12 summtt I 9

or almost 100 years, Main Street moved to action by 's brief flir- but to help torni a public/private coali- Happen s Peter Brown, to ponder age-old was exactly what its name suggcst- tation with zoning, the I Illusion chapter tion that might be able to implement any questions.' What makes a great city? Fed: the place that Houstonians of the American Institute of Architects ideas that were generated. What makes a great street? identified as rhe center of their everyday organized a workshop that brought The result was the Main Street as well as ceremonial lives, From the together the city's schools ot architec- Coalition, winch includes those with pri- The Context wharf at Allen's landing, through the ture, politicians, and professionals CO vate interests along Main as well as the In ihe great cities and streets debate business core of downtown, past the contemplate visions for Main Street's City ot t [ouston, I larris County, and, Houston is like other places. In its quest grand resiliences of local burghers, and future.1 The organizers saw an opportu- most important, Metro. Metro, with its to be "world-class" it sometimes pretends to the cluster of cultural, open space, nity to codify order along the corridor, mandate to improve transit, is an impor- to be something it is not. Houstonians and educational facilities around Rice and their publications are infused with tant source of potential funding for any too often apologize for the city's unique University, Main Street served as gather- optimism about a planning tool that Main Street revitalization, but only if a combination ot humidity, heat, swamp- ing space, home, place of work, and I loustonians had traditionally eschewed. case can be made for transit and its alien like flatness, protective blanket of oak recreational resource for the city. Even I'm I he defeat

WHAT WOULD IT TAKE TO GIVE HOUSTON A SIGNATURE BOULEVARD? A DESIGN COMPETITION FOR MAIN STREET OFFERS SOME SUGGESTIONS. i

BY J O H N K A L I S K I

form of Main Street matched well the tion efforts. Thus far, though, the out to 25 national ami international suggests challenges that must be addressed dimensions ot the pedestrians, workers, Midtown T1RZ has resulted in little VIM architectural firms, and in February of if the organizers and the selected design residents, shoppers, and motorists who ble public improvement along the corri- this year five finalists were chosen to team are to succeed in realizing their used the street. dor. Instead, there has been construction develop a plan for the 7,5 miles of vision of Main Street greatness. The building ot the interstates did not of mostly banal apartment complexes Main running from to rhe so much kill Main Street as slowly stran- that have done little to improve Main . The competition culminated I lie I earns gle it, making obsolete much, though not Street's situation. in an early summer exhibition of rhe With one exception, each of the competi- all, of the thoroughfare's uses. By the Meanwhile, a third group of private finalists' proposals at the l.awndale Art tion teams was led by a well-established h'.Sils Luge blocks of land lav vacant in indn iJu.iU arost n nil the idea ol com- Center and, in June, a juried selection ot firm with strong urban design credentials. Midtown, while Mam Street downtown bining the visionary approach of rhe AIA a scheme ami M\ architect by representa- Among the entrants was the Chicago was a fume-filled transfer point for buses. workshop and the practical considera- tives from the Main Street I oahrion and office of Skidmore, Owings, is: Merrill I veil well-maintained destinations such as tions of those who pushed for the a group of outside professionals. The (SOM), known since the 1950s for their the Museum ol line Arts and the Midtown TIRZ. Ultimately, they formed challenge presented the five finalists was high-rise office towers and business Medical Center increasingly turned their Making Main Street 1 tappen. Inc., a not- a difficult one: Provide a vision "so pow- parks. At a more modest scale, the) devel- backs to Mam. The street became for-profit volunteer organization dedicat- erful and compelling that a public-private oped renown for their reconstruction of unfriendly to pedestrians, more of a traf- ed to realizing a comprehensive vision, partnership is mandated to provide a State Street in Chicago and the crafting ot fic conduit than a place, and its urban as opposed to a series of uncoordinated framework for making the vision a neighborhood guidelines in Orlando. reality."