It's a question of priorities. Newton has over a d...

2008-06-02T02:29:00.000-04:00

It's a question of priorities. Newton has over a dozen elementary and middle schools that are desperately in need of rehab, renovation, or replacement. We have crumbling fire stations. We have high student/teacher ratios.

And, it's a question of what constitutes great architecture. Aesthetically, the Gund design is mediocre at best. (FAIA or not.) But, programatically, it fails the architect's obligation to meet the requirements within the budget. It's got a zig-zag design, single-loaded corridors, and other inefficiencies that don't reflect a rigorous attempt to make the best of what the city can afford.

Additionally, Newton is looking to the Commonwealth to foot $56 million of the cost of the school. If Newton wants to build an architectural monument it should foot the bill itself, not have a hand out when other communities are struggling to maintain and build passable buildings.

Worst of all, and not Gund's fault, the new school replaces a 35-year-old building that, with a little creativity, could have been renovated into a landmark of environmentally sensitive adaptive re-use. Instead, with little care for the embedded energy in the old building, we're going to tear it down and replace it and in the process contribute some more construction-based global warming. More enlightened architects than Gund are seizing on the duty of the architect to enlighten and lead the way to more sustainable practices.

Yes, some less then sophisticated consumers of public architecture have seized on Gund as a symbol of the waste of Newton North and would have preferred a building without a name-brand architect. I am among a group that has no objection to hiring a top-flight architect and aspiring to great design. But, great has many measures and Gund hasn't delivered on any of them.

So, don't assume that it's mass contempt for architecture. The loudest critics are architects and some folks who are relatively knowledgeable about architecture.

Churches understand, or at least understood, that ...

2008-05-17T06:21:00.000-04:00

Churches understand, or at least understood, that architecture inspires in a way that can elevate faith and financial support for an institution. We often know, as individuals, when a building does that for us, yet are reluctant as a society to put a pricetag on it. We are fortunate to have the money and the intellect to do these things, yet too often deem them as not worthwhile.

Comments on n1303k: Why Newton North High School Matters

It's a question of priorities. Newton has over a d...

Churches understand, or at least understood, that ...