True Green Cities / Connecting the Dots: Taking a Walk Downtown

Spring skipped Buffalo this year.  We went from ice pellet storms to 75 degrees literally over night.  The next two weeks will average 70 degrees with sun every day.  In the mean time, my fella in North Carolina has been suffering with 50 degree weather and gray for two weeks.  I believe the weather gods are rewarding Buffalonians for surviving an exceedingly gray six months of winter or else it is just the chaos of climate change (or both!).  I woke up on Saturday morning to glorious sun and decided to borrow one of my sister’s dogs to roam around downtown and figure out what’s really going on here.  I have not walked further than two blocks in any direction of my loft since I moved here November 1^st.  So, off Kolby and I went.  Destination: Canalside, whatever that is.

The 500 Block to the 100 Block

Walking from the 500 Block of Main Street, where I live and work, to the 100 Block of Main Street, the last metro stop and the edge of Canalside, showed both the possibilities and horrors of downtown Buffalo.  There was almost no one besides me enjoying the weather and sights (2 pm on Saturday, sun and 76 degrees).  I said hello to one other woman walking her dog.  I did not see one bicyclist, runner, skateboarder, or rollerblader in my hour ramble down and back.

The Possibilities and the Fabulous:  Along that half mile walk at the heart of downtown Buffalo I observed: the rehabilitated Belesario/Gamler’s complex where I live, the just restored spectacular Lafayette Hotel, the currently under renovation Emory Roth-designed Tishman Building (becoming a Hilton Garden with some residential), several small scale commercial buildings that have been bought and rehabbed by my neighbors for living, the beautifully restored National Historic Landmark Louis Sullivan Guaranty Building and its neighbor, the phenomenal NHL Gothic Revival masterpiece, St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral, by Richard Upjohn,  Minoru Yamasaki’s M&T Bank Headquarters with its fanciful Bertoia fountain, Daniel Burnham’s Ellicott Square Building, Edward Durrell Stone’s restrained brutalist Buffalo News Headquarters, our downtown Triple A Baseball stadium and professional hockey arena, glimpses of our iconic grain elevators and the start of Canalside.  Kolby was in heaven, so many new smells and places to stop and consider relieving himself!

The Horrors:  In the half-mile walk down and back to Canalside, I also experienced the worst of a not-yet-revived downtown.  I was verbally accosted three times, with requests for money two other times.  I saw two police actions.  I’d say on average every other building was vacant or underused.  Almost no streetside cafes or stores other than two lotto places, one convenience store, an OTB, a Dollar store, a Tim Horton’s which closed at 3 pm, several banks (all closed), and one coffee shop (closed at 3 pm). That was it.  It was an eerie and uncomfortable walk – some of the best architecture in the world with almost no infrastructure to connect it.  Very little green space.  Whenever Kolby spotted a green slice he dragged me over to it.

Canalside – Buffalo’s New Cultural Heritage Destination

The Canalside project area covers approximately 20 acres of idle land in Buffalo’s historic former canal district. The master plan proposes nearly 725,000 square feet of mixed-use space for entertainment, hotel, office, retail, residential, restaurant, and other uses. This new district is wrapped around the historic end (or beginning) of the Erie Canal. Archaeological ruins and reconstructed canal buildings plus the Buffalo & Erie County Military and Naval Park anchor Canalside.  All the people who were NOT walking on Main Street were here at Canalside. The Buffalo & Erie County Military & Naval Park houses two ships and a submarine and has been a draw to this area for many years. All summer long concerts and events make this area even more active.  Brightly colored Adirondack chairs dot the landscape. I was delighted to see so much activity, particularly after my dreary walk from my apartment.  This revitalization is State and private funding driven, with an estimated price tag of $400 M which means to me that half a billion is more like it.

Do you detect some cynicism?  Yes, I’m afraid you do.  Although maybe it’s not so much cynicism as disappointment and impatience.  And it’s because the City of Buffalo is nowhere to be found as a player  here in this revitalization.  How do you get to Canalside?  Very few people take public transportation; it’s really not reasonable to do so.  Yes, it’s great to have a growing cultural heritage destination remaking our waterfront, but still, there is little infrastructure or planning to connect the dots of the great singular neighborhoods in Buffalo, let alone Niagara Falls.  Will the new Buffalo Green Code remedy this?  Maybe a bit, but how long will this take and will it really impact downtown?  Will the influx of new professionals for the Buffalo Niagara medical campus just north of my place provide the population to revive downtown?  Maybe, but how long will this take?  And what happens if the HSBC building at the foot of Main Street (Buffalo’s largest office building) does indeed default on its mortgage and no one moves in?  If this happens, I fear downtown has no hope.  And sadly, at 50, not sure that I have the energy to wait it out again.  New York City or the Pacific Northwest might be calling again instead.

Can Downtown Business Cores Really Become Lively Residential Neighborhoods?

