Failed Architecture
failedarchitecture.com · Group blog · on HN since 2013
Online platform publishing essays on architecture, urbanism, and the built environment, including failed or utopian projects.
What HN saysHN commenters point to its detailed article on living in the Nakagin Capsule Tower and its piece on Barcelona's superblocks.
29HN people shared it
8linked it in comments
22stories submitted
370story points
6 months agolast shared
2013people per year2026
Most-shared posts
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What HN people wrote when they linked it
kibwen · 2021-05-28
A fantastic article from the last time this topic came up: https://failedarchitecture.com/2014/06/a-year-in-the-metabolist-future… It goes over the history of the tower, the experience of the author living there, and has better shots of the interiors featuring a variety of tenants.
mozumder · 2015-10-02
The best one is the Bangladesh National Assembly Building: http://architectuul.com/architecture/national-assembly-building-of-ban…
I think a lot of brutalist architecture gets a bad rap because it became so commonplace in the mid 20th century. Just like anything that's done "too-much", it became overdone as lesser and lesser architects created less inspirational designs.
PS. Also loved the old Best stores, with ACTUAL crumbling facades as a self-aware statement of consumerism: http://www.failedarchitecture.com/the-ironic-loss-of-the-postmodern-be…
So good.. you could say they were the Best.
john-doe · 2022-03-08
Barcelona’s superblocks ended up a little different than planned: https://failedarchitecture.com/behind-four-walls-barcelonas-lost-utopi…
fennecfoxen · 2020-01-02
Elevated pedestrian catwalks are a recurring architectural fad. They don't tend to work out very well outside of a few specific areas, though, as pedestrians traffic is most popular in situations where pedestrians also have access to lots of street-level homes and businesses.
Consider further coverage and commentary such as
https://www.academyofurbanism.org.uk/streets-in-the-sky-the-urban-idio…
https://failedarchitecture.com/the-downfall-of-londons-streets-in-the-…
https://www.architectural-review.com/essays/campaigns/notopia/notopia-…
imgabe · 2019-10-16
But sometimes China has things like this happen: https://failedarchitecture.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/22s5AXG-1500…
rch · 2017-07-12
It's also an example of failed city planning! The original Cerdà Plan was considerably more human friendly:
https://www.failedarchitecture.com/behind-four-walls-barcelonas-lost-u…
david-given · 2016-10-02
(How can you have an article about a building with just one picture of the building?)
Here's a more in-depth article, with lots of photos, of the Tower, written by a couple of architects who lived there for a year:
http://www.failedarchitecture.com/nakagin/