- Choosing a winner surely purpose in the framework of the city was plans, for this kev I loUSCOtl street. As Alloihei eunanl was the Portland oltic< prompted the jurors, who ranged from ambiguous. part of their ctlorts they sought the of Zimmer Gunsul Frasca (ZCF), which Metro H l > Shu lev A. Del ibero to During the 1990s there have been a attention of Mayor l.ee Brown, who is known for the design of their city's Governing Magazine's executive editor series of efforts to deal with the deterio- encouraged Making Main Street I lappen successful light-rail system, the model tor 1 1 Alan Fhrenhalt to Making Main Street rating situation along Main. In I-* '.!, to not |us( continue with their planning. virtually every light-rail transit system in i u m m e i J? I T I n the U.S. The selection of Atlanta-based move the hearts and actions of the deci- ration platform and "dining experience." downtown to the rodeo culture ol the Cooper Carry Associates, who partnered sion-makers who will need to commit Eckstut also proposed clearing approxi- Astrodome, Cooper Carry relied upon a with Stull it l e e of Boston, must have public dollars to Main Street improve- mately ten blocks of land on either side of carnivalesque scenario that would inspire been based on their work on successful ments. In any case, the power of the Main between Webster and Elgin streets, people and organizations to gather neo-traditional communities such as urban landscape ro poetically and prag- Eckstut suggested that this plaza's length together under the big tent of redevelop- Mizner Place in Florida and Harbor matically shape city-making in advance of was in parr predicated on the distance it ment. The specifics of what their project Town in Memphis. Ehrcnkrantz, Eckstut development was not the primary interest takes to stop a herd of running cows; entailed seemed at times less important & Kuhn Architects of New York and l.os of most of the architectural teams pursu- they aptly named this space Stampede than the feel-good narrative that would Angeles (F.ckstut) is well known for the ing the competition's mandate for big Square. They also suggested combining convince everyone that the big something urban design of New York's Battery Park picture architectural visiotiing. , the , was okay. t ity. More recently, the firm has special- and Rice University into one vast campus The scheme that focused the least on ized in the design of super-scale urban The Big Ideas by closing Main from Mecom Fountain establishing a script ol big ideas was retail/entertainment centers. One could argue that the Rome imagined to North MacGrcgor and rerouting traf- Zdl's proposal, faking to heart the com- All four of these firms were clearly by Sixtus the Fifth and the Chicago of fic to Fannin, which in this area would be petition organizers' desire to understand qualified to present urban design visions Daniel Burnham are the hookends of a renamed Main. Eckstut explained that how light-rail could be implemented, utilizing normative standards of profes- shelf of big design concepts that continue this would expand Rice University's cam- /dl proposed a disciplined fixed-rail sionalism. Given these firms' maturity, to spark the imaginations of urban pus to include a great promenade along transit system running the length of the the choice of TF.N/S1.A Studio I and designers. The sponsors of Making Main the old Main Street and create a better Main Street corridor. Unlike the other (TEN] as the fifth competition finalist Street Happen requested big picture Main Street front door to the Texas schemes, which reached out to embrace was curious, , lead design thinking, and the designers responded in Medical Center. At the south end of Main either regional scales beyond the control er o! the Mexico City-based TEN, is kind. (In the whole the projects suggest would he another open space named of the organizers or hyper-experiences known for his rigorous contemporary transformations of Main Street and its Astro Square, which would establish a that would need to become destinations

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Ehrenkratz, Eckstut & Kuhn's winning proposal, which calls lor creating large units of open space along Main Street. The largest of these would be a ten block long, two block wide landscaped square between Webster and Elgin streets jusl north ol a new home far the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, The name ol the space would be Stampede Square since, according to Ehrenkralz, Eckstut & Kuhn, its 3,000 foot length is approximately the distance it lakes lo bring a herd ol I stampeding caws lo a hall.

