And would it be normal to have a cooling tower directly on the concrete slab which also acts as the cieling for the office space on the floor below? or is this a no-no?

Oddly, perhaps, I feel considerable fondness for the Financial Center Building as well. Brutalism, as an architectural style, we may gratefully consider dead; and yet I find that some of its offspring have held up remarkably.

We can’t accuse the Financial Center Building of abusing the pedestrian’s eye, for it doesn’t - indeed, of all downtown’s bank towers, it has perhaps the most directly accessible, most transparent sidewalk interface, with office space, rather than lobby or elevator core, in the foreground. Too, there’s a pleasingly decorative little garden. The Financial Center’s concrete facade has weathered gracefully like cut stone, its stucture is rational and lisible, its proportions are harmonious; the Classical principle of base, shaft and capital is observed. And I like its deeply recessed, only mildly reflective windows, that allow me to see in while suggesting that the people and transactions inside are nonethess securely protected.

Dryly utilitarian? Could be. If we’ve a demolition wish list for downtown though, I wouldn’t nominate the Financial Center Building for inclusion.

Take a look at this slightly less ugly concrete box a few blocks away. That’s the size penthouse they normally give us for this size building (ok, this one looks unrealistically small - I’m guessing part of the top floor is penthouse, and the boiler and chiller are in the basement).