Brighton High School Redux

As I mentioned previously, Brighton High School (Deep Space Brighton) is being torn down and replaced by a generic box.  The process is now well under way, and it really is shaping up to be just the sort of thing you eyes will slide right off of.  This sort of thing has become so pervasive, I have adopted a new standard for architectural aesthetics: the Ruin Test.  When the building falls to ruin, what will the people living then think of it?  Will it still be interesting like the ones we now have in Greece, Egypt, Thailand, or Mexico?  Or will it be something they'll want to scrape off into a dump as quickly as possible?  I have a good idea where all our ugly boxes are heading.  The only question is whether there will be enough landfill space.

Enough Death...

...time for some simple destruction.  Last Saturday was a farewell open house at Brighton High School.  They're going to tear down Deep Space Brighton and replace it with, of course, another generic box.  In other words, they're tearing down yet another architecturally significant structure and replacing it with yet another pile of brick and glass that will slide right off your eyes and mind.  I got ripped on the local message board for this opinion, but I will hold to it: This is the sort of planning and design "thinking" that gave us the abomination that is the Abandoned Borg Cube we now have for a federal courthouse.  Keep it up, folks, and we'll end up with a structural environment that will make Soviet-era housing blocks look dynamic and exciting.

New City Hall

So they've cleared the space for the new  Cottonwood City complex.  Right across the street from Brighton High School.  Am I the only one who thinks this is a less-than-brilliant idea?  I readily admit that the properties were eyesores (although how much of that was caused by the city's condemnation process is an open and probably damning question), but just how is Bengal Boulevard going to handle this?  It has one lane each way with a center turning lane, and that isn't enough to handle the existing morning and afternoon school traffic and the evening special event traffic.  There's also that messy double light at 2300/2325 East.  Put the city offices there, and I expect Bengal Boulevard to start resembling a Manhattan crosstown street.