and experimental architecture. I le is of a environs that would fundamentally alter major gateway to the Astrodome. of national interest to succeed, ZGF's newer generation of designers that is criti- familiar scenes. The Astrodome was also the concept scheme confined itself to the blocks imme- cal, if not dismissive, of normative stan- SOM proposed the establishment of locus of TEN. They proposed turning the diately adjacent to Main — all seven-plus dards of practice, His presence in the two huge parks acting as anchors at Astmdoiiiaui into a vast multi-level plea- miles of the street. Only in the context of competition was a wild card. either end of Main Street. The first would sure park with direct access to Loop 610. the other linalists' ideas could the /.GP Also surprising was the exclusion ol encompass Allen's Landing, lo reestablish Multi-story buildings full of entertain- proposal be construed as modest. landscape architects as competition team the visibility ut ilns location. SOM sug- ment, exhibit, hotel, and parking uses leaders. The vastness of the assignment, gested removal of the Mam Street Bridge lopped oil by an undulating, park-like The Role of Transit the relative emptiness of the territory, and (a National Register of Historic Places roofscape would cover the existing park Mam Street is blessed with vital destina- the desire to rapidly implement ideas thai Monument), completely rerouting traffic ing lots. The Astrodome would, ill tions ot regional importance such as change the identity of an entire sector of and vastly expanding the existing park- essence, be surrounded by a pleasure- the Astrodome, the Museum District, the city suggest the importance of starting lands to encompass the downtown cam- filled girdle of structure and become a and, of course, downtown. People natu- with the landscape m the immediately pus ..I ilu I nivei MII ui I loustoti .111 L! surreal hybrid beer garden, shopping rally imagine public transit connecting available public right-of-way. The inclu- environs. At the south end ul Main, a mall, convention center, and fairground. these places. While transit includes sion ol a lead landscape architect or two new regional park twice the size of Exaggerated spectacle simil.nh bicycles, buses, and boots (pedestriansl. would have presented I he competition's Memorial Park was proposed to mark the informed (lie Cooper Carry scheme. Making Main Street Happen is clearly judges with a wider range ut possible intersection with l o o p 610. Carrying the moniker "From Symphony more than a little curious about the approaches. Perhaps landscape architec- Ehrenkrantz, Eckstut t\ Kuhn likewise to Texas Two-Step," these architects idea potential of light rail. Three of the ture as a profession has dropped oil the suggested expanded open space at Allen's for Main concentrated on establishing competition entries — those by urban design radar screen; perhaps the Landing. Their scheme proposed a tech- the big feeling or big narrative that Cooper Carry, Eckstut. and TEN — organizers did not feel there were any nolog\ theme tin Houston's birthplace would organize the redevelopment ot the more or less accepted Mam Street landscape architects glamorous enough to and set within it the world's tallest obser- street. From the "classic" culture ot light rail as a mandate and then 14 summer I 'i ^> 9 I T I w

moved quickly on to architectural visions. old rail debate: Use the same amount of JUtWU.' Of these three, only TEN devoted money to improve the physical appear- detailed, as opposed to big picture, atten- aike ami function of many boulevards tion to the design ol a future Main Street and communities rather than only one. transitway. Unfortunately, buses do not have a TEN proposed a complete street-fur- good image for the vast majority of mid- nishing program that could flexibly dle class commuters considering public accommodate the demands of a transit- transit, l o r recalcitrant automobile dri- way. The team challenged the standard vers, rail is sexier than buses. Nevertheless, use of historically inspired, off-the-shelf if one considers the relationship of dol- streetlights, benches, and trash cans. lars spent to the number ol rulers served, a Instead, they proposed a futuristic buses almost always prove to be more panoply of computer-generated designs efficient than rail iii North America's 'iarVvWiar' tor these often prosaic elements. They spread out metropolises, To achieve an proposed pedestrian-scale poles tor resi efficient result for enhanced buses in SABWftTwouM MIDWW nun APPIP netAupsowe raonxep ^rarsecnw MtMbv/NMuiu cfH*Werwer«*« sum » dcniial areas, tall poles tor commercial!) I louston, someone would have to step up IKE. rtu*»fc/«»U»J FMtRXHJftW oriented locales, poles that morphcil into and design a smart system that is