Umass Library was once the tallest in the world
I suppose this is one ubiquitous Internet top ten listical you will not see UMass Office of News & Media Relations extensively hyping.
Southwest Towers (a 6th was planned but never materialized) built circa 1963 for high density housing
Towers look prettier at night
But hey, if you have traversed the UMass campus much at all you certainly have developed a sense of humor about some of the "brutalist" cold war East German architecture.
Fine Arts Center goes long rather than up
I'm reminded of the Barnes Air National Guard A-10 warthog jets that used to routinely fly over Amherst: exceedingly functional, but ever so ugly.
So ugly they are kinda cute.
A-10 warthog, brtttttt, doing its thing
Of course it could be worse: Hampshire College made #3!
Hampshire College: With that counter-culture 1960s and 70s style of architecture
Safe bet Amherst College will never make this list
I always considered the shoddily-built, Soviet/DDR-styled UM campus to be an appropriate reflection of ab institution that so reflects those collapsed Communist states.
ReplyDeleteI have long said that to truly understand UMass, you need to merely think of how the Soviet Union operated and how things were done there...
It sure is ugly. And once a property is ugly, unless you tear down all the Solviet style buildings, not much you can do to pretty it. That fine arts building takes the cake. Supposed to look something like a piano. Looks like a piano that fell off the truck during delivery. Well, considering this is really a 4 year community college, it's not bad really.
ReplyDeleteSo, whomever wrote the article doesn't like mid-century modern architecture.
ReplyDeleteWhatever
The haters are up early today. It must suck to live in an area that you hate. Come on men, time to move, if you can't stand the environment. Me thinks you folks live to be miserable.
ReplyDeleteOnce again it's proven true. If someone disagrees, they're branded a hater. So much for discourse.
DeleteThe FAC is not only ugly as sin, it's a very dysfunctional building.
ReplyDelete"The FAC is not only ugly as sin, it's a very dysfunctional building."
ReplyDeleteAnd isn't it funny that a dysfunctional building resides in a dysfunctional town.
I am always stunned when commentators in the blue-est town in the blue-est state get their knickers in a twist about architecture that looks "different" from their imaginary "normal".
ReplyDeleteWe encourage the next generation to be different, to embrace diversity, to accept all, and to pursue dreams. Then we retreat to our neo-colonial homes, where we write scathing reviews of Boltowood Place, One Kendrick Place, and the FAC because they are "monstrosities".
Come on people, really? Sign up for ArtHist 118, Intro to Architecture, there's still room. You'll learn that the FAC has nothing to with a piano.
--longtime fan of the FAC
Fear not, nothing in the town of Amherst stands out as much of any architectural marvel. From Boltwood to Kendrick to the cement pour that is the University, it's all consistent - shit.
ReplyDeleteWhere do all these Nit-Wits come from. No wonder Amherst is so f...ed up. Get a hold of some common sense. I know your educated, its not required.
ReplyDeleteTo be different?
ReplyDeleteIn oh, so fascist Amherst where being different in anything other than truly superficial characteristics (i.e. skin color, gender (actual or perceived) & sexual orientation) is -- at best -- considered indisputable evidence of mental illness?
At best mental illness and more likely (notwithstanding the legal niceties of specific details in the rationale, let alone specification of exactly what mental illness the person supposedly even has) prima facia evidence that the individual is a clear and present danger to public safety...
As a certified teacher, I'd be required to file a "51A Report" with DCF if I knew of a parent "endangering" a child in Amherst by encouraging the child "to be different" -- I'd likely observe that mandate in the manner I observed a similar UM protocol relative to mental health but I digress....
You mean certified UNEMPLOYED teacher.
ReplyDeleteAlmost as ugly and practical as a Prius!
ReplyDeleteI find the this assessment of UMass to be not very accurate. Looking at the brutalism on campus...Tobin and Herter are the only ones without some otherwise distinctive feature and Herter benefits from its surroundings being pleasant to the point its not offensive. Whitmore is a building that's actually quite nice being worked into the hillside and it's got a lovely courtyard in the center. The campus center is a building that's extremely unique and one most campus visitors regard as a wonderful facility inside and out. The Fine Arts Center is could be vastly improved simply by softening the Hagis Mall facing area with trees or the return of the reflecting pools.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise...the campus has some truly wonderful buildings. From the classic New England dorms in Northeast and Central to the library, the new bio facilities and Old Chapel and the experiment stations...the campus serves as a grand tour of American architecture of the past 150 years. Sometimes thats good, sometimes not so good. But I think there's value in the varied architecture found on the UMass campus and some truly unique and spectacular buildings. As the campus landscape develops to help these less appealing facilities look better (and as Bartlett is demolished within the next few years...) I think people will realize the beauty held on the outside of these facilities.
Who cares if the joint Looks better? Does it Teach better? Do the students learn better? Is there diversity of thought, or more of the same old liberal close-mindedness to ideas other than their own.
DeleteIt's not just the old buildings that are ugly. Some of the new ones are pretty awful too. ISB and the Studio Arts buildings are okay, but ILC is ghastly to look at. Too many conflicting elements, no cohesion whatsoever. And the new basketball training facility is bland and disappointing.
ReplyDeleteILC is great - totally appropriate for a research/learning engineering building. But, I do agree with you on the Champions Center. Almost as bland as Kendrick Place.
ReplyDeleteI think the Integrated Learning Center (ILC) looks great, very futuristic but I have no idea of its purpose. I see it is LEED gold certified which is excellent. Looks to be a lot of passive solar?
ReplyDeleteThe ISB is bland but unoffensive, it does look like Kendrick. The Studio Arts building is cool looking.
In general I like the newer campus buildings better than the "Herter" look. But if you want to see an ugly building check out Memorial Hall, hideously grotesque inside and out.
To the commenter from 9:28...
ReplyDeleteUMass is world class institution. for some reason people in Amherst don't always see that...but its high and rising by many metrics.
As far as the new buildings on the campus...The life sciences facility and the Commonwealth Honors College are 2 facilities that not only UMass and Amherst can and should be proud of but really the entire state as well. They are stunning. The ILC went with the a N Pleasant facade that was heavy on brick I assume to better fit in with the buildings across the street. But the campus side is truly spectacular. ISB is the same way...has a wonderful rear facade facing the life science center. Studio Arts, the marching band building are well done. As far as the Champion Center...it definitely put function over form but the glass along the fields and the street are rewarding. I believe that facility relied heavily on outside contributions so they probably didn't have much to play with for a grand building, nice as it is.
UMass has 3 other major new construction projects (2 of which are major additions and renovations to historic landmark buildings) plus the renovation of Old Chapel happening. The design of these buildings looks amazing, especially South College. The design building will be an architectural gem. https://www.umass.edu/facilities/current-construction
Let me see if I understand this: When you get Communist College done, you will have a thousand MORE students than in Southwest, living on a much SMALLER piece of land?
ReplyDeleteNow how might that become problematic?
And having run up the credit card since Lombardi's "New Dirt", UMass is now looking at some serious debt. Really serious debt, in an economy where students don't necessarily have money to give you.
And undergrads are rapidly learning that the UM Diploma has absolutely no employment value.
So UMass is a world class institution. As in Greece?
UMass is "relocating" the beautiful West Experiment Station near Goessmann Hall, basically by tearing it down and rebuilding a replica nearby. They've already cut down about a dozen healthy century-old trees nearby, (rather ironically) claiming on signs posted to the trees last month that the trees were threatened by the emerald Ash borer. Yet another cynical example of an institution that doest care for treasures: it's almost like the way ISIS "relocated" the Palmyra temple.
ReplyDelete