I love such buildings, preserving what’s left of the past and making it useful again.
I visited a town last week where they demolished medieval to XVIII-century buildings around market square to put some boring, soulless boxes… and then painted these monsters in pastels. That’s a crime. I thought that they had to, as that region saw some heavy fighting near the end of WWII, but no, apparently it was all spared by the Soviets and then they decided to get rid of it anyway… the crimes of communism are not just the obvious ones (it happened in the 60-ties and 70-ties).
All I ask of developments is that they restore, reuse or repurpose what exists and that whatever new is added is ‘good neighbour’ architecture, that is, it reflects scale, materials, and façade details of what remains or else is of an aesthetic that adds delight.
But I agree, there’s no excuse for demolishing the legacy of the past and replacing it with something of no discernable merit or beauty. That’s just deliberate, ignorant vandalism.
Minutiae
I love such buildings, preserving what’s left of the past and making it useful again.
I visited a town last week where they demolished medieval to XVIII-century buildings around market square to put some boring, soulless boxes… and then painted these monsters in pastels. That’s a crime. I thought that they had to, as that region saw some heavy fighting near the end of WWII, but no, apparently it was all spared by the Soviets and then they decided to get rid of it anyway… the crimes of communism are not just the obvious ones (it happened in the 60-ties and 70-ties).
LikeLiked by 1 person
All I ask of developments is that they restore, reuse or repurpose what exists and that whatever new is added is ‘good neighbour’ architecture, that is, it reflects scale, materials, and façade details of what remains or else is of an aesthetic that adds delight.
But I agree, there’s no excuse for demolishing the legacy of the past and replacing it with something of no discernable merit or beauty. That’s just deliberate, ignorant vandalism.
LikeLiked by 1 person