techno- ir.ish cans, poles that transformed into logically sophisticated and transcends benches then trash cans, and endless existing perceptions. SOM hinted that In their plan, Skidmore, Owings & other variations. The resulting richness of such a possibility exists if one seeks to Merrill suggested that the character Main Street's "furnishing /one" stretched design it. An enhanced bus system tor of Main Street would depend on the vitality of the surrounding the paucity of functions that these pro Main (as well as for inside the Loop! may communities. While proposing a grams typically, address. rEN's proposal yet prove to be an intelligent, feasible. number of block-siie parks, challenges city designers to recognize that and transformative direction for I louston SOM also paid close attention to neighborhood level detail, just as there are main overlapping uses to pursue should tin- current plans lor concentrating on the physical along the length of a street, so there light rail OH Main suffer the same fate as design approaches needed to should he many ways to light a street, su earlier rail plans, and he discarded. nurture existing places. on benches, or throw away garbage. Unfortunately, this same team's neglect of Main Street Topos actual organic elements such as shade- Several of the competitors' schemes providing street trees undermined the attempted to directly address the unique- subtlety of their everyday approach to . 0 • ' Utf •rt'iUJUSK. ness 01 I Illusion's "topos" — the charac- making a useable sidewalk, ter of the city's topography, climate, light,

h / < i l 's take on the transit challenge altitude, longitude, latitude, and fauna. ^. ';!««* included a series ol dimensioned cross TKN, taking advantage of the large num- sections that showed how Main would ber of vacant parcels of property that SI change from district to district as the exist in Midtown, proposed the creation train passed by. These sections were of a myriad of helter-skelter open spaces. based on an analysis of changing curbside The opportunistic set-aside of these mini- conditions, wuhh of available right-of- spaces tor parks and other public uses way, and a review of adjacent laud use. WOuld allow existing businesses and new In combination with their proposal to projects to orient around attractive green place block-square parks at each tram space where there is currently nothing but stop, ZGF demonstrated that rail could empty land. In contrast to existing plans he technically accommodated throughout for Midtown that proposes a minimum 4 the proposed transit corridor m a com- scattering of parks, TEN realizes in their cyrutNEB .•'!'.'.> -.. (" v. •. i suu-piu&o modious manner. design a "deconstructed" and virtually continuous open-space network that Of all the schemes. SOM's was the reveals a past order of abandonment yet only one that flirted with the possibility projects a cooler future under a canopy TO that rail would not be implemented on of oak trees. If implemented, the T K N Mam Street. 1 ike / ( , ! , but without as proposal would result in an intimate much detail, they proposed that rail could pedestrian-scale layering of the old and ply Mam, hut [ties also pointed OUI that, the new. Imagine North Boulevard mutat- tor the same money, buses could equally ing from a quiet residential street into an and elegantly serve nor just the Maui urbanized district seamlessly connected Street corridor, hut additional corridors by surprising courtyards, alleys and «§ as well. Extensive landscaping of these mews, and you get a sense of what II N corridors, SOM pointed out, would not envisions lor the area around Main in only make them connectors to the city's Miiltown, I he end product could form bayou system and parks, bul also make the framework for one of the most desir them green alleys that could be designed able and walkable neighborhoods in io accommodate an entire system of rapid 1 louston. buses. SOM specifically pointed out the potential of running an enhanced bus sys- SOM also proposed the establishment tem along Almeda Street as well as Mam. of a large number of block-size parks. By touching both streets with this type of 1 fowevcr. instead of relying on the cir- investment, a more extensive wedge of cumstance of vacant parcels, SOM sug the city would be served by transit, par- gested the establishment of an open-space ticularly those neighborhoods along the order based upon the mechanics and Almeda corridor that have been ignored * » typological patterns of traditional neigh- for decades by I louston \ power players. borhoods. I'hese patterns include utiliza- In the Making Main Street Happen com- tion ol one-quarter-mile walking radii as petition. SOM seemed to he suggesting a the basic building block ol pedestrian smart alternative to Houston's decades- neighborhoods and