Paul Rudolph’s Orange County Government Center demolition  

I read that article last night and I wondered if anyone would launch a topic on it here.  Thanks for doing so.  I'm glad the author pointed-out the irony given that NY state launched the historic preservation movement following the demolition of the iconic neoclassical Penn Station when modern archritecture was reaching its crescendo climax.  The Goshen demolition feels a bit like someone proposing to tear down the UC San Diego main library building or the Boston City Hall.  It's funny, 10 years ago I was repelled by brutalist buildings and gravitated toward structures with a beaux arts neoclassical style.  Now I'm awestruck and nostalgic for the intimidating sense of power conveyed by brutalist structures.  These shifting tastes seem to highlight how fluid individual and social moods are.  What's vogue today is passe tomorrow.    The only thing that's constant is the flux of emotion ever tilted in favor of the New-New-Thing, even if that means coming full circle and the snake eating its tail. 
The Goshen tear down could form the basis for a Karl Popper inspired experiment in empirical falsification.  Question:  Is modern brutalist-style architectur good?  Hypothesis:  Brutalist architecture is a social good.  If true, then the Goshen tear down and the subsequent societal reaction to it will be the experiment to test the hypothesis.  We would predict a wave of protections to be lavished on remaining iconic brutalist structures as people stare into the vacant hole where the County building once stood and the sense of folly dawns .  If Brutalism is not good from a social sense, then the demolition will pass without so much as a whimper of protest from the public, and more structures will meet the wrecking ball.  Sometimes its good to do an experiment just to see if theory is grounded.

Thinking back, I can roughly date the moment, years ago, when I began to imagine modern brutalist architecture in a different light.  It coincided with seeing these film clips on Louis Kahn's Bangladesh Parliament Building from the documentary 'My Architect'.  Rarely does a documentary on buildings make me verklempt, but this one certainly did.
http://www.ted.com/talks/nathaniel_kahn_on_my_architect?language=en#t-60...
 
I also remember walking down Pennsylvania Avenue on a cold blustery winter morning about 10 years ago, and staring, bewildered up and down the honeycombed coal black eyes of the J. Edgar Hoover Building.  It got me to thinking about Big Brother -- man was he impressive.  Don't nobody mess with him.  And it's good that he has my back.  I know, I know -- that's more Stockholm Syndrome than love freely given, but still.

I am sure Hollywood can find a use for this.  This is where Hollywood always put the bad guys.
Like these buildings in my old neighborhood.
https://www.laconservancy.org/locations/inglewood-civic-center
A few years ago, IKEA in New Haven, Connecticut USA almost demolished a Marcel Breuer buiding.
http://www.docomomo-us.org/register/fiche/pirelli_tire_building
 

No offense personally, but thank you JosephA for your rambling nonsense.  Reminds me of the architectural theory courses I took in college wading through thick architectural jargon where the "architects" ponder aimlessly the purpose of architecture and it's effect on society.  At the end of the day, who cares?  Any practicing architect who isn't contracted to build a multi-million dollar civic project will tell you all of that is complete garbage.  Do you think the average person becomes verklempt after seeing / walking through a building?  Maybe a handful of people even know what you're talking about and most certainly not every building should be catered to that same handful of people.
Question: My thoughts?  Hypothesis: Burn it down and build something better.  Not every building needs to be preserved, especially when it's function is no longer in function.  This isn't Rome we're talking about here.  This building isn't making the world a better place with its presence.  Plus I strongly dislike brutalist architecture from the inside out, as the buildings tend to feel like a prison, dark and cold.
Though perhaps my dislike of brutalism is completely subjective.  Or perhaps my hypothesis to burn it down and build something better just supports Karl Popper's falsicifactionism.  Or perhaps I'm just spewing out architectural diarhea that's absolute nonsense.  Stockholm Syndrome?  Really?
...end rant...