justice architecture

This miserable looking building is the Quincy District Court. I spent a day inside this place as a juror some ten odd years ago. It was an instructive experience. In the educational video we watched prior to the trial the Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court apologized for the poor quality of the facilities provided for people going through the legal system.

I blame architects for this. The extreme, uncompromising ideology  of the modernist era made designers and clients blind to human needs and basic good principles of building construction. Many from that era would complain about value engineering, and I will concede that the short-sighted stupidity of many institutions, both public and private, made for some bad decisions. But, the architects fought for geometry and finishes that were absurd, inhuman, and dysfunctional.