Boston City Hall

Ever since Boston’s mayor proposed building a new City Hall in Rhode Island and turning the existing City Hall building into a giant fish tank, everyone in Boston has been treated to short architecture courses about why the current City Hall doesn’t work. The best explanation I’ve seen is by Walt Lockley, and it’s accompanied by some great monochromatic photography of the exterior and interior of the building.

It’s fun to take a break from the usual role-playing of residential designer and instead try a quick round of urban planning. I’ve never set foot in Boston’s City Hall, hardly even noticed it on the few occasions I’ve been at Government Center. I have spent a fair bit of time in my town’s City Hall and a number of other local government buildings. From a citizen’s perspective, they all have the same structural problems: lack of natural light, lack of artificial light, poor maintenance, poor signage, no comfortable waiting or gathering areas, and no Dunkin’ Donuts.

The best decision the RMV ever made was to scatter some local offices into area malls. Malls have tons of artificial light, food courts and restaurants, reasonable benches and chairs, and retail therapy. The RMV doesn’t have to provide any of that — the mall provides the amenities that make going to the RMV tolerable. And malls highlight one aspect of capitalism that really does work: malls try to be pleasant because they have a financial incentive to keep patrons coming back. That can’t be the full answer, though, because public libraries also tend to be far more appealing than city halls and courthouses. Do libraries have incentives to keep up patronage?

I’m sure that if Boston were to build a new City Hall, it would have lower ceilings, easier handicap access, and more windows. Those are improvements, but what’s needed is a broader examination of the purposes that a City Hall building can serve, and of the potential experiences of visitors to the building. It’s something I’ll be mulling over as I head over to my arts council meeting, which has been relocated from our City Hall to a local cafe.