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or almost 100 years, Main Street moved to action by Houston'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 master 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 Buffalo Bayou to rhe so much kill Main Street as slowly stran- that have done little to improve Main Astrodome. 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 Texas 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. Hermann Park, the Texas Medical Center, 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, Enrique Norten, 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 •jimt & rrii it - »\ Wx. ^a 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 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 >