the use of traditional i v m m e i I i I K \ '• •• '• ts architectural typologies such as trout of a place by gradually revealing and porches and sidewalk entrances to low- contrasting the elements oi us topos. rise residential buildings — something the This is the type of creatively poetic current crop ol multi-unit apartments response to the land that the other sprouting up along Main Street eschews. entrants' schemes were missing. SON! also utilized the Houston precedent nt great alleys ol oak trees, linked the Houston Identity bayou system to neighborhoods) and If the Main Street schemes were as a acknowledged the scale of existing block- whole underdeveloped with regard to si/c parks m their proposals for new open poetic visions of landscape specific to the spaces. SOM scented to be asking conditions of I lotiston, they certainly did I loustomans to recognize the wisdom of not have the same difficulty projecting responding to, rather than fighting, sensibilities with regard to establishing a I lotiston s climate. sense of architectural identity, l o r exam Not all of the schemes handled pie, T L N rendered a hardscape world ot Houston conditions with as much three-dimensional folds and complex aplomb. For instance, the large size <>i the eurves that clearly symbolized the current l.ckstut open-space proposals, particular- fascination with both digital methodology ly the 600-foot by 3,000-foot Stampede and chaos theory. Particularly intriguing Square, would not result in a space one if economically improbable, was their would want to casually hang out in dur- creation ot a manmade topography ot ing a Houston summer, lis large expanses hills and dales that act as retention ponds of paving and great length would chal- at the Astrodomain. In contrast, all of the lenge all but the hearty. Equally difficult other entries relied on historic architec- to imagine is Kckstut's proposal for back tural precedent to either create or rein- atul forth pedestrian activity between the force a sense of place. Museum District, Rice, and the Texas t ooper Carry and Tckstut both sug- Medical Center, even with the creation ol gested thai Main Street's identity should a shaded green promenade where Mam be formed by the themed architecture Street now courses. Once again, given the that is associated with festival market- heat and I loustonians' lack of tolerance places and cmeplexes. both ol these firms for traditional urban walking, this type nt provided an architectural framework for formal City Beautiful expression seems comiuodilieil experience as the core com- ill-suited tor anything but visual pleasure. ponent of Main Street identity. Tor these /.(>!• also proposed a transformation- t\ pes ul i spenences to work they need ti • al greening of Main Street. I lowever, be highly scripted and art directed, like their response to the climate was more operas or movies. People need to be inventive. Rejecting live oaks as the pre- transported in their imaginations to a real eminent street tree, / . t i l suggested place even as they know they are in a instead inviting the l-.ast Texas pine) for- simulated environment. To help achieve est into the city and sheltering Main with this Sight "i the imagination, Cooper greal stands ol last-growing loblolly tarry suggested that that the signs and pines. The pines would follow the linear symbols ol I [ouston's multiculturalism path ot the light rail, and punctuating inflect the standard formulas that lead then hncann would be fountains placed themed projects to look and feel at once along the length ol the tracks. Oncoming like every place and no place. trains would trigger fountains ol water, Eckstut went even lurrher and cloihed the spray ol a cooling mist through the their entry in a rich panoply of vernacu- humid air, and the sound of bubbling jets lar imagery. They carefully documented from between the trestles as the trains old signs, favorite outdoor cafes and bar- approached. XCT"s scheme would not becues, scenes of oak tree-lined streets, only be a unique solution for the design anil other I lousion ephemera anil col- ol station stops, bur one that grew out of laged them into their drawings and plans. specific climatic conditions found in There was .u\ attractive and clever speci- Houston. On an intimate level, the tac- ficity to the Tckstut proposal that spoke tileness ol ZGFs fountains in relationship directly ol I lotiston, even it that remained to the light rail would almost invite one a veneet masking an otherwise normative to explore Houston's long, hot summer. 