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Civic Center / Nollen Plaza

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1979, Charles Herbert and Associates. Northeast corner of 3rd and Walnut streets

This period piece is an example of academic 1960s Modernism carried out at the end of the 1970s. Granting the premise of late Modernism, this hardscape project of concrete surfaces has been carried out well. The 2,700seat auditorium, a cut-into volume comprised of concrete panels, rests on the surface of the plaza like a not quite real model. Plantings of trees, pools, fountains, flagpoles, and even Claes Oldenburg's Crusoe Umbrella do not relieve the correct, cold atmosphere of the place.

Writing Credits

Author: 
David Gebhard and Gerald Mansheim

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