Why Blue?

Work on Hudson's new police and court center is almost complete. The promised finish date is December 1. Alderman Henry Haddad (Third Ward), who chairs the Police Committee, reports that the project is a bit ahead of schedule. Watching the progress, I've been puzzled by the baby blue panels and banding. I don't remember them from the rendering provided before construction began.

Curious, I went back to the rendering and discovered that it did show these elements being blue but a much darker gray blue not the baby blue that they are.

The blue we've got is similar to the blue of the panels under the windows at Bliss Towers, constructed in 1973. Many's the time I have contemplated those panels thinking the building would be much better looking if those baby blue panels were a different color.

The blue on the new police and court building is also reminiscent of another example of 1970s architecture in Hudson: the old L&B building down next to South Bay.

It's too bad the designers of the police and court building couldn't have followed the current color craze in Hudson and used panels of dark gray instead of baby blue. At least the building's rehabbed facade would be a thing of its time instead of a throwback to the 1970s--not exactly a golden age of architecture in Hudson.
COPYRIGHT 2016 CAROLE OSTERINK