AMERICA DESERTA: BALTIMORE TO CHICAGO:

In the second instalment of a cross-country series, a UK architecture critic, Tom Keeley, dives into the US interior to explore the state of American cities and space.  Here Keeley sees Washington DC, Pittsburgh, and finally Chicago.  A few quotes:

“Washington never really struck me as my kind of city, never particularly on my list of places to go. But it seemed impossible to not be impressed and wooed by the impending grandeur of the place. The very idea of DC, to my mind at least, with all the imagery and connotations that pop into your head as soon as someone utters its name, is about power.”

“The Carnegies, Mellons and the odd Heinz are namedropped on its squares, bridges and corporate headquarters; the city puffs up its chest and stands tall and proud. A charming mixture of handsome Victorian history, with an undertow of swagger and grit. Pittsburgh planted a seed, it’s definitely somewhere to return to, an underdog nestling near the Appalachians.”

“But it’s not just the buildings that are big; it’s the whole layout of the city. I’ve been banging on about the grid systems in this country, but Chicago goes next level. The city spreads and spreads like an urban graph paper, with long avenues intersecting along the way. It feels endless, especially once you get away from downtown.”

Read on:  

http://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/america-deserta-revisited-baltimore-to-chicago/