This quarter’s is a two-part issue. The first part considers aspects of “publicness.” Doug Suisman, FAIA, looks at the public space of the L.A. bus system. Michael Hallmark brings us up to speed on the large-scale sports and entertainment venues that have been returning to our city centers after decades of suburban dislocation. Dorit Fromm, AIA, and Carol Shen, FAIA, discuss the changing character of shopping malls and their renewed dialogue with the traditional main street. And Bryan Shiles offers some suggestions for the role of the public in architectural decision-making.
Interestingly, Hallmark and Fromm and Shen describe developments that are in line with a view expressed by Michael Willis in the last number of arcCA. Describing his firm’s approach to the reinvigoration of failing public housing projects, he says, “We now understand that the best thing that can happen is to increase the links between housing and the rest of the city… We go back and look at the networks. How is this place connected to every part of the city? How would I take a bus home? How would I drive home? How do I walk to a park?… We are arguing for increasing the links.” Similarly, both sports arenas and malls are giving up their former isolation in favor of connection with the surrounding public context. Next quarter, we will explore this notion in the complex landscape of maritime industry, as one among a broad range of articles on water-related infrastructure.
The second half of this issue presents the 2001 AIACC Design Award winners. If it seems like we only just published last year’s winners, that’s because we did. The 2000 Design Awards were slow getting off the press, as we were still learning the ropes of our new publishing arrangement. Now we’re rolling. From here on out, you can expect the annual Design Awards to appear, well, annually.
Since you probably still have the previous award’s issue on your desk—maybe over there, under that Sweet’s CD, which, in case you haven’t figured it out, is a gift to AIACC members from our publisher, McGraw-Hill—if you still have that issue handy, you may want to compare the two sets of winners. The 2000 roster included two affordable housing projects and a homeless drop-in center. Nothing like that in 2001, leading one astute ed board member to wonder whether the awards follow swings in national elections. (Lest anyone imagine a more direct influence, I hasten to assure you that it’s been ages since I’ve spoken with Haley Barbour.) You will draw your own conclusions, but one of them may be a confirmation of David Meckel’s advice in the previous issue: “Every jury is different and every pool of entries is different. Always resubmit.”
The range of values that may be realized in the built environment is broad, and the ways that they may be realized are many. Each awards roster represents a cross-section taken somewhere through those values and through the ways of making them concrete; and each roster is implicitly a critique of every other. Your responses to the awards and our coverage of them, as well as to the articles on “publicness,” are encouraged. I will anticipate one response: that we have, in both awards issues, neglected to feature any historic preservation projects; to which I can only concede, mea culpa. I will look for a way to remedy this slight in the coming year.
One last, lovely thing: arcCA has won another award—a 2001 Component Excellence Award from the national AIA. Lest you feel left out of the celebration, arcCA t- shirts (black, long-sleeve, snappy) are still available. Just send a check for $20, made out to “ELS arcCA t-shirts,” along with your name, address, and size, to: ELS, 2040 Addison Street, Berkeley, California, 94704.
Originally published 3rd quarter 2001, in arcCA 01.3, “Publicness.”
