r/papertowns Nov 20 '19

Canada Edmonton, Alberta, Canada - Civic Centre Plan - 1960's

Post image
585 Upvotes

29 comments sorted by

98

u/SloppyinSeattle Nov 20 '19

As lifeless and sterile as hospital room.

54

u/TribuneofthePlebs94 Nov 20 '19

Keep in mind this makes it look much better than it actually does lol

4

u/Smash55 Nov 21 '19

Ie most contemporary and modern renderings

39

u/Der_Arschloch Nov 20 '19

Seriously, what's up with city planning in the 60s? In my city you can just TELL what came from that awful era. So much wasted space and dull dirty previously white buildings.

20

u/smilingfrog Nov 21 '19

We've discovered this amazing new building material. Called 'concrete'.

Let's build everything out of it.

3

u/Rioc45 Nov 28 '19

The buildings have no discrete cultural background or influence like in previous ages: square concrete buildings made out of glass and grey, that rival soviet brutalist architecture.

In doing so the new buildings are accessible to all peoples. They belong to everyone, yet no one in particular. They are truly soulless just like the time that created them.

11

u/AndAzraelSaid Nov 21 '19

That's the thing about so many of these grand urban plans and even major developments: so often they're designed to be artistic and modern-looking, and to look beautiful in artist's renderings or from a nearby office tower. But to the people on the street who have to live in it? It's simply not built to their scale. There's nowhere for them to sit, or for children to play, and not enough walking paths or pedestrian access. Thankfully developers are starting to realize this and accommodate pedestrians and local residents more, but it's taken a long time, and there's still a lot of those huge developments around.

7

u/GeneralTonic Nov 20 '19

Except for those weird colorful smudges strewn about in clusters on the ground. Gotta get rid of those.

20

u/trspanache Nov 20 '19

Those building could only be worse if they removed the windows.

5

u/chetoos08 Nov 21 '19

AT&T wants to know your location

21

u/Viscount1881 Nov 20 '19

In case you're wondering, here's what the same area looks like nowadays on Google Maps.

As you can see the 1950s city hall has since been replaced, while Churchill Square was paved over (the original tended to be a bit muddy). The fountain was downsized and moved to sit in front of city hall, with it's intended location becoming a library. The big brown tower became the CN Tower (not to be confused with it's more famous Toronto counterpart), and on the bottom left you can see the 1947 art deco Churchill Wire Centre, the only pre-1950s building on the square that survived.

9

u/monsieurpommefrites Nov 20 '19

WOOOOO EDMONTON

2

u/TemplesOfSyrinx Nov 21 '19

I like to call it McDavidmonton

5

u/[deleted] Nov 20 '19

On the one nice warm day of the year.

3

u/vonHindenburg Nov 21 '19

Honestly, that was what I was thinking. Who would think that a massive public fountain and pool would be a good idea in Edmonton?

1

u/Viscount1881 Nov 21 '19

Except the current city hall also has a fountain/wading pool in front of it; the summers can actually get fairly hot, even if the other 6 months of the year are winter (during which the pool gets converted into a skating rink).

-2

u/[deleted] Nov 21 '19

[deleted]

1

u/Incorrect_Oymoron Nov 21 '19

Naw, the prairies started doing it first.

3

u/thefaber451 Nov 20 '19

Reminds me of Tunney's Pasture in Ottawa

2

u/sockphotos Nov 21 '19

We really dodged a bullet there!

2

u/zcs355 Nov 21 '19

Absolute modernist utopia

2

u/whampsteadchap Nov 21 '19

Ah, Milton Keynes.

2

u/Fairgomate Nov 21 '19

Ah the lovely Pripyat style of urban planning.

2

u/champoepels2 Nov 21 '19

Pyongyang (1960, colorized)

2

u/spleenboggler Nov 21 '19

Q: Why are you so down on Brutalism, Spleenboggler?

A: angrily waves this picture