Sep 13 2011
One Bryant Park
In thoughtful research reporting the requirement to “sum up” should become a responsibility of participation. In “Skyscrapers and the World of Tomorrow” posted to Planetizen on September, 1 2011 by editors Jeff Jamawat, Kris Fortin, Tim Halbur and Victor Negrete, the questions sought to define the place for very big buildings, but the article ends by suggesting, “…the problem lies in a lack of a clear, agreed-upon vision for the future. “
According to the article, the content of this vision requires data that confirms the efficacy of the following steps.
- add full life cycle analysis (e.g. embodied energy) to LEED certification (McEeaney, Toberian)
- advance “smart building” ergo smart urban technologies (Black, Leung, Appel)
- remove barriers to high (even ultra) density in the right places (Glaeser)
- prevent bottom-feeding architecture and beware the onset of “tower blight” (Kunstler)
- remove political gridlock (everybody)
Top of the line sellers provide the data needed for the first two steps thanks to high-end buyers of the technology (see video below). Much of the data from these systems is proprietary and slows the rate of change, but at least it is pay-it-forward change. These investment institutions are strong and global.
The remaining three define the “lack of a clear vision” problem less optimistically. All of our democratic institutions face demands for NASA-style investment goals amidst “fix-it-first” philosophies. How do we dissolve the contradictions of these two different approaches?
In our recent national history, we attacked a similar problem from the top-down and the grass-roots-up with top end ideas such as the “great society” and things like “Headstart” in a local precinct. Part of it included an investment in “demonstration cities”, later renamed “model cities” while another part vociferously disagreed with an America entering a permanent state of war. All of this began a process that forever changed the vision of the urban world. Today, envisioning the “city” and our “future” is inseparable but this begs the question. The vision that will remove the barriers, release unlimited wealth for growth, and break the gridlock is one of the “city” and “wilderness” as separate and inviolate. That is what is missing, that is what we need.
Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park from Cook+Fox Architects on Vimeo.
