This group of news links from the New York Times is about “architecture” but it’s really about infrastructure. That word is usually used to mean roads and sewers but it really applies as well to all of the publicly-owned buildings that make our society function. Firehouses, libraries, and purely functional buildings like salt sheds are as much a part of the fabric of the city as roads.
It’s nice to see attention being lavished on functional buildings that aren’t iconic projects like the World Trade Center PATH station. There’s no reason that these buildings shouldn’t be well designed. The early 1900s library in the picture above wasn’t iconic but it was designed to be a place of quiet study that prioritized aesthetics and utility over first-cost economy. If we, as a society, can’t manage that minimum level of pride in our built environment, then we really don’t have the right to complain about any bad ideas put forward by private builders.
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