If you're ever in upstate NY, check out the Empire State Plaza in Albany ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_State_Plaza ), which is a massive complex of government buildings designed with similar principles to the government core of Brasilia.
They basically gutted the core of the city and built a million square feet of office space, connected by massive underground concourses, mazes of tunnels, and an outdoor concourse that resembles a Roman forum scaled for giant robots.
I think that one of the design principles was that senior bureaucrats would never need to be exposed to outdoor air or the city they work in the middle of. Hit the garage door opener, roll into your underground parking garage, and stroll through the corridors to your office.
It's literally a fifteen minute walk to get to a coffee shop on the street outside of the complex.
The style of the "Cultural Education Center" there reminds me of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in LA (early 1960s) -- monumental architecture on an elevated stone plaza, with a fountain and sculpture in front and parking beneath. It was also designed at the behest of a rich old cultural icon (Rockefeller in Albany, Dorothy "Buffy" Chandler in LA).
As you point out, one of the problems of this architectural style is that the resulting building is totally disconnected from the surrounding streetscape. It took decades for the area around the Chandler Pavilion in LA to gain back some significant buildings that had a relation to the street.
It turns out it's actually a net minus for the area if the people going to the building just park underneath, go up, do their business, and exit. The resulting bubble creates an obstacle for organic development nearby.
They basically gutted the core of the city and built a million square feet of office space, connected by massive underground concourses, mazes of tunnels, and an outdoor concourse that resembles a Roman forum scaled for giant robots.
I think that one of the design principles was that senior bureaucrats would never need to be exposed to outdoor air or the city they work in the middle of. Hit the garage door opener, roll into your underground parking garage, and stroll through the corridors to your office.
It's literally a fifteen minute walk to get to a coffee shop on the street outside of the complex.