guerilla-type activism by those who care about the urban experience but who are not part of the traditional development team. Examples of these types of urban interventions are highlighted in the August 2012 issue of Architect magazine. The special issue is co-edited by the curators of “Spontaneous Interventions: Design Actions for the Common Good” in the U.S. Pavilion of the 2012 Venice Biennale. (One Dallas organization, Better Block, is featured at the Biennale and in Architect.) Pop-up events, urban squatting, and occupy-inspired happenings featured at the Biennale are a clue that the 20th Century planning models are not meeting the needs of our 21st Century population. Regardless of whether one approves of or likes the projects at the current Biennale, the interventions are the result of a deep dissatisfaction with our cities. Architects, planners, and developers would do well to study these movements. to help shape the city but they have to make the argument to developers and to city officials that a mixed-use building with retail on the ground floor, offices for a few floors, and affordable residential units above is a model that is flexible enough to accommodate the needs of the city and its citizens for this century and the next one. The issue is completely outside of style. “We don’t want a hamburger stand jammed into the front of the Myerson,” said Lill. And who would disagree? Well, plenty of people might disagree, judging from the interventions displayed in Venice.
Architects have a chance
Monumentality sans street life at the Wiley Theater from the corner of Flora and Jack Evans Streets.
At lunchtime, many parts of downtown Dallas are bustling with activity. But the quest for this kind of urban vitality does not end with benches, sign ordinances, lighting requirements, and street trees. A thoughtful set of guidelines is, of course, essential for these urban elements. But, a vibrant
At lunchtime, many parts of downtown Dallas are bustling with activity. But the quest for this kind of urban vitality does not end with benches, sign ordinances, lighting requirements, and street trees. city also requires a mix of uses, especially at the sidewalk level, and if the need for that mix is not explicitly required, then maybe the conversation needs to be revived. This is not a question of art versus commerce where the answer to a lifeless city is an either-or proposition, but is instead the bounteous both-and proposition. Are there good examples where art and commerce interlock? One comes to mind — the Yale Center for British Arts by Louis Kahn. This first-rate museum was planned within a fairly dense part of New Haven. The museum is combined, at the ground level, with shops. The building design accommodates the complex uses of a museum along with amenities at the street. Neither of the programmatic uses nor the architectural experience is compromised, and each use benefits the other. In this case, something like a hamburger stand is inserted into a cultural icon and it works very well. Good building form is not diluted by a good streetscape. Very few architects get the chance to be part of the discussion for major buildings. What are the other 99% to do? They can seek involvement in planning commissions, zoning boards, design review boards, homeowners associations, and other community organizations that are at the table when discussions are had and decisions are made. Without architects involved in community organizations, the city suffers. Joe Self, AIA, is the principal of FIRM817 in Fort Worth.
56 Texas Architect
11/12 2012