A blog for better streets and public spaces in Portland, Maine.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

That Was Quick: The Renovated Civic Center Loses Its Lustre, Weeks Before Construction Begins

Last fall, when County bureaucrats were trying to razzle-dazzle voters into lending them $33 million to renovate their hockey arena (subsidized minor-league hockey being apparently the last, tenuous raison d'ĂȘtre for the existence of county government), they publicized these architectural renderings of a newly-renovated Civic Center:

This week, the County went to the planning board to get final approval. The architects' drawings have changed a bit:
This second image represents what's actually being built. It's like a $33 million trip for second helpings at Old Country Buffet: the same bland, ugly architecture that made you sick the first time around — only now, there's even more of it!

3 comments:

Don said...

But there'll be some paintings on the concrete wall. And some brick.

Ed said...

Let's hope for better lighting, bike racks, benches and a couple of drinking water fountains.Bike/ped friendly please. Also a drop off point for elders and carpoolers would be nice.

Patrick said...

As a member of the planning board, I agree. However, it was beyond our purview to require luster here. And, when I asked the developers after a meeting, I was informed the above graphic (which included meeting/function space in the in-fill space over the overhangs) was done by an entirely different firm, before the current firm was selected. If that helps explain anything a bit...

The front door is really the centerpiece here, and not too much could be done with limited funding. Ultimately, I think a new structure in Bayside would have been far better, but this is what we get.