1990s development strategy. In the ZGF scheme. Main Street. SOM suggested that Main Street's especially in the Midtown area, would be character would depend not upon spec- TEN/SLA Studio Land produced the turned into an intricate weaving of trees, tacular attractions arrayed like rules in a competition's boldest scheme. In its computer generated images, TEN open space, and water that is primal in theme park, hut rather on the vitality of rendered a world ol three-dimensional its recollection of an older urban forest, the corridor's surrounding communities. folds and complex curves, one In •-- T yet new in its unexpected use of water. It ,\i the neighborhood level they concen- which Main Street would be lined with - " futuristic benches and streetlights. TEN 1 i carries one's imagination beyond the I 1 trated on the physical design tactics also suggested turning the Astrodomain • more standard and literal contextual needed to nurture existing places and into a multi-level pleasure park filled • • • place-making tactics of the other schemes make them work lor the variety ol with entertainment, exhibit, hotel, and •-" 1 parking uses, on top of which would • by proposing a user experience thai groups that already live in the area. sit an undulating roofscape. — • depends upon a complex response to anil . - • • Rather than propose .1 large-scale gesture - 1 interpretation ol Houston landscape, air, r - ' 1 such as a formal square or entertainment 1 "- 1 water, and light, ["his type oi response is • center as the hrst Making Main Street • - - subtle, poetic, and, in the best sense ol Happen project, they, with the assistance •a — the word, critical. It allows the user to of I lousion landscape architect lames understand and judge the specific quality Burnett, suggested the Improvement ol rfi s i) m m e i C> • ' "

I liz.ibcth b r o w n Rice Park. proposed Stampede and Crackle Squares I Ins neglected, t h o u g h still lovely, cleverly utilizes school funds to facilitate • block-square open space isn't even on private investment. Public monies can be Main Street, lint it is surrounded hy a used to assemble and clear land in a viable neighborhood that, w i t h care and Main Street location for a needed school infrastructure investment, c o u l d be the facility. In a d d i t i o n , clearing the site of starting p o i n t for a piece-by-piece revital- "blight" just happens to be of interest ization. At the core ot S O M s c o m m u n i t y to any developer that might be induced identity concept was the notion that to b u i l d a retail/entertainment venue in improvement through neighborhood- this area. based reviralizatioit is |ust as i m p o r t a n t , il This type of manipulatio n of public not m i n i i m p o r t a n t , than the strategic monies to serve private redevelopment lop-down strategies suggested by all of purposes can be castigated. There is a the other entrants. S O M pointed out that long history of redevelopment benefits it docs indeed take a village, in fact many flowing to private entities that are far in villages w o r k i n g together, il > excess of the long-term benefits the public make a character-tilled, everyday city that gets in return. Nevertheless, fickstut's tin. n sidents i d c m i f ) -is then o w n . pragmatism is smart. It k n o w i n g l y c o m - A M a i n Street of u r b a n spectacle bines an understanding of space m a k i n g surrounded by d o r m i t o r y neighbor- principles w i t h development purposes. It hoods w i l l tail to reach the potential recognizes t h a t c o m b i n i n g public and envisioned by its c h a m p i o n s . Kvcryday private resources as opposed to g o v e r n - identity cannot be b o u g h t or themed or ment sponsored guidelines, standards, « dictated. 11 has to g r o w as a c u l t u r e and zoning is the key to implementin g from w i t h i n . Everyday c u l t u r e and iden- partnerships that a l l o w projects in risky- locations to move f o r w a r d . A n d M a i n tity is w h a t d r a w s people to all of the Street, particularly M i d t o w n , remains a most e n d u r i n g destinations . S O M was risky location . the o n l y team to begin to express this essential city-makin g v i e w p o i n t . Iking part of a development deal is, in fact, a p o w e r f u l means for cities to «&<• And T h e W i n n e r Is... actively c o n t r o l the shape and benefits While the jury was closed to outsiders, associated w i t h development. A strong and only the pirors k n o w w h a t happened local government can negotiate a hard behind closed doors, the selection of bargain that results in a better designed Kckstut's proposal as the w i n n i n g one project. W i t h o u t zoning or many of the was not surprising. Ot all the teams, other land use controls that other cities I i k s i i i t best met the M a k i n g M a i n Street utilize, (Ins is probably the best means Happens mandate to provide' a p o w e r f u l 1 louston has to actively shape large-scale and c o m p e l l i n g scheme that could be projects. "The city can always ask, how implemented by a