American Modern American

>Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Year Founded: 1889
Population: 560,000 (inc) 1,200,000 (metro)
Claim to Fame: Oklahoma City Bombing of 1995

OKC's development is marked by 4 important events - the "Land Run" at the city's inception around 1890, discovery of oil within the city limits in 1928, the Pei Plan of 1964-1966, and the terrorist attack of 1995.

[Pei Plan, 1964. Rendering.]

The latter two events are contrasts in the how large-scale urban design is conceived, executed, and received by the public. The Pei Plan, which could be seen as an early prelude to post-modernism mixed with references to Corbusierian urbanism, intended to combat urban sprawl of the post-WWII era through the establishment of a superblock system with parking decks, indoor shopping arcades, pedestrian bridges, enclosed courtyards, etc. The scope of this project was immense and required the demolition of a large percentage of the existing core of the city.

Eventually, financial support for the project ran dry and construction stopped around 1980, leading many private developers to seek more inexpensive opportunities in malls outside the downtown district and leaving important historical buildings destroyed without much renewal to replace them. What remained are disparate remnants of an unfulfilled vision; streets blocked by office arcades which fail to offer any pedestrian incentive, and a lack of architectural character. I can understand why the project has been viewed in an increasingly negative light as time has passed. [Side note: IM Pei has had a pretty amazing influence on modernism/post-modernism in America, hasn't he? His work in OKC remains relatively unknown, but projects elsewhere are recognizable even in international circles. Fortunately, he's done enough good work to cover for his mistakes.]

The Oklahoma City bombing, however, universally mourned as a tragic day for the people of our nation, inspired some positive architectural and urban interventions, the most notable of which being a memorial on the former site of the destroyed Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. Designed by local firm Butzer Design Partnership, it not only offers a reminder of those who died in the attack, but also provides an open and contemplative green space in an otherwise uncompromising urban core. Its prominent location at the top of a ridge at the north end of the city also lends to an excellent view of the OKC skyline. The memorial is now one of the most popular downtown tourist destinations.

Check out the pics below, there are more in the Flickr gallery.