IT'S A TRAP! THE INVERTED STRIP MALL AND BEYOND
The topic of adding development directly adjacent to a light rail station can be challenging. In ways, adding mixed-use projects is such a positive and needed addition that it is difficult, even disrespectful, to criticize. It is however, important to understand that there will be some contradictions and some errors will be made. It is hopeful that the end results will out-weigh any negative aspects and smart city growth can be achieved. These interventions are a step in the right direction as we seek to increase density in the built environment, promote public transit ridership and neighborhood walkability.
The project shown is an inverted strip mall. I passed this development this afternoon and it caught my eye. I have driven passed it many times before, even stopped at the coffee shop for a cup; today was different. The glass facade facing the busy street filled with vehicular traffic was exposed in an alternate light, it had been deceiving me for years. The glass storefronts and business signage above, all placed at standard and unassuming heights in sync with the pedestrian scale lacked the most crucial element: DOORS!!
A street front, which is so unobtrusive and chameleon, was a fake no more effective than the blandest CMU blank facade in your nearest downtown street. If the blank wall podium of an urban center block was the dumb, overbearing, and snobbish brother, this cunning glass storefront is his super intelligent and sophisticated older sister. Yes, that sister, the one that secretly instigated the school yard