public/private partner- much do you want it. and how much are ship. T h e reality is that the mechanisms you w i l l i n g to give me tor it? I cksiut, arc not in place in H o u s t o n to tackle par better than most architecture and urban eel -by parcel, block-by-block , and street design f i r m s , k n o w s h o w ro play this by-street neighborhood revitali/atiou on a game on behall ol their clients. Their pro- posal inherently offered the clearest path large-scale basis. In any case, this was not to strategies that link capita! sources to a competition about establishing a vision quality development deals. Perhaps the suitable for g r o u n d up rcvitali/.uion. I Ins Main Street competition's organizers saw was a competition about inventing a big in the Kckstiu scheme a visum that was at idea t h a t , if necessary, can sustain a tran- once physically big p i c t u r e , d i a g r a m - sit c o m p o n e n t . EckstUt deeply understood matic.ilh clear, visually reassuring, and this reality and addressed it. economically p r a g m a t i c . T h i s is w h a t I 1 cksiut's scheme utilizes familiar pro- the o r i g i n a l request lor qualification s lect types that developers want to build in called lor, and the jury delivered the 1W. I h.tl is |iist what the competition's goods requested. A r e they the right organizers need — a team that can j u m p - goods? T i m e w i l l tell. start a development process w i t h a vision th.it local and national financiers w i l l I clearly understand and seek as an invest- A n A d d i t i o n a l O p i n i o n y O ment opportunity. The EckstUt scheme What makes a great city? W h a t makes a was the best at m i t i g a t i ng this economic gnat street? These are the t w o questions «U- lorthnghrncss. T.ckstut's architectural that began this essay, and further reflec- imagery was both the most specific to tion on them in light ol the five M a m I louston and the most reassuring. Their Street proposals, and especially the w i n - proposal, better than any of the other ning scheme, suggests that the forces of a Cooper Cony's proposal, above, entries, demonstrated that it massive great competition project are not always concentrated less on specifics than change is going to occur to M a i n 's b u i l d - the same forces that create a great street on the "big feeling" or "big narra- ing environment , the end result could still o r a great city. Great cities and great tive" that would organize the redevelopment ol Main. Their be t.imiliar to I loustonians. streets typically happen over a long pen scheme suggested themed architec- In a d d i t i o n , Ecksrut showed a subtle od of time. They are the result ol a host ture ol the sort associated with ol individual decisions made in the con- festival marketplaces, but tied in understanding of the means by w h i c h text of a strong f r a m e w o r k of c o m m o n l y this case to signs and symbols of public dollars can be leveraged to Ittlfill shared values. Houston's muhiculluralism. private purposes. Tor example, their sug gesrion to place the H i g h School for the The strongest aspect of the T.ckstut Performing and Visual Arts between tin- scheme is its vision of large open spaces L 9 9 9 I s u m ra e i 17 I T .'••' generated by association with develop- EckstUt scheme. ment spectacles. Perhaps this is appropri- Adding urban surprise, unscripted ate for Houston, I lowever, the very eco- adventure, and democratic uncertainty as .i-'- - nomic drives rhai create these spectacles criteria land admittedly they were not) ; L shift and change with each season. This and retaining the request for qualifica- .. year luxury movie [heaters are the rage; tion's mandates would suggest further last year it was in-town big-box retail; study of the strong points of three of the next year who knows? One has to fairly tive Main Street proposals. TKN's question those who would allow ilns type mechanics ot chance are theoretically ot economic whirlwind to be the prime important and a wave of the very near motivating force for crafting a great city. tuture, even it thev are as yet too One also has to remain suspicious that unformed to merit serious consideration the overwhelming scale ot l.ckstut's pro- when real dollars are on the table. ZCiFs posed spaces will be defeated by the reali- compression of effort into the improve- ty of Houston's climate, for the Kckstut ment of Main Street may be the best way design to successfully evolve, it must find to maximize the benefits ot a rail scheme. a way to address the actual institutional As the Main Street Coalition and and physical history of places along the Kckstut move forward, the) will necessar- Main Street corridor. Most important, ily consider again the constructive role given the large-scale condemnation and that neighborhoods contribute to