I got beaten back on my recent gigantic sign posting. The first 10 or so commenters thought I was off base, criticizing the biggie-sized street signs seen around Buffalo these days.
Then, on another Internet forum, I scored strike two while criticizing the giant wickets on the Main Street pedestrian mall. On that forum I said that one of the great benefits of returning cars to Main was that the corny arches over the street would have to be removed. Pretty much 100% of the others commenting thought I was crazy for not liking the lighted steel arches. Huh? I have always thought these goofy arches were embarrassing, half-baked architectural cartoons. People actually like these things? Yikes! I guess architects really are out of touch with the general public.
The arches, along with an accompanying assortment of other trashy (in my opinion) architectural clutter, were part of the original ped-mall design by Toronto architect Raymond Moriyama. The Mall design was presented with great fanfare and dreamy renderings. It had a theme of light, which was supposed to add vibrancy to the street scene. At the north, the Mall would begin with a lighted clock tower rising above the train portal. At the south, a beam of laser light was going to shoot from the top of HSBC Tower (then Marine Midland). At the Aud, the station was to be lit with scoreboard-like signs and murals of sports stars. Along the length of the Mall, stations, kiosks and the afore mentioned arches would grace the landscape with a festive and uplifting spirit.
The plan was substantially realized but cost-cutting on the over $40M project took its toll with cheaper pavement, no laser show, and gutting of the Aud station (framework was installed, but no lighted signs because the Feds said the signs were not transit oriented and would not contribute money toward them). The clock tower and a proposed massive wind blocking structure were the source of great controversy because the Preservation Board would not approve their design, and the wind blocker ultimately was dropped from the project. To my chagrin the arches survived the cost cutting.
Ever since, the trains, with their equally tacky brown and orange paint schemes, have been moving through the street wickets like croquet balls. Ok, let me have it.
Photographs courtesy of Buffalonian4life, Nathan Mroz - president and photographer of BuffaloScenicPrints.com
I believe the arches are a play on the arch de triumph, but these are the arches des failure. Remove them, move forward with returning automobiles to Main Street and lets attempt to have a functional central core. The arches represent a failure in urban planning, the failure of our CBD and a hinderance to future growth.