^ Yes, rostasi, you're right. The sculpture itself isn't so horrendous imo, in fact I rather like the bright yellow colour. The problem is that it's right in front of a complicated, mildly interesting bit of facade.

Here's a worse case of blocking the view of a building: for decades, this London station had an uncluttered entrance yard, so that even though it was set back from the road, it was clearly visible, as a station should be. At a glance you could take in the symmetry of the facade with its 3 arches, and the bit on top, with all its references to classical architecture. It may not be spectacular, but it has a lot of carefully worked-out details in terracota and stone:-

https://c8.alamy.com/comp/J2A3FA/eas...ion-J2A3FA.jpg

In the 1980s, the station was refurbished by an arrogant architect, and his idea was to dump a clumsy post-modern kiosk right in front of the old building:-

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...k_-_938248.jpg

You can no longer appreciate the old facade in full, and from the street it takes a second to realise that there's a station trying to peek out from behind a florist's shop. The whole space is dominated by a graceless building with zero finesse which is little more than a disproportionate roof stuck on disproportionate columns. It doesn't have a single detail of any interest, charm or "art" imo, unless you want to count the gutter that's already bent out of shape at the left-hand corner. Furthurmore, selling flowers is traditionally accomplished by an old lady standing to one side on the pavement, surrounded by buckets. Now she has been awarded a shop that obscures the actual reason that people are there at all - to catch a bl**dy train, you stupid architect.

And now I am angry enough to sympathise with [MERIT] - the unneccesary waste of public money that actually makes our environment uglier. :(

St. Peter's Seminary, in Scotland, when it was built in 1966 and how it looks today:-

Lovely contributions Lisna.

I'll be posting Tottenham's new stadium soon.

^ Thanks for the comment, Fluff, and congrats on your new avatar. One of the best ever from anyone imo.

I'll be interested to see your photos, and in the meantime I'm waiting for Plankton: anytime now he should be posting a seminary built entirely of shipping containers.....

https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4002/4...4e61c84c_z.jpg
http://rstesot.com/c/real_estate/ima...ge-Loans-1.jpg

the city above^ (Davenport,Iowa , needs more tall buildings downtown) :o: they had two planned but one fell through because no one pre-ordered the apartments. the top photo is the city i drive by a lot, New Haven, CT :cool:

Not quite a seminary, but close.

https://i.imgur.com/8W7fLjp.jpg

Get well soon fluff.

Nice pics of New Haven, mindful, and especially Davenport; a city by a river is always more interesting than a city without natural water imo.

^ Thanks, Plankton! Is that the building you designed for fire fighters? All you have to do is swap the stars and stripes for a cruxifix, and voilá! it's a seminary. It's a very trim building, which indicates that some careful thought has gone into its design. I like the way the landings of the tower are all equally spaced, and two of them extend out to become roof terraces - that's one great virtue of using modular units I suppose (at least when you are using them right). I also like the bit on top, which I'm going to call a widow's walk, just so that I can post a pic of a genuine old widow's walk:-

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/2c/c3...786a782a8f.jpg

PS: Just noticed that the overhang of your widow's walk is the same distance at each end: Nice!

It is, yes. It's more function than form, which I feel I always have to stipulate with these since they're industrialized repurposing. Tactical and technical training facility designs are the majority of my job on the CAD side. That facility is one of the larger ones (6000 sq. ft.) and the inside is packed with plenty of training props that simulate residential fires. If you've ever been to a haunted house, or even a fun house at a carnival, it's very similar with the exception that they're on fire with a controlled burn at certain burn areas. Floors that drop, walls that move, ceilings that pull down, and a host of other simulations built to both NFPA and OSHA specifications. One of the key components is the ability to change the layout from evolution to evolution using modular systems, so trainee's have more realistic training when they go through multiple times. The rendering also depicts night time training with the exterior lighting, since most home fires happen during the evening hours. Training for real life situations is key to saving lives, so it's designed with that in mind.

Seminary for fire fighters.

^ That makes it a very special building then, Plankton, and to get all that done within Building Code restrictions must've been a nightmare. All I can offer in terms of working on buildings with moving parts are some removable access panels to ducts, and a retractable ladder - ooh and doors too! They move don't they? I often worked on projects that needed a hundred or so purpose-made doors, which meant sorting out a whole bunch of types, dimensions, jamb details etc.
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The merits of Old vs New is an endless battle in architectural theory, and the battlegrounds are our cities.

Here's a photo of Cardiff, where imo the win goes to the old. Despite everything that can be done with steel and cladding the soaring shapes and planes of the modern make for a drab, confused backdrop to the real star of this pic - the brick municipal building in the middle:-

https://i2-prod.walesonline.co.uk/bu...diff-view3.jpg