Pruitt-Igoe, Now - Nora Wendl, The Unmentioned Modern Landscape

I found this an interesting read. The content of the text wasn’t too overwhelming so made it easier to read than some of the other readings. It was interesting to learn about how it would have been like in the time of Pruitt and Igoe and also the new plans that are to be implemented after the demolition that took place after all these years. The whole concept of the complex being knocked down is pretty disheartening. I imagine one standing in the area where the architecture was once built it would feel quit eerie and unsettling. I learnt quite a lot from this reading. In the sense of modern architecture that is.

People still move towards the land that has been left behind, however with the security there is now this is increasingly being stopped. If the site was tidied up and sorted out, perhaps something going in its place, it would really be quite beautiful. Still not forgetting what was there but putting something it its place maybe to represent it or to perhaps just completely erase it. The memories of the site will forever live on.

At the beginning of the article, stated at the very top of the page it is mentioned that when the site was detonated, it was the ‘death of modernism’. I wouldn’t say this was a true statement necessarily. People are still unable to move on from what was there as it just is the demolition site that has been left for people to see. A rather sad and depressing site if you ask me.

In my personal opinion, I believe that something needs to be left in the place of the demolished buildings. The town needs to move forward and not dwell on the past. Perhaps not replacing it completely but as said before, putting something in its place in order to not forget what was once there. Personally, brutalism and the style of the building that was once there is not to my personal taste, but if I put myself in the shoes of someone who had potentially grown up there, I have a very different opinion on the building as I’m sure some people have had some very beautiful memories, making the building special in its own way to many people.