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Post by oleandermedian on Jan 26, 2020 17:41:23 GMT
Train and metro stations – I was in St Petersburg a few months ago and the metro is a hell of a long way underground in certain stations. No more so than in other cities I suppose – like Nuevos Ministerios in Madrid, which seems to go down and down forever – but where Nuevos Ministerios has a whole series of escalators one after the other, in St Petersburg (this station was on Nevsky Prospekt) it was just one extremely long escalator – you couldn’t see the bottom of it from the top. You wouldn’t want it breaking down!
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Post by oh oooh on Jan 26, 2020 17:44:46 GMT
The escalator at the Náměstí Míru Metro stop in Prague is supposed to be the longest in Europe. Thankfully it's not too far from the next stop at Muzeum, so people sometimes skip it and walk.
Somebody's actually taken the time to film the journey!
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Post by oleandermedian on Jan 26, 2020 17:57:06 GMT
Anyway - it's simply not true that the living conditions in so-called brutalist blocks are appalling. Major European cities are ringed by housing estates full of Plattenbau or paneláci and they provide comfortable, affordable living for people of all classes. The only people I've come across who show disdain for this kind of thing are outsiders who do nothing but observe. Talk to academics or plumbers who live in Prague suburbs and they're proud of their homes. Or krushchyovkas – there are lots of them here in Further Spain. Also when I was in St Petersburg, we went to visit the parents of a friend of my son’s. They live in a concrete tower block in the suburbs and the buildings around them are other concrete tower blocks. There were lots of trees and grass and all the roads are cul-de-sacs and it was a pleasant environment, in all. They (an electrician and a teacher, if I remember correctly) certainly liked where they lived - cool in summer and nice and warm in winter.
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Post by oleandermedian on Jan 26, 2020 18:01:23 GMT
The escalator at the Náměstí Míru Metro stop in Prague is supposed to be the longest in Europe. Thankfully it's not too far from the next stop at Muzeum, so people sometimes skip it and walk. Somebody's actually taken the time to film the journey! I remember the one in Nevsky Prospekt being longer - I mean it was totally fucking alarming - but I could be wrong.
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Post by Reactionary Rage on Jan 26, 2020 18:01:30 GMT
It's not just residential structures tho'. I think me and thee said goodbye at this station in Berlin, D, remember? maybe it was a bit more rundown at the time. Anyway it's striking, somehow. Stirring. I do yeah. Mind the dude in the wheelchair who slapped the womans arse on the platform?
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Post by oh oooh on Jan 26, 2020 18:09:21 GMT
Ha ha ha!! Yes!!
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Post by oh oooh on Jan 26, 2020 18:10:43 GMT
The escalator at the Náměstí Míru Metro stop in Prague is supposed to be the longest in Europe. Thankfully it's not too far from the next stop at Muzeum, so people sometimes skip it and walk. Somebody's actually taken the time to film the journey! I remember the one in Nevsky Prospekt being longer - I mean it was totally fucking alarming - but I could be wrong. Ah, it probably is. The Czechs would never admit to anything in Russia being superior in any way!
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Post by Half Machine Lipschitz on Jan 27, 2020 11:59:03 GMT
The escalator at the Náměstí Míru Metro stop in Prague is supposed to be the longest in Europe. Thankfully it's not too far from the next stop at Muzeum, so people sometimes skip it and walk. Somebody's actually taken the time to film the journey! Imagine being the guy whose job it is to put up those advertisement posters!
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rayge
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Post by rayge on Jan 27, 2020 14:19:34 GMT
The escalator at the Náměstí Míru Metro stop in Prague is supposed to be the longest in Europe. Thankfully it's not too far from the next stop at Muzeum, so people sometimes skip it and walk. Somebody's actually taken the time to film the journey! As long as that is, I'm heartened to see people still walking up it. It looks about twice as long as the longest I know, at Angel Islington, and I used to get quite knackered storming up that (I like taking on steep ascents at speed, good for the heart ). Incidentally, what's that guy crouched at the bottom doing - he looks remarkably furtive. And on the subject of brutalism, check out Jonathan Meades's take on in on the iPlayer www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03vrphc/bunkers-brutalism-and-bloodymindedness-concrete-poetry-with-jonathan-meades-episode-1I know his presentation style isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I love that sardonic wordiness.
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Post by oh oooh on Jan 28, 2020 14:31:55 GMT
I can't stand him but I'm going to watch.
Those of you who don't go for 'brutalism' - what do you think of the Barbican Centre?
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Post by tory on Jan 28, 2020 19:53:49 GMT
Friends used to live there. It was interesting to go and visit them and I could see how it appealed to a certain extent.
This stuff can work. But it needs lots of necessary factors - i.e the wealth of the occupants and proximity to a world-class city with amenities. There was something a bit artificial about the Barbican in all honesty - like it was an anomaly.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 28, 2020 20:36:32 GMT
It's not particularly impressive when you visit, a bit of a cramped rabbit warren. As London brutalism goes, then somewhere like the Southbank Centre has a lot more impact.
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Post by oh oooh on Jan 28, 2020 20:40:11 GMT
this is the London structure that's most often talked about in the Brutalist groups I'm a member of
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Post by Deleted on Jan 28, 2020 20:46:19 GMT
Is that Trellick Tower?
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Post by oh oooh on Jan 28, 2020 20:48:04 GMT
Yes
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