Comments on: Sunday Flashback: Pretty Far Out

By: Nancy McNayr

Nancy McNayr — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 18:12:50 +0000

The value of a long term planning and ‘visioning’ cannot be overstated. True, visions and dreams change over time, but without the first step, we never make it down the road. Although many regret the destruction of the downtown core that came out of the OKC urban renewal days, the progress our City has seen the last few decades has been overwhelming. When I was involved in the Oklahoma River Redevelopment Project many years ago, I had hopes that my grandchildren might oneday be able to sail down the river and maybe live in a revitalized downtown. This vision has been accomplished in record time – thanks to the visions of our City leaders and the faith of our citizens.

I look forward to the next decade and applaud our Oklahoma City planners of the 21st Century.

Oklahoma Chapter of the American Planning Association – http://www.okplanning.org

By: Roger

Roger — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 06:53:20 +0000

“Another 11 years passed and a young architect’s design to link Oklahoma City’s Myriad Gardens and the never-started Galleria into a single, park-like project won a $10,000 cash award.”

Steve,I was at an architecture firm and worked on waterproofing the Galleria parking garage in the late 80′s. The architecture firm in the title block for the original construction documents was… Frank Gehry. Ever heard of him?

By: Jeffrey

Jeffrey — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 04:26:37 +0000

I think I saw a model at the Myriad sometime around ’92-’94. Was that model the one referenced in this article? The only thing I remember about it was that it had a round headquarters building for a new NHL/pro franchise on the spot where the downtown courtyard now sits. Do you remember this model Steve? I wonder if it could be found and restored alongside the Pei model. It might provide an interesting contrast.

By: jbrown84

jbrown84 — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 01:01:47 +0000

I wonder who the anonymous prophet was in the last two paragraphs was, because they were dead on, where they not?

By: Philip A. Morris

Philip A. Morris — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 21:31:34 +0000

The superblocks of the Pei Plan were a reflection of modern planning’s demotion of the street. The strong desire to retain major retail failed in most places, including Nashville where the city took an equity position in a 1980′s downtown mall only to see it quickly fail. That period saw urban design as Big Architecture. In contrast, Jane Jacobs pushed for incremental change. Much better today to have form-based codes that encourage a variety of developers and architects to spread the risks and produce rich variety (e.g. Seaside, Battery Park City). The students would have done better working within such a framework.

By: Philip A. Morris

Philip A. Morris — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 20:11:19 +0000

Yes, superblocks were thought essential, part of the modernists abandonment of the street. The desire to keep retail at the heart of downtowns was powerful but dead-end. Nashville took an equity interest in a shopping mall there as late as the 1980′s. It failed, was demolished and a new public libary designed by Robert A.M.Stern built on the site.How much better the incremental change championed by Jane Jacobs turned out to be. It would be good if a new form-based plan for Core-to-Shore could invite many smaller investments. The Pei Plan was urban design as Big Architecture. That is a flawed idea: Better have energy from many working within a strong urban design framework –like Seaside, Battery Park City, etc. Even the students would have done better work responding to such.

By: Nick Roberts

Nick Roberts — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 11:24:28 +0000

I know someone in this article well.