Discussion // "Lucky" Buildings

Just a little link here as I wind down for the weekend...I'll start posting some LA experiences here pretty soon.

I wonder what is it about a particular building that makes it lucky for tech businesses. Sure, there's the old adage of "location, location, location," but that applies more to marketability of real estate relative to local amenities and proximity to potential customers. Software companies, who themselves deal in the "virtual architecture" of computer programming, need neither retail nor on-site storage space to market their products. 

When successful tech companies, like Google and Pixar, do commission real architecture, the typical model of commercial construction, where businesses stay close to exposed and accessible city centers, seems not to apply. This is partly a result of the evolution of commodity to include transactable goods that are imaginary, i.e. data-only, and which impose no logistical demands of any kind, save bandwidth. [Hmm, that's an idea for a study of the economic geography of virtual infrastructure. Is that already a field of interest? I don't know.] Hence, many campuses of tech companies tend to first focus on catering to the health and welfare of the corporate employee (gasp!) to foster innovation. Yet, in doing so, they have already done something innovative  by shaking up the paradigm of corporate architecture. Some examples are even whimsical or theme-parkish in the ways they differ from or reject traditional American corporatism. Check out "Ebay Park" and "Googleplex" and "Pixar Headquarters," the last of which I've already posted a little bit about.

[eBay Park: the tech-bubble era funland]

I would say the one critique of "corporate utopianism" [to coin a new term] is that it is too suburban; it doesn't engage the city, as some might suggest architecture must for the benefit of our posterity. Though both Google's and Pixar's HQs are constructed "sustainably" using similar methods, and house suitably happy employees, there is a question over whether their isolation is an irresponsible rejection of urbanity. Maybe, maybe not. There is not enough information about the  long-term influence of the variable in the future equation: the substance-less commodity. As it is I'm in the process of learning a bit more of the philosophy behind urban design so I might be able to tell you in the near future. Until then, it's up for discussion.

I also can't tell you why that one building is so good at producing business blockbusters. The landlord did start his career selling Persian rugs, maybe there's a magic lamp hidden in the attic, who knows.

Project // Street Mapping

We were assigned a project on due on the first real day of studio (!!!) which required that we walk a street, in this case Hoover Street north of campus, and abstractly document the nature of the urban geography through our own individual perceptions. I chose to focus on graffiti, which plays a large role as a means of communication in urban subculture in Los Angeles. The graphics are themed to that effect. I assigned single words to images based on the intent or construct of the graffiti, and posed questions seeking additional insight.

The major critique of this sort of diagram, whose focus is primarily artistic, personal, and social, is that it doesn't convey in useful statistical or demographic data. Granted. I didn't put in the effort to truly "map" each occurrence, but in a sense my professor was right in another comment that he made, that each project is highly autobiographical. I am more interested in the personal. What are the people like? What is the "vibe" of the space? That's more the focus of this blog and my work. So I'll take the criticism.

I could write a lot about the neighborhood but I'll save that for another time. I can say that Hoover Street from USC to Wilshere Blvd consists primarily of low-income immigrant communities from Korea and Central America above the 110 and USC housing/buildings below. The northern section is also notorious for its high incidence of crime. Here's the location if you're curious.

View Larger Map

Place // Palm Springs, CA

I was more excited about visiting Palm Springs than any other city on our tour because it contains the greatest concentration of mid-century modern buildings in the country. The town's development as an isolated resort community paralleled the growth of nearby metropolises Los Angeles and San Diego and provided architects with a playground to test new design and construction techniques. The rise of Hollywood in the 1930's attracted tourists and illustrious clients to the Coachella Valley, including Frank Sinatra and Elvis, and made life in Palm Springs a lucrative and fashionable venture. Revised zoning laws, meanwhile, along with the support and foresight of ambitious developers like the Alexander Construction Company, accommodated the rapid expansion in concordance with the influx of new residents. The result is a regional architectural vernacular that is uniquely American and at the same time, uniquely Californian, and which functions like a dynamic exhibit, where the city itself is a museum, and the buildings works of art. Visiting this place is like stepping into a decades-old lab experiment whose instigators have long since passed but whose tubes and cauldrons are still bubbling with purpose. It is tangible history that is not so foreign to our perception of everyday life that we're unable to understand it. Palm Springs is glamorous, beautiful, and I love it...if only it wasn't 115 degrees when I was there, I may have stayed.

