Re: Re: Dublin skyline

@PDLL wrote:

I am surprised to hear you argue about style being secondary to function and utility

I just think any style is OK if doesn’t disturb the function of the structure. Buildings must interact with humans, so if the buildings are so ugly or intimidating or isolating that they make people depressed, then they have become dysfunctional. Any style that has this effect through tediously repeated artless patterns (Ballyfermot), or inhuman scale (La Defense) has reduced the utility of its buildings. Conversely, a style that delights people adds to the utility of the buildings.

If you look at the style of an individual building in a terraced street in a medieval city like Florence, many are merely blank rendered and painted facade walls with holes cut for doors and windows. They are unnoticed and inoffensive. Most importantly, they don’t harm what is a very effective spatial planning arrangement.

The concept of a skyline is American and based on the fact that their cities have little else going for them apart from height. As you drive to Columbus, Ohio, for instance, you see some tall buildings on the horizon. The centre consists of a grid of motorways with a good proportion of the remaining space given over to surface and multi-storey carparking.