Comments on: Legacies, Chaos and Confusion: Rest in Peace, John Johansen

By: Nellie

Nellie — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 00:30:26 +0000

The plight, not the building, reminds me of when Harkins (as in Harkins Theatres) lost their theatre, the Cine Capri (http://www.cinecapritheater.com/) – a beautiful mid-century marvel in Phoenix by famed architect Ralph Haver. Over 260,000 people signed a petition to save this architectural masterpiece, and the developers still refused to renew their land lease & tore it down to build highrises. The family builds a “Cine Capri” auditorium within their new larger theatres in honor and in memory of the original theatre (gold curtains and all!) One of the Harkins’ here in Phoenix has a museum dedicated to the legendary movie house. I hope you’re able to save your theatre – because the people of Phoenix still mourn the loss of ours.

By: dustbury.com » Build more crap!

dustbury.com » Build more crap! — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 18:07:06 +0000

[...] And now that Johansen is gone and presumably ready to rotate about his axis when Stage Center is tor… Somewhere there must be a middle ground in all this. Do we really want to be a city where architecture consists of Walmarts, McDonald’s and tilt-up concrete office buildings? Will anyone look at Harkins Theater in Lower Bricktown in 30 years and cry when it’s torn down? Yet we also know, such forgettable architecture is also very friendly to occupants — cost efficient to heat and cool, easy on maintenance, not a big deal to tear down and rebuild. [...]

By: david ball

david ball — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 15:59:29 +0000

i can understand steve’s ambivalence, since i remember running through the halls there as a ten year old doing children’s theater. it was new, it was modern, it was cool. like the myriad. and the century center. until one day, when the realization hit me that just because something is new, doesn’t mean that it’s any good. take popular music, for instance. some withstands the test of time, others don’t. this building began in confrontation, never served it’s owner as a good facility, and is expressly “not beautiful.” if it was a dog when it was new, it doesn’t get a pedigree with age. the only thing good that could ever be agreed upon about this was that it was brightly colored and it drove your parents crazy. every theater company that tried to make a go of it there failed, which was in fact its only reason for existence. quirky? yes. bold? yes. irreplaceable? trick question.

By: Hugh Jass

Hugh Jass — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 00:31:50 +0000

I am obviously in the minority, but I will hate to see the Stage Center go. When I was young I didn’t like it because it was “so weird” but now I have grown to like it for the exact same reason.

R.I.P. Mr.Johansen

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 22:48:44 +0000

What we have here is a building designed through a philosophy of confrontation. It stands as a challenge to the city. The architect knew the people didn’t want it. He designed it that way because he could. Because he knew it would offend the sensibilities of the locals and he felt there was a statement to be made in doing so.

Surprise surprise, the city still doesn’t like it.

I’ve said before, Stage Center is a kinda cool, weird old building. I don’t want it torn down to be replaced by a Harkins Theater. But I don’t think future generations are going to view it any more favorably than we do now. It will still be just as divisive as it was when it was first proposed.

The key in all this, is not to replace such things with Century Center. Replace them with good architecture. Remember that even in your captions, you make value judgments about which architecture is “good” and which is “bad”. In 30 years, will people say “Century Center. Yuck”? Or will people value 1970s brutalism in a way we can’t imagine?

Ha ha, that was a joke. Century Center sucks.

By: Just Some Guy

Just Some Guy — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 17:38:09 +0000

Has the option of moving some of the pieces to another city site been explored? I get that the property’s valuable, but it’d be a shame to see this one-of-a-kind structure totally destroyed.

By: mike

mike — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 14:41:51 +0000

I couldn’t disagree with Pete T. more.

By: Pete Terranova

Pete Terranova — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 13:05:41 +0000

“Will future generations curse us over Stage Center?”

I’d say none. This was a monument to Johansen’s hubris. He admitted his design had nothing to do with beauty and he was absolutely right. He scorned those who would use his creation in favor of his theory for design. The inevitable destruction of his creation is the price of his scorn. His architectural theories may live – though I doubt they will – but his buildings won’t.

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 11:49:32 +0000

Hard to believe they took the Baum building down. I can imagine it being one of the camera shots during a NBA game.

By: DHOKC

DHOKC — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 05:07:02 +0000

Keep it as a monument, an artifact, a sculpture. It gives the young and hopeful a view of the world that crazy ideas are possible, that we are invincible and just because we are different we can exist in a world right next to the straight laced and that together we are better.