Some of the architects who practiced in Palm Springs are some of the most well-known American modernists: RM Schindler, Richard Neutra, Albert Frey, E. Stewart Williams, Palmer & Krisel, John Lautner and more. I will be posting all my images on Flickr soon, but bear in mind that many of the most famous buildings are private residences and thus inaccessible. So you'll have to live with just a taste. 

Also, check out this website dedicated to the preservation of Palm Springs Modern for more information.

[House, Albert Frey]

["House of Tomorrow" for Elvis Presley, Palmer + Krisel]

[Tramway Station / Visitors Center, Albert Frey]

[Palm Springs City Hall, Albert Frey]

[Kauffman House, Richard Neutra]

[Palm Springs Art Museum, E. Stewart Williams]

[Retail/Office Building, E. Stewart Williams]

[Bank, E. Stewart Williams]

[Tramway Hub, Base, E. Stewart Williams]

Discussion // What's In It For Me?

Sorry to interrupt, for those of you who are following, my highly entertaining tour of the good ol' U.S. of A., but I discovered a few debates taking place in Los Angeles and New York about the value of architecture in terms of economy and context.

Our first reading for an urban design seminar postulates the theory that we as architects only remodel what is existing, whether it be the landscape, site ecology, urban context, infrastructure, or existing buildings, and can include such things as local economy, cultural traditions and values. The latter more intangible principles tend to incite more debate and outrage among the general public than the former, because they involve sentimentality and the preservation of those aspects of life that are irreplaceable (home, family, career). Design becomes less important.

The New York example is a simpler issue of that sentimental attachment to identity, but the one here in Los Angeles questions why the school system would spend hundreds of millions of dollars on what it called "Taj Mahal" schools; there are currently in the city, each with a cost of over $200 million and the latest at a cost of over $500 million, the costliest in the nation. The article goes into thorough detail about the process through which these projects get built, and the reactions within the community. Many aspects are viewed negatively, and with good reason, because an honest assessment of the benefits can hardly convince anyone that 3 buildings-which few can access in one of the most overcrowded districts in the nation-justify the expenditures. 

[I visited one of these schools today. More to follow on this...]

One example, though, touches on an important aspect of the already fragile relationship between architects and the public. A spokesman for an urban school construction group in D.C. states rather dismissively that "architects and builders love this stuff, but there's a bit of a lack of discipline here." The discipline she refers to, of course, involves the distribution of funds to a select amount of schools, the extravagant use of taxpayer money to fund huge building projects, and the lack of proper administration within the school district to run the new schools. In other words, these projects are for and by the people that control the funding, and are NOT the direct result of architectural irresponsibility or lack of restraint. They highlight the critical disjuncture in public perception of the commission of design versus the result. The commission comes from the city; its provide the budget, the program, and the freedom by which the architects can synthesize a solution. They also choose architects based on past work so the end results can hardly come as a surprise. In a down economy, architects are neither obligated nor motivated to reduce fees or change their design style if the city is willing to accommodate both...or should we be? Do we really have the power to fight money? It's a tough question.

Enough musings for today. Probably didn't make much sense. First day of class tomorrow...

Place // Albuquerque, NM

>Albuquerque, New Mexico
Founded: 1706
Population: 528,000 (inc) 857,000 (metro)
Claims to Fame: Bugs Bunny, Aliens, Nuclear Tests & Route 66

[Is there a Bugs TomTom voice?]

Albuquerque marks the westward transition from the flat grassy plains of Oklahoma and Texas to the undulating desert topography and low-lying brush vegetation by which Southwestern cities are commonly identified. The city's character is derived from its heritage as a Spanish, and later Mexican, military garrison, and is expressed most clearly in numerous examples of Pueblo Revival style architecture.

[Transit Station. The city has been a hub of SW travel since its origin.]

[Quirky bungalow in a historic district.]

What you immediately notice about desert cities is the bolder use of color on urban edifice. Three factors contribute to this phenomenon of intervention: the lack of canopy vegetation (i.e. dense leaf deciduous trees), the use adobe stucco as the primary building material, and abundant, unobstructed sunlight. The sparsity of localized visual cues creates the impression of the building against the distant landscape rather than neighboring objects. Flanking the urban core of Albuquerque are mountainous ridges that offer little in the way of chromatic variation; as a result, bright pastels are popular color choices, as are deeper reds and purples. [The works of Ricardo Legorreta and Luis Barragan - both Mexican - are better examples of how color can bring visual energy to desert architecture.] Adobe stucco is a great surface on which to apply color because it's naturally neutral and the surface texture accepts paint and disperses natural light.