the clearance required to implement the revirali/.ation ol Main Street. They may scheme, community enthusiasm may be also need to consider the intelligence ot difficult to obtain. Assuming that all of developing a transit system that is smart these (actors are intelligently confronted, and scsi and serves more than OfU Street. as they surely will be, what will he left of They will also, in ways small and large, the original scheme? acknowledge the climate, land, and Some of the other Main Street pro- regional situation within which they find posals seemed more accepting of themselves situated, finally, all the enti- Houston's climate, more adaptable to the ties will surely need to compromise and types of economic whirlwinds that occur adjust their visions to accommodate the over time, and more fine grained in rela- reality of implementing overly big ideas. tionship to the surrounding neighbor- As these situations occur, the energy and hoods. TKN literally used chance as a public-minded spirit that led the Main design device. If their results were Street Coalition to risk considerable time obscurely academic, their point was well on the revitalization of Main will hope- taken. Great cities and great streets are fully not be deterred. At these moments tun so much willed into existence as the) the neighborhood-based organizational accrue. They result from many unpre- principles, regional specificity, transit dictable social, political, and design deci- flexibility, and everydayness ot the SOM sions made over time. SOM implicitly entry should he recalled and acred upon. accepted this point when they proposed Remembering these directions, as well as the nurturing of existing neighborhoods the sparkle of Ixkstut's urbanism of spec- as a key starting point. ZGF, by concen- tacle, will lead to the making of a livable trating their resources on improvement community of everyday existing places, as along the Mam Street corridor, created a well as a happening destination and street framework that real estate decisions both thai all will enjoy. • large and small could react to m a host of wa\ s over a long period of time. They I. < rt-r.iiel Moorlu'.ul, Main Street Houston: An established a flexible context where most I li.m Daign Cbamttaand Exhibition (Amcricui Institute "1 Architect! et, a], Houston, 1992), ol the blanks are filled in over time rather 1. "Request for Qualifications: Planning and than by design. Urban Design Consulting Services," Making Mam Street ll.ipprii. Int.. page !. All three ot these schemes accepted J, Theft were a total ol 11 lodges For the compe- that a great city or a great street is ,\\\ tition, led by [.iv liimtif. executive director ui thi Mainmort' IVu'lnpmi'iu Corporation, The other open ended endeavor where the story liimrs were Peter Hrowu ol Making M.mi Street cannot he completely illustrated or told in I tappen, Inc.: Shirley l i d Ibero, president and I I * I ui I tension's Metropolitan Transit Authority; Alan advance, hi contrast, the EckstUt scheme Ehrenhak, executive editor ot Governing; Jim Hill, did not so much preclude surprise as president oi the I touston chapter ol the American script it out ol existence. I'ckstut told the Institute ot Architects; the Reverend WIIII.HU A, I awson ol Wheeler Avenue Baptist < burch; IM> whole story, and when ii was over, like a 1 itke, director oi ihe Houston Department ol blockbuster movie, you either liked it 01 Planning and Dcveiopmenrj An Storey, I larris County engineer .nut head ol the county's public divl not like it, bin regardless, you were infrastructure department; Barron vv.ill.ue, chairman ushered out ot the theater. In the end, a ot tin- Midtown Redevelopment Authority; Hob l-'ury. city is not a script, nor a narrative, nor president of ( entral Houston, Int.; .unl I l>- Willie, chairman of the Main Street < o.ilition. are you ushered out of the theater. In the 4. Preravf Plan and RtmtHutmmt /.one contemporary city the citizens remain lo Financing Plan, Reinvtstmtnt Zona Nutttbm Jia•. discuss tin1 future. They are called upon City of Houston. Tex,ts, Midtown (May l"W, amended October 1997), See Illustration on page I >. to anticipate the unanticipated over and More than the other competitors, Zimmet Gunsul over again. This sense of surprise and frasca focused or transit, including o series of unscripted adventure is the prize cap- cross sections (above) showing how areas ol Main Steel would change as a light-mil train tured in the stone, glass, steel, and passed by. ZGF also suggested echoing the rail asphalt ol great contemporary cities ,\\\t\ line's linearity by placing stands of loblolly pines great contemporary streets. And u is the along Main, ihus bringing the East Texas lores) into the city. democratic and discursive open-ended element of surprise that is missing in the