US-Canadian border crossing...  

Another...
in Minnesota.
http://inhabitat.com/modern-green-us-canada-border-crossing-by-julie-sno...

Thanks,
Rockland. I've been gratified and impressed that our government has seen fit to commission worthy progressive architecture in recent years. I recently toured our new Federal Building here in San Francisco.
http://morphopedia.com/projects/san-francisco-federal-building

Great photo, thanks so much.
Would this be considered "borderline brutalist" architecture?
just a thought.

Mark, Mark, Mark
Show us your Gucci shoe-tree . . . !

O

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We love
you, don't be sad. And I won't step on your blue suedes, I promise.
What borders have you crossed lately -- or shouldn't I ask ?

The rocky courtyard should lo...
The rocky courtyard should look good when some vegetation begins to climb its way through, some small trees perhaps, strange and dramatic, in a good way. Leopard trees, magnolias, Japanese maples, some small cherrys or something.
PS. Mark I thought those things were usually round?

Speaking of the U.S./Canada...
Speaking of the U.S./Canada border crossing, someone I know was bringing back some furniture they bought in Vancouver, B.C., and at the border the U.S. customs agent asked where the furniture originated from. The agent then left for a bit, but returned with two armed guards, and in a menacing tone he said, "Well, we checked into what you told us, and have found that there is no such country as 'Scandinavia'".

Oh, for the love of . . .
!
Actually, when I visited the SF Federal Building I learned something rather dismaying: The interior color scheme in the dramatic public "nave" is appalling. Acres of darkish cold gray riveted panels combine with natural, polished concrete structure and a warm gray exposed-large-aggregate polished floor. The problem is that from the tall slanting gray-painted cladding sprout three or four green fiberglass air-handling shrouds -- attractively translucent and revealing a substructure of diagonal members. It's the color clash that's unforgivable: the harsh green and the blue-gray don't work AT ALL. It's astounding. With the industrial-brutal material palette one would hope for some touch of warmth -- but no.
The same fiberglass boxes appear again on the exterior, where they pop out from a concrete wall which lingers in the memory as sandy in color, a nice complement to a green that's warmer than the green found inside. A completely different effect and quite wonderful.

That's a shame, SDR.
If you ever make the trek down to the South Bay, you might want to check out the San Jose City Hall, designed by Richard Meier, who also did the Getty Center. I live nearby, so I see it every day; it sticks out of the neighborhood like a sore thumb, but other than that I think it's really nice.
In your town, the modernist public buildings are less attractive to me in general, for some reason, than the older (Beaux-Arts, etc.) buildings like the San Francisco City Hall. Last time I got married was at the top of these steps:

Oh, and
here's the San Jose City Hall, with a couple detail shots of the rotunda (neither these photos nor the ones at the link below are mine):
http://flickr.com/photos/43355952@N06/galleries/72157622890736034

ha
I've been Mark'd
Such an honor ; )
Cheers!