non-commercial public spaces are disappearing from use. . .big boxes and parking lots are our social parks now, where we brush up against each other in person. now we create public spaces online. I want to know. . . what the architecture of Facebook really looks like ?
I was invited to participate in an architecture critique recently. the students were all redesigning a local I.M.Pei building as a museum of money. (very clever assignment by professor Tim Nichols. this historic building is only 2 stories high on a block greedy for skyscrapers. this is prime real estate. small buildings waste space that could be making money. it stands just around the corner from the 615 building, which they killed two years ago, and the space still sits empty.) The design I remember the most was from a very shy young korean student. in her model, she removed the bottom floor of the building, and preserved the top as is. . . and then, she put an empty space for temporary open markets on the first floor. She made a simple yet lovely shady piazza! A place I would love to see come to fruition, especially on that corner which has dramatic spatial choreography.
But from what I can see, the developers will collaborate with I.M.Pei himself to deface his own building into a mixed use, and of course "green" mega-building. They intent to preserve "a portion" of the original. well, of course I'm skeptical. . .but I guess one can't be too critical of any attempts at preservation at this point. . . . . . . .
2 comments:
hey Karen:
i recently came across this article/essay while webby wide & i thought you may enjoy reading it (if you haven't already):
How to make a community as well as the space for it
i've only been outta the States one time, to Göteberg Sweden & Oslo Norway -- in Göteberg i was amazed & overjoy'd from how many non-motorized streets they had, & they were vitally alive, teeming w/ peoples -- it was a true revelation for me to experience such a thing, making me realize how inhuman many cities are -- Atlanta in particular has that inhuman aura if one is inclined to peripatetic navigation -- Seattle is the most ped friendly city i've been in Statewise, it was great exploring that city.
i'm pretty ignorant in the subject of city planning & such, what's your take on the current situation/climate?
is it becoming more of a recognized ideal to be put in place for future city planning?
or does the concept encounter resistance/dismissal by those responsible for such things?
aren't we all responsible for them?
how can we interact w/ the process?
& i thank you for implanting such ideas/questions in my mind...
public space. . .I just go insane thinking about what a social culture my city, atlanta is. . .and how damn empty the streets are. . .it's a ghost town. everything happens inside and by private invite.
and it's such a spacious, weather wonderful place. . . so many parking lots would make damn fine piazzas and public gardens!
but there's a part of me that dislikes the idea of heavy-handed city planners with their professional ideals and intant neighborhoods.
instead of just plopping a public space somewhere abstractly. . . wouldn't it be better to study a place and see where it is that people gather. . .then design some empty non-comercial space into the landscape.
we suffer from the tabula rasa syndrome.
(more on that later)
-kt
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