Making fun of bad architecture
The question was posed: “What is that thing!?!”
It is …
{{ Dramatic Chord }}
High above scores of unsuspecting commuters, there rests this thing, hovering over the top-level concourse of the Five Points MARTA station. At least three theories are known to exist.
- 5 Points used to be a basketball arena, and that thing was the scoreboard
- It’s the device which transmits to the rectangular bulge George Bush had under his jacket during the presidential debates
- It was built from leftover parts the contractor couldn’t identify when the station was constructed
(h/t Larry for those last two theories)
What is your theory?
November 29th, 2006 at 1:06 pm
Screw theories - I want to know wtf it really is! That is just bizarre!
November 29th, 2006 at 2:35 pm
I’ve always wondered that. I just assumed it was an early prototype of the “next train eastbound in…minutes” signs we have now. As far as I know, it has never actually served that purpose.
I like the “leftover parts” theory - that sounds about right for MARTA.
November 30th, 2006 at 2:33 am
For some reason the phrase “Giant Pez Dispenser” comes to mind
I just love the red “Action Stripe” across the top half. Ahhh, the late seventies
November 30th, 2006 at 4:47 am
I think it’s MARTA’s solution to the “sqare peg, round hole” problem.
November 30th, 2006 at 9:33 pm
Perhaps MARTA’s hommage to “Close Encounters of the Third KInd”? Play the right tune underneath, and it opens to reveal the lost souls or the Bermuda Triangle–or perhaps all the lost luggage of Hartsfield comes pouring out? _That_ would be a sight to see!
December 1st, 2006 at 10:39 am
It must be art.
December 1st, 2006 at 11:12 am
Ha… well, then I don’t know what’s worse… artchitecture, or starchitecture.
December 2nd, 2006 at 12:35 am
art meets function, meets the late seventies…sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. Or maybe it is some post-modern pheonix rising from the ashes of Atlanta’s oft abused city center? Yeah, I’m probably gonna go with the basketball theory…