Houston has an astonishing amount of construction including a massive school construction bond and a growing residential population.  But still no downtown grocery store.  Philadelphia has become one of the most spectacular downtowns anywhere, and it wasn’t like this 20 years ago when I started going regularly.  It does have the mass now to draw grocery stores and even the hallowed Trader Joe’s.  New York City’s financial district has more and more residential, and more and more services. It’s still rather quiet on weekends except for tourists but New York City’s amazing transportation system and pedestrian friendly streets makes it really easy to quickly get from neighborhood to neighborhood.  These cities are, of course, the largest and most vibrant in America.  And despite its cultural growth with some of the best architecture in the world, Buffalo still sits at the top of the poverty list among American cities. Darn it, city, get your act together.  It’s so great we have neighborhoods like the Delaware District, the Elmwood Village, Parkside and Hertel, but if our tourists and downtown residents can’t easily get to them and all they see from their downtown hotel windows is a desert of vacant buildings, then how do we expect to move forward?

What I See From My Window

I will be the first to admit that I sit in my ivory loft and pass judgment on what I see and what I do not see from my 10-foot high 15-foot wide commercial windows.  I will also be the first to admit that I am fairly privileged and calling my sister each morning to give her a count of the less fortunate “hobos” I see from my windows is not a sympathetic or kind thing to do.  If 50 is the new 40 and 40 is the new 30, does that mean I have found myself back at 30? In some respects it would seem so.   When I was 30 I had just started my first architecture firm in a fabulous loft in SoHo (Prince and Broadway).  My business partner and I got a 600 foot space with original wood floors, soaring 12 foot high ceilings with two cast iron Corinthian columns and windows facing Broadway.  We paid $600 a month (about $12/sq.ft) – that same space would be in the $7,500/month range (about $150/sq.ft) today. Manhattan’s SoHo was gritty then, the perfect place for thirty somethings in the creative class to make our mark and change the world. My hair stylist opened her studio the same month we opened ours. She now has an international brand.  We were all young and had no money but that didn’t stop any of us.  So that’s why in some respects I find myself frustrated when I look out my windows on Main Street in downtown Buffalo and see it 20 years behind NYC, Philadelphia, Seattle, Houston, Washington, DC, Pittsburgh or Cincinnati.  I was an urban pioneer at 30, do I really want to be one again at 50? Whether I like it or not I guess I am.

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True Green Cities / Two Years & Counting: Keeping It Weird with a Great Campus Plan

Austin, Texas has a well-deserved reputation as a forward thinking “green” city and it is indeed very well deserved.  I spent three days in Austin in October speaking to the students at the University of Texas Architecture School and giving a workshop at the AIA Texas annual conference.   I was treated with a stay at the University of Texas at Austin’s campus in a contemporary LEED certified luxury hotel, was given tours of the historic buildings on campus soon to have green rehabs and dodged bicycles and pedestrians everywhere.  The weather was divine in October – the city was green and lush, and everyone seems to think that this is a special place, whether you live there or visit.  It’s hard not to get caught up with “Keeping Austin Weird!”  Keeping Austin Weird is the slogan adopted by the Austin Independent Business Alliance to promote small businesses in Austin and it’s come to mean the innovation and sustainability that Austin has become famous for.

A Masterful Master Plan

I had one perfectly glorious day to myself where I never left the campus and just wandered around photographing the details and the views.  Today the university has 48,000 students but because of the beautifully balanced zones on the campus, it never felt crowded or overwhelming.  The university had a masterful master plan prepared in 1999 by Cesar Pelli Associates (now Pelli Clarke Pelli) & Balmori Associates, which is a continuation of a long history of inspired master plans.  The entire master plan can be downloaded from the UT website and if you have interest in seeing an inspired master plan, then I encourage you to look at it.  Classical architect Paul Cret designed the core master plan of the campus in 1933 using previous contributions by Cass Gilbert in 1909 and James M. White in 1923 and Greene, LaRoche, and Dahl in 1928.

The following excerpt from the Introduction sets the stage for the master planning very well:

The original 40 Acres, deeded to the University in 1881 by the State of Texas, located the campus on a hill, creating a powerful and enduring image. Even though these 40 Acres, first called “College Grove” and then “College Hill,” were set aside in 1839 by the City of Austin, the location of the University was determined by vote of the people of Texas in 1881. Austin won the election, and the 40 Acres were then given to the state to use for the proposed University.  The eventual placement of buildings and open spaces within these 40 Acres was beautifully balanced. The scale and splendor of trees and topography, and the equilibrium between the constructed environment and the open spaces continue to play a critical role in public perceptions of the campus. The Cass Gilbert master plan for The University of Texas at Austin established the Spanish Mediterranean character of the campus structured by a cross axial plan. However, it was Paul Cret’s 1933 master plan that most significantly established the future design direction for the 40 Acres and served as the model for the overall character of the University. Cret’s plan recommended shaping exterior spaces into courtyards and using building walls to define the larger open space. The result was a superb, powerful and axial organization.

