The Municipal Building

This article is part of the Hidden Architecture Series “Tentative d’Épuisement” , where we explore the practice of an architectural criticism without rhetoric and based mainly on the physical experience of the work itself. Este artículo forma parte de la serie “Tentativa de Agotamiento” , comisariada por Hidden Architecture, donde exploramos la práctica de una crítica arquitectónica ausente de retórica y fundamentada sobre todo en la experiencia física de la propia obra. Inside out | De adentro hacia afuera. Outside out | De afuera hacia afuera. Outside in | De afuera hacia adentro. 2015. Monumental. Symmetry | Monumental. Simetría Shortly after arriving in New York, I saw it for the first time. We were walking through Broadway Street near the City Hall Park when Diego pointed it out and said it was his favorite building. I barely knew the architecture of Manhattan, even less the firm McKim, Mead & White, so it was a full discovery to me. We were walking from the Downtown , it was already dark, and the monumentality of the tower of the building merged with the tower of the U.S. Courthouse that was located behind. Fue al poco de llegar a Nueva York cuando lo vi por primera vez. Subíamos por Broadway Street a la altura del City Hall Park cuando D. me lo señaló indicando que era su edificio favorito. Aún no conocía casi nada de Manhattan, menos aún a los arquitectos McKim, Mead & White, por lo que fue todo un descubrimiento para mí. Veníamos caminando desde el Downtown , era casi de noche, y la monumentalidad de la torre del edificio se fusionaba con la del Palacio de Justicia, situado justo detrás. Both neoclassical buildings had an enormous scale and produce an institutional effect next to the shore of the East River and the Brooklyn Bridge.