The Newtown Pentacle

Monday

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Allow me to start this one by stating that before shooting this photo, I had no idea that an outfit called ‘The Pittsburgh Foundation’ existed.

Apparently, the organization is a fairly well heeled non profit. What drew me in was contemplation of exactly what the heck is going on with that building of theirs, architecturally speaking…

I stood there on the corner, running my eyes up and down the thing while trying to work it out. Some dude walked by, who then asked what I was staring at. I pointed, and He started staring at the weird building too.

Soon, there was a third, and then we were all confused… why does that… and where does this… and what purpose would… our trio soon dispersed into individual confusion.

According to Google’s AI:

MossArchitects is the architectural firm behind The Pittsburgh Foundation’s new headquarters located at 912 Fort Duquesne Blvd. The project, which was completed in early 2025, involved a 31,308-square-foot build-out across the top two floors of the building, featuring collaborative spaces, a rooftop patio, and modern office design.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

One shouldn’t look upwards. It’s not where I belong.

Streets, alleys, sewer plants, junk yards… that’s where a creature like myself properly dwells.

Loathsome, antilaconic, truly annoying, and pedantic… that’s me in a nutshell. Filthy too, I need’s filth. Gotta have some soil, soot, or black grease on the ground. Everybody hates me, on sight, so it’s best to hide in the places where people aren’t. Getting stoned doesn’t necessarily involve inebriants for me, rather it’s people throwing rocks at me when I’m observed passing by. Dogs bark. Children cry. Crows circle.

The plan for my day was ‘a photowalk,’ not a ‘stand around with two random strangers and critique odd office architecture,’ so the scuttle was leaned back into. I’d need to navigate a path through Downtown Pittsburgh to get from one river to the next, so the process of kicking my feet around while leaning forward started, and soon – a pretty convincing simulacra of human locomotion was underway, just all herky jerky.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Cutting through Pittsburgh’s convention center, where a cool looking semi truck caught my eye. The driver was setting up vehicle ramps to lead into the trailer, so this was likely a ‘car carrier’ setup.

11th street, as it were, is encapsulated and overshadowed by the convention center, from its intersection with Fort Duquesne Blvd. On the other side, the street bursts out into those few shafts of sunlight which might be found downtown.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

This area is what I’d refer to as ‘the ritual center’ of Pittsburgh. NYC has multiples of these ‘centers,’ spread across the boroughs.

Want to have a parade, you’d do it somewhere nearby. Picklesburgh? Yup.

Pittsburgh’s City Hall, and all the corporate bigwigs, can be found in this Downtown ‘zone.’ The streets are narrow and messy, and often populated by groups of unwanted people doing undesirable things. I’m told that as recently as ten years ago, things were quite different downtown, but that’s likely sophistry. I look over the shoulder hereabouts NYC style, and keep my headphones dangling down rather than playing in my ears. You want to listen for the slap of a sneaker against the pavement, as an early alert that something is about to go down.

Saying all that, it’s really not all that dangerous here if you keep your wits about you and ‘radar’ turned up. It’s just worrying here, as there are big clots of drug enthusiasts seemingly embedded into this area.

Desperate people do desperate things.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

This was one of the first days, after a month long interval of snow and arctic cold, that air temperatures had risen sufficiently for ice and snowpack melting to occur.

Everything was dripping and wet, and in certain spots it seemed to be raining, as the ice released from high flying masonry walls. The lack of building setbacks in Pittsburgh means that all that water dumps straight down onto the sidewalks. Given that single digit temperatures had ruled for a month, the second that the water hit the ground it froze again forming… you guessed it – Black ice, yo.

Pictured is a court building. I’m told that what appears to be a bell tower is actually a ventilation shaft, part of many accommodations which architects used to have to incorporate into large structures like this one in notoriously humid Pittsburgh prior to the era of air conditioning. Neat.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

One found himself back in direct sunlight at the shoreline of the Monongahela River, and at the soul shaking threshold of the Smithfield Street Bridge. The plan for the rest of the day got pretty simple from this point. In short – horror, alienation, and an inconceivable sense of loneliness was what I was hoping for. Long story short: win.

I’d cross the river, look around and try to photograph some trains, and then hop back on the T to head back to HQ in Dormont.

More on all that tomorrow.

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