A Return to the Architectural Vocabulary of Paul Cret

The master plan seeks to reconnect with the best of Paul Cret’s intentions for a campus that unites architecture and open space as a unified environment. The organizing principles of the master plan include returning to the equilibrium between building and open space and creating a unified system for vehicular and pedestrian traffic and a strengthened identity of place.  Fourteen years later, as the principles of the master plan continue to shape the restoration and new construction on the campus, the buildings are being systematically upgraded, making them as green as possible, targeting LEED Gold in most cases.

The School of Architecture, Battle Hall, designed by Cass Gilbert in 1911 is the next big sustainable preservation project on campus.  Originally built as the Main Library for the campus in Spanish Mediterranean Revival style, it was the first building built using that style, and its influence continues today since Cret’s master plan and now the current one have identified the Spanish Revival as the preferred architectural style, particularly the red tile roof, limestone walls and overhanging eaves.

Two Years & Counting

As a celebration of my firm’s two-year anniversary I have posted each day this week about places I’ve visited in the past year. Today is the last day of the week’s celebration and I’m happy to share some photos of some of the great architectural details and views that can be found throughout the campus.

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True Green Cities / Two Years & Counting: Is Durability the Best Sustainable Preservation Tool?

One of the most interesting places I visited this past year was Fergus Falls, Minnesota. The three blogs I wrote about the former Fergus Falls State Hospital turn out to be three of the most widely read blogs I’ve written.  The Fergus Falls Regional Treatment Center was one of the last Kirkbride-plan asylums built in the country and as such has inspired a national interest in its disposition.  Vacant for several years now, the 900,000 square foot complex presents all of the positive and negative aspects of complexes often referred to as “white elephants.”  My posts have asked if we can recycle cans why can’t we reuse the Fergus Falls Treatment Center?  If Bruges, Belgium can remake an 800 year old hospital why can’t we figure out how to reuse a one hundred year old one?  And if they can just hold on, won’t its durability allow Fergus Falls the time they need to find an appropriate reuse?

Why is Durability Key to both Sustainability & Preservation?

When something inherently lasts longer, its life cycle is longer. When a material like stone or a building built of stone lasts longer, it needs to be replaced less often, resulting in less impact on the planet and the environment. Most traditional buildings were built with extremely durable materials. First growth wood and marble, sandstone or limestone will typically have very long life spans.  If the building’s materials are lasting longer and structurally sound, continued or adaptive use makes much more economic sense than demolition.  Often the argument to save an old building can be won because of its durability rather than its cultural significance.  Two projects I’m currently working on still have their original windows from the 1870s and 1880s, likely made from first-growth wood, and we are still able to restore and re-use them.  So, when I look at the 900,000 square foot Fergus Falls State Hospital complex and see that it is still in sound condition, it becomes apparent that it could probably sit vacant for a decade with little deterioration; not that I recommend that. This incredibly sound and durable structure can be easily partitioned and phased since each of the ward buildings are separate buildings. I can think of at least ten different uses that could be readily inserted into the place and none of them would damage the existing fabric. So why isn’t its durability enough to keep it safe from the wrecking ball right now?

Durability Just Doesn’t Trump Vacancy Rates

It is both a graceful and restful site, far enough from downtown to encourage a variety of dedicated uses and close enough to ensure the city population would visit.  However, the city of Fergus Falls has a population just over 13,000 and in our current economic climate, there is little need for additional housing, commercial space or industrial space for the surrounding region. With vacant commercial space in the downtown core, the current population cannot currently support or use this large additional complex without an outside user.  As a result, after much contention which can be read about in my previous postings linked above, a marketing firm was hired to manage a request for proposal process to identify potential developers.  So far about a dozen potential developers have expressed interest and the city has requested a two year extension on the demolition funds that have been allocated by the state.  In the meantime, a project to do a “flash” photo documentation of the site on May 4^th has been approved by the city council. If you’d like to learn more about the place, this history has just been released.  With these positive announcements, I am optimistic that the durability of this place will soon join with an economically feasible reuse, and unlike the Richardson Olmsted Complex, it may not take 30 years.

Two Years & Counting

As a celebration of my firm’s two-year anniversary I will be posting each day this week about places I’ve visited in the past year. My visit to Fergus Falls also gave me the bonus of my first visit to North Dakota. Fergus Falls is within an hour of Fargo, North Dakota, the largest city in North Dakota. With the next closest metropolitan area almost three hours away in the Twin Cities, Fargo is the nearest metropolitan area.  It is the home of North Dakota State University and a ND-MN Metropolitan Statistical Area, which in 2010 contained a population of 212,171. I was happy to finally make it to North Dakota and check it off my state list.  I spent a delightful day in downtown Fargo after my visit to Fergus Falls, admiring the revitalized streets and buildings.  The core is surrounded by rings of suburban sprawl with traffic that reminded me of the Beltway.  But that’s pretty common in most cities today, whether they’re in Maryland or North Dakota. And like any reactivated urban core around the country, I was able to drink tea in a cool coffee shop on the main street, admire street art, buy some soaps and post cards, peruse a midcentury furniture antique store, watch a train go by the historic train station (which has been reused as shops) and check out the restored downtown movie theatre. All in all, a perfect afternoon.

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