[Townhomes]

[Don't worry, the town ain't radioactive...]

As far as tourist sites go, the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History, the only congressionally-chartered museum of its type, is worth checking out. New Mexico, of course, is well-known as the location of nuclear weapons development and testing during to WW2 (See: The Los Alamos Laboratory and The Trinity Test). The museum's exhibits describe the history of the implementation of nuclear science towards facets of our everyday life, from military to medicine to energy.

The University of New Mexico is also an important component of the urban fabric to the northeast of downtown; Antoine Predock, a former student of the University whose practice is based in Albuquerque, designed the recently-completed School of Architecture building, shown below.  

[UNM School of Architecture. Almost applied here.]

[Pueblo Brutal?]

[The desert]

Place // Oklahoma City, OK

>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.

[Lots of Federal Bldgs in Downtown OKC. It is a seat for the region.]

[Wide medians, wacky overhead bridges and empty streets. Part of the plan?]

[OKC Memorial Reflecting Pool]

[OKC Memorial "Field of Chairs"]

[Postmod attacks the street...AIIIIEEEE!]

[Fascinating blocky building. Stage Center, 1970, by John M. Johansen]

[OKC suburbs at sunset. Silos and Elvis hamburgers, nothing better.]

Place // Little Rock, AR

>Little Rock, AR

Founded: 1831

Population: 192,000 (inc) 842,000 (metro, including North Little Rock and Pine Bluff)

Claim to Fame: Home of Bill Clinton

[If you'd like to see more pictures, please visit my Flickr gallery]

About two hours drive west of Memphis on the Arkansas River, Little Rock is best known at the Arkansas state capital and hometown of Bill Clinton. It is a modestly populated town, similar in size to Tulsa, Sarasota, Knoxville, Omaha, Baton Rouge, etc. The construction of the William J. Clinton Presidential Library to the south of downtown coincided with a major urban revitalization and the establishment of the pleasantly accommodating River Market District, a pedestrian-friendly corridor (named President Clinton Avenue...I'm sensing a trend..."I did not, have, sexual relations, with the person in charge of naming the streets and buildings.") with shops, residential units, hotels, and civic buildings terminating at the library's prominent hilltop perch.

The library is the city's architectural landmark. Built in 2004, the building's design anticipated then-upcoming LEED credit ratings through a series of sustainable initiatives. Exposed structure references a nearby bridge than spans the Arkansas River and provides a nice backdrop for the dramatic cantilever at the east end. The expansive library grounds border the nicely-sited Heifer International, which features its own fabulous green architecture and whose purpose is to study and educate in the field of sustainable agriculture.

"I may not have been the greatest president, but I've had the most fun eight years." –Bill Clinton

Side note: Is "Market" the new buzzword of this decade for public, urban open spaces? In the 70's and 80's it was "Plaza", in the 90's it was "Arts District." At least that's what it seems like, I haven't done any research on the subject.

[Heifer International]

[William J. Clinton Presidential Library]

[River Market on Clinton Avenue. Narrow streets + Trolley...]

Place // Tupelo, MS

At long last, my ship has struck shore at the Golden Coast. It was an arduous journey, not only because of the time and mental stamina required to drive 2300 miles over four days, but also because it was hot as blue blazes pretty much everywhere we went. Note to self: do NOT drive through Arkansas in the middle of August ever again.

But now that I'm here, it's time to reflect. Most of the following posts will be brief portraits of places and towns that inspired me, or at least gave me some reason to stop and think, or wander about, so enjoy!

[Downtown Tupelo. Check the extreme width of the main street.]

>Tupelo, Mississippi

Founded: 1870

Population: 34,000 (inc) 134,000 (metro)

Claim to Fame: Birthplace of Elvis Presley. Long Live the King, baby...

The story of Tupelo is an interesting case of one of the first truly modern municipalities established in the Deep South. Founded in 1870, Tupelo, like most Southern towns, was extremely slow to industrialize after the Civil War and consequently sparsely populated until 1934 when it became the first city electrified by the Tennessee Valley Authority, prompting President Roosevelt to dub it "The First TVA City." It evokes the same hospitality and gentility as Southern towns of similar stature, but Tupelo's modern roots reveal themselves in its urban features.

