part of the country’s emergent Mortar and Pistol school of architecture, where (in this case) the walls are pockmarked by bullets, and there are generous platforms for sniper nests.
More broadly, M&P design incorporates guns of all kinds into its symbolic forms.
August 21st, 2025 at 10:25AM
Yikes. The exterior is indeed rather uglier than the exterior of the Yale Art and Architecture building, which is quite an accomplishment However one can argue that the Yale building is more poorly suited for its intended role— the students who occupied it ‘redesigned’ the interior into an art-slum.
August 21st, 2025 at 10:34AM
MattF: Plenty of images of that beauty here.
https://www.archdaily.com/123171/yale-art-architecture-building-gwathmey-siegel-associates-architects
August 21st, 2025 at 10:40AM
I know that building because I was a Yale grad student in the mid-70s. At least the breathtaking Louis Kahn British art museum was nearby, so there was a sort of architectural balance.
August 21st, 2025 at 11:46AM
Well, I just looked at a bunch of photos of the Kahn. Er…
August 21st, 2025 at 11:48AM
It is lovely inside.
August 21st, 2025 at 12:15PM
I should make that statement stronger. It is seriously breathtaking, but you need to see it in person.
August 21st, 2025 at 12:18PM
I’ll get up there at some point and take a look.