Opposite Office Proposes Protecting the US Capitol with a Decorative Brick Wall
In the aftermath of the invasion of the U.S. Capitol building on January 6th, 2021, many people wondered what went wrong, and how we could ensure that the seat of American democracy would be safer in the future. German architecture studio Opposite Office has one controversial proposal: surrounding it with a nearly five-foot-thick fortified wall.
It’s a dystopian vision in response to a dystopian event, replacing the temporary fences that went up in real life with permanent brick. The concept, called “Capitol Castle,” turns the Capitol complex into a literal fortress capable of withstanding much more than a violent crowd of domestic insurgents, but it comes across menacing and authoritarian in the process.
The wall would be made with recycled bricks from construction waste, featuring rounded corner towers and triangular bastions. In the renderings, it’s fortified by armed guards, not dissimilar to the current situation outside the Capitol as the nation remains on guard. But these walls are opaque, imposing, and impenetrable, hiding the building from view, and giving us an idea of what government buildings would look like if they were designed to frighten and intimidate.
The symbolism is pointed and potent, presenting the neoclassical Capitol as a visual representation of democracy at home and abroad. Both democracy and the physical Capitol itself are currently in peril in the face of rising nationalism, fake news, and stark division between politica...
Source:
dornob
URL:
http://dornob.com/design/architecture/
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