The initial plan obviously caters to the newly-popular automobile culture; the primary thoroughfare is 6 lanes across - 4 for traffic, 2 for parking - and approx. 12' wide sidewalks provide an almost excessive buffer for the storefronts against the cars. Though some homes from the initial settlement survive, most of the primary commercial/civic buildings - Fire Station No. 1, the city high school, theater, etc. - date from 1925 and later, which coincides with the TVA intervention. Many are designed in the Art Deco style - also popular in the 1920s and 30s. Plantation homes and other iconic examples of Antebellum architecture that appear in older, more traditional Southern cities like Savannah, Madison, Augusta, or Charleston, do not exist in Tupelo.

And yet, the town still retains the down-home, laid-back Southern vibe that makes the region so unique and wonderful. Excepting the brief flurry of activity brought about by Federal involvement, the town has been slow to develop and slow to grow, typical of the pace of Southern life. It is a snapshot of the earliest period of American Modernism.

Sweet tea, anyone?

[Lyric Theater.]

[Vintage home, early modern.]

[Tupelo Police Dept.]

[Fire Station No. 1. Art Deco Pilaster Caps.]

[Milam High School, ca. 1928. Architect - Ben Price.]

Photo // On The Road

The oil derrick of the 21st century....cool.

[Wind turbines at sunset in Oklahoma.]

More images and writings from my cross-country roadtrip coming soon...stay tuned!

Lifestyle // Mobile Munchies...Modern!

To continue on the topic of gastronomic delights, we bring you the exciting news (at least among foodies) that the City of Atlanta has, at long last, granted its first mobile food truck permit to an outfit called Yumbii. Food trucks, which generally dish out local and ethnic specialties like tacos in Los Angeles or cheesesteaks in Philadelphia, are the hot trend in American culinary circles; the Atlanta variation serves southern-style Korean tacos (huh??).

The phenomenon of the food truck represents some ideas about architecture and urbanism that have been floating around in my head the past few days. The following little doodles sum them up pretty well. By no means are these ideas original, they simply illustrate the evolution of the archetypal American lifestyle over the past 150 years, with watershed changes occurring in increments of about 50 years or so with the introduction of a new tool - the car, the computer, etc. I'm channelling my inner Roger Lewis here...

1900: A New Century.

1950: Baby Boomers.

2010: The Internet Age.

 The first image shows urban life at around 1900: high density, near the urban core, with food, entertainment, and other necessities in close proximity. Your own two feet were your primary means of locomotion. By 1950, automobile and suburban culture had taken hold. The single-family detached house became the desired dwelling unit, and people traveled from their home in their cars to achieve their necessities - a "destination" culture. Today, the personal computer, along with a complex delivery infrastructure, allows us to summon our necessities directly to our McMansions, where we also work and find entertainment. The arrows represent the behavior of the consumer in relation to the flow of goods, and commodities; first, goods and consumers revolved closely around the home, then consumers extended directly outward from the home, and now goods come directly inward.

Food trucks are, in essence, symbols of the inward lifestyle. They become units of mobile architecture that bring goods (in this case wacky tacos) to wherever people request them. Social media websites like Twitter and Facebook facilitate this interaction.

It would be a good exercise to try and draw a diagram for the year 2050, the next step in the series.

(Top photo Christiane Lauterbach / Carson Young / Atlanta Food Carts blog)

Building // Googie Burger

New burger joint in Centennial Park, named for the futuristic architectural style of the '50s and '60s inspired by the Space Race, Atomic Age, and rise of automobile culture. 

"Googie" refers to the eponymous wife of the owner of a distinctively-styled Los Angeles coffee shop designed by John Lautner in 1949. The use of swooping parabolic and hyperbolic roof canopies, oblique geometries, and bold signage distinguish the style from the more subdued "high" modernism practiced by architects like Neutra, Koenig, van der Rohe, etc. The style embraced commercialism and increasing pace of life in its iconography. Think Jetsons, the Stardust, 1964 New York World's Fair...

Architecture by ai3; not something you see everyday in Atlanta, and a little bit more exciting than other buildings around the park (albeit at a different scale). Unfortunately I didn't get to try the burgers ;)