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Apr 17, 2013
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Comments
What I take away whenever I visit this library is that it's a beautiful building with some really interesting spaces.
But then, I'm not looking to inject "political correctness" and self-hate into everything.
What a sad man.
I do not follow this last bit at all. What is all "heart of darkness" about books, computers, and librarians?
Also, if there is any institution that exists to be a neutral social space, it's the library.
nope. just rubbery old man gums.
I don't suppose you might have found one single nice thing to say about the building should it have been built by, say, anyone else?
...and a slave ship this far up north? are you really dumb enough to think that any large wooden ship in the world is related to slavery? If anything my first guess would have been about Russian and Mexican traders who owned this coast after the Native American and before US Americans, but that's just me, guess I studied a little bit of PNW history and not enough about the Slave trade that so obviously happened this far north...
This article was so fucking stupid, second only to the cloud article from last year.
Charles,
The Beacon Hill Library is a Rorschach ink blot test.
Thanks for playing.
Clearly it is a work of art that rivals anything the Greeks ever built!
The Beacon Hill Library (and, while we're talking about Cap Hill libraries, that one, too) is a hideous space that pretends to be About Something. No. It's just ugly.
I agree on all points. Nice work.
It's a fucking library with a cool wood-framed roof structure.
Now go back to your offic at Microsoft Red West.
Charles is projecting his own feelings onto it.
I guess Chris Rock was right, books are like kryptonite to "black people" (well, that's not the words he used, but you know what he used….).
By the way chuckles, the only time I've seen immigrants being hassled in Seattle it was blacks teens making Asian eyes and calling an old Korean shop keeper a chink at a store in the rainier Valley. Ask any immigrant in Seattle who they fear more, whites or blacks.
I dislike the building too, but this article said nothing of substance about space or functionality, and the issues of form were being parsed at about an 8th grade level.
Art crit, of which architectural crit is an offshoot, is a pretty (self) serious discipline. Maybe dabblers are not the best bet, as I'm sure there are dozens of qualified writers in the field who would be happy to contribute for little to no pay, and produce a superior and more readable piece.
Skinny pants and boxers, right?
There's the slightly tilted, slightly sideways brim in the front. And that pointy fishing-tackle thing sticking up from it is the Sunday-hat flair.
Not that I hate the library by any means. I actually like it quite a bit - especially compared to what Beacon Hill had before - but the amount the city spends on community meetings is ridiculous, in that it only reflects the values of that peculiar subset of people who choose to attend those sorts of meetings. And as we all know, whoever talks the loudest, and for the longest amount of time, gets their way at those meetings.
And I do wonder about the wisdom of building a collection of quirky, eccentric buildings for a system that has perpetual budget woes. For instance, we were told that the old Central Library was "too far gone" because of deferred maintenance and changed building codes, yet it was only about forty years old. How will these buildings stand that test of time?
The unfortunate down side is that Mudede's content is completely full of cliches based on social theories that cannot be proven in the most rudimentary rational or logical framework, whose applications have been completely disastrous from a historical perspective, and which have been rejected by the vast majority of people who are claimed to be the heirs and beneficiaries of such ideology by those promulgating such faith-based materialist garbage. He hides these in a web of self evident proclamations that, God forbid, people ought to be treated like human beings, which is not a particularly radical concept.
None the less, the reader is tricked into accepting the underlying ideological hogwash if he/she sympathizes with basic humanistic values; that is, a reader who wants to be seduced by the more-radical-than-thou box 'o chocolates.
Let me guess, I bet you find SIFF "culturally important" and the discourse on KUOW "scintillating", don't you?
That is all I care to know after reading this piece.
The Beacon Hill library makes me feel like I am the victim of a fictional racial incident involving a hat and buckets of beer. I also make connections between the library and Marxism and stuff.
I have to look at the library every day because I work on Capitol Hill and live on south Beacon Hill, just past the golf area.
I listen to KOMO mostly, I can’t stand 60’s beat jazz, so get off my fucking lawn.
Interestingly, you will probably die of stupidity long before I die of old age.
But I do like interesting architecture, and despise "political correctness" like Mudede's vomit.
and grey walls, blank walls facing the street? woo hoo, is this to be reminiscent of a prison yard, or perhaps the form known as "a garage"? we get enough grey in seattle. and random swooping metal and glass? what is this, a building designed by a computer builder, and no I don't mean at apple, I mean like a 1985 mechanical engineer who thinks a computer should look "cool" in nerdland? wtf?
all over seattle we see this total crap being built. we should put up a website called Ugly Crap in Seattle and post pictures because apparently people are shamelss in their lack of taste and in desiring to prove their authenticity by abjuring beauty -- their faux authenticity.
buildings should look like...buildings. proportion. symmetry. a clear entrance. it's not rocket science. but no, no architect can build anything that looks like a classic form today, they don't even teach it. architects today if you said ionic would think you meant ironic, and by doric they'd think "relating to the door" and if you said corinthian they'd say "yeah, the Corinthian School of ARt in Seattle, my friends go there!"
btw "Shift Key" should not be capitalized. Forget your grammar rules much?
Also, the (@51) is redundant. You could have written,
"@51, did you lose your shift key?"
and that would have been shorter and sweeter. Like the beacon library, your work is cluttered with things that add nothing and a return to classic forms, in this case strunk and white, omg I didn't use an ampersand there, yikes, would behoove u.
capisc? now, got anything to say on substance?
By the way, I sense you have some sort of obsession with me. I'm used to it, but I don't go for guys in skinny jeans with their underwear showing, much too immature for me. But if you send me an email, I'll forward you a picture of me that you can masturbate to.
As they say, Fuck You Very Much...
I'd love to hear from people who actually use or work at the library.
It functions well.
It's layout is functional and the structure itself is inviting and pleasant to be in. The building is unique, and the wooden "super-structure" is interesting to look at.
It is MORE than purely "functional", it is a nice place to read a book or magazine and drink a coffee - at lunch, after work...
It's a very nice building. Perhaps not to everyone's architectural style sense, but it's more than a concrete block.
And, contrary to this “story”, it does not scream “Slave Ship” in any way.
You're actually a right-leaning, reactionary, total-asshole dipshit.
My bad.
(For the record, if there's any "political correctness" in this story, it's the library's silly and superficial nods to assorted "cultures". Charles' criticism is the precise opposite.)
I don't fit into your "clique" of over indulged immature assholes, for sure.
Also, you're the one who has spent this thread spewing quintessentially right-wing buzzword accusations about "political correctness" and "Marxist" architecture.
And you never met a Democrat you didn't like? That's fitting, because Washington politics is a petri dish of the most pathetic, most ineffectual, all-around dumbest specimens ever to align themselves with the Democratic party.
Turns out I was right the first time. You're an aging, complacent, self-satisfied moron without fifteen brain cells to his name. Sadly, Seattle is full of you.
(Beacon Hill: 51% Asian 20% White 13% Black 7% Latino/other)
Mudede is imposing a peculiar aesthetic/political template entirely his own on the Beacon Hill building and its architects, and I suggest by extension the branch's likely patrons; he is, in a word, patronizing.
I like the Beacon Hill branch. I was prepared not to. But when I went inside I thought "cool." (If you want to date me.) Pleasant. Calm. And hey even some great little quirky details.
I don't like the overall program but that is from the Library Board and Librarian, not the architect.
Indeed, you're such a dipshit you will accuse the same person of being both "Marxist" and "Ayn Rand-ian". That's some Fox News level of stupidity, there!
What decade is that from? And what classifies as "Beacon Hill"?
not because it's good or bad, but because it keeps charles awake at night and forces him to sweat and gnash his teeth every time he walks by it. it's mere existence poisons his soul. his children fear it. he'll never have a sober night, knowing it's out there... housing books.
charles can live anywhere on earth, but that building will most certainly outlive him, and possibly everything he ever loved.
the fucking gall of that building... it lives to shit on one man's hopes and dreams. and to prevent books from getting rained on. but mostly, to shit on one man's hopes and dreams.
Decent article though, CM has a way of pissing me off but once I get over myself I realize he has an interesting take on things.
Talking about horrible architecture, whomever designed the new condos across from Kings Hardware in Ballard should be ashamed. Their building kills the vibe of the whole street and looks cheap as shit next to all the stone buildings.
I have long avoided reading Charles's writing: it makes my soul crinkle every time I accidentally read it. How actually poorly written and self-trumped it is! Charles Mudede's "work" is a pock in a publication I otherwise love. It looks like I'm not the only one - not by far. And now he really has gone off the deep end with his subject matter (correct, Charles, you have). He should be dismissed, or take a very long hiatus.
I received my information from the census that the Unites States Government takes every 10 years. When was the last time you where south of Jackson street? Also, if you don't know what constitutes Beacon Hill, be a big kid and look it up. There are many fine maps online.
-yes chuck, you have.
-yes chuch, you are.
-and also fuck you.
Ridiculous analogies? Check!
Pretentious, pathetic references to Marxist philosophers? Double check!!
A reasonable point hiding underneath layers of horrible, horrible writing? Ding, ding, ding!!!
If he'd just written this as a first person account of what it's like to be part of a racial minority living in a predominantly minority neighborhood and how he feels about white architecture that is imposed on that neighborhood and that he views as being informed by a spirit of misguided liberal do-goodism, this could actually be a good article.
He's got a point. This is one of the most segregated and most liberal cities in America. There is something intellectually dishonest about that city celebrating diversity with a Caucasian caricature of that diversity without actually doing anything to help minorities become a part of the divided city.
Unfortunately, there's also something intellectually dishonest about using Frederic Jameson and Claude Levi-Strauss to make some desperate plea to validate your emotions (which, as emotions, don't need external legitimacy - just enough research to make sure the facts they're in reference to are accurate).
Seriously, editors, Charles could use just a little of your help.
Also, I'm not sure Carlson Architects even intended for the building to reflect the diversity of the neighborhood(as if you could do that in any meaningful way).
I've visited the library many times, and found that the library seems committed to serving their diverse constituency, which is the important thing.
It would be one thing if the Architect(s) had acquired design techniques from multiple cultures (ie those many cultures that make up the people of Beacon Hill) and completely fucked them up.
It is another thing to represent a quirky and upcoming neighborhood with funky design. Seeing as this neighborhood is on the uprise and in need of some quirkiness, creating a unique feel for Beacon Hill is important to establish community. I don't feel embarrassed by this design at all. I live and on BH and feel proud to be a part of such a diverse community as it is represented in the flesh, not in wood or concrete.
This article literally reads like a Sociology essay written by a college freshman.