New, improved modernity
BOSTON CITY Hall is our civic emblem of modernity. Widely heralded at the time of its completion as the centerpiece of the New Boston, conjured by mayors John Hynes and John Collins to pull Boston out of decades of cultural and economic torpor, it symbolizes the effort that effectively laid the foundation for the vibrant, contemporary, and culturally diverse city that we know today. Conceived through a major competition and winner of many design awards, City Hall symbolizes the spirit of progress, openness, and the uplifting of the human condition that characterizes the best of the architecture of the modern movement.
As is true in many modern buildings, however, this promise has only partially been met. While City Hall has great "bones" and potential, there is much dissatisfaction about its inner workings and the vast plaza in which it sits. Yet this dissatisfaction isn't a result of City Hall's modernism; buildings of any period reveal flaws over time, as people get in and use them. Modern buildings can be modified to fit today's needs, and with enough creativity the present City Hall can be transformed into a civic center for contemporary Boston.
Mayor Thomas Menino has announced his intention to abandon Government Center and move City Hall to the South Boston waterfront. Yet City Hall is in the right place. It anchors the heart of the city cheek by jowl with neighbors dating back to the mid-18th century. A careful renewal and greening of the present City Hall would go further to realize the mayor's pledge to foster sustainability than would the creation of a new building located in a remote portion of the city.
However, the effort required to revitalize City Hall will not be the same as the kind of preservation that one might associate with the restoration of traditional buildings such as Faneuil Hall or Trinity Church.
The mid-20th-century modern movement produced a lot of significant structures worthy of being celebrated and preserved. The successful adaptation of modern architecture to the demands of the 21st century can in many instances only occur through change. Around the world, many modern buildings, including landmarks such as the United Nations headquarters in New York, are undergoing major refurbishment, and the design community is rising to this challenge by finding ways to adapt and make contemporary (one hesitates to say "modernize") these buildings -- sometimes by treating them as armatures upon which can be layered elements that improve their comfort, while also providing the technical, security, and life-safety standards required in today's public buildings. It is in this spirit that we should give City Hall a fresh look.
The US General Services Administration, the world's largest owner of mid-century modern real estate, and City Hall's closest neighbor on the plaza, is setting an example nationwide through its First Impressions program, which improves the public face of modern buildings through careful renovations and additions.
A good local example in the same vein is the recent renovation by the firms Chan Krieger Sieniewicz and Prellwitz/Chilinski of Harvard University's Holyoke Center, another important but unpopular building from the 1960s, where a previously open ground-floor passage has been transformed into an interior street. The new design provides a more gracious entrance to the offices above and a pleasant, inviting experience to the staff and patrons of the shops and services at street level. Bringing this kind of change to City Hall would align with the architects' original intention to complete their work with a program of art, plantings, furnishings, and improved lighting, designed to add warmth and life to the facility.
Much can be done with City Hall, but any proposed intervention should start with a comprehensive study and dialogue about its history, present conditions, and cultural significance. The analysis should begin outside with the plaza, and work systematically through the building to ensure a well-integrated design. It will not be the first major effort dedicated to rethinking this area, but the urgency of the present challenge, coupled with a greater understanding of how to enhance modern buildings, would help guarantee an enduring, sustainable renewal for this great civic work.
David Fixler is an architect with Einhorn Yaffee Prescott in Boston and president of the New England chapter of DOCOMOMO International, an organization that seeks to document and conserve the legacy of the modern built environment. 
