Architecture has once again taken a leading role in the transformation of our cities: it is time for the town hall to become a democratic monument. Density and concentration, must combine functions currently hidden and separated in singular architectural compositions, in a complex owned and managed by the state, but using aesthetic and formal tools collected from the whole culture
Architecture and social role. A town hall that represents the unified identity
The artist Adam Nathaniel Furman, through this conceptual work, portrays an ideal town hall in which each element is articulated as a distinct architectural expression creating a tension between the whole and its parts, expressing the interaction in democracy between the need for consensus and shared values.
In the image of a unified entity, each element is articulated as a distinct architectural expression, generating an architectural plurality in the compositional unity. A facade whose role is to speak louder, more eloquently than any other building in the city.
The town hall thus becomes a permanent outdoor exhibition that provides an iconic basis for the initiatives and events that take place within the complex. The spacious multi-purpose interior spaces avoid the neutral aesthetics of flexibility and are entirely smothered with decorative patterns that give a shared pride and confidence to the walls of the rooms.
The mechanisms of democracy, debate and vote must not only be accessible and transparent, but must be framed and presented in the most spectacular light, as wonderful processes worthy of participation and respect. The next incarnation of the City Hall is to be a monumental incarnation of our evolving liberal democracy, in which language and architectural expression can both embody and reconcile the perpetual tensions between market and state, minority and majority.
We are experiencing what is perceived as one of the most intense crises in our democracy for generations, which means it is the perfect time to build the Monuments for Revival. In crisis we find the greatest opportunity for reinvention. Democratic Monuments of symbolic sustenance can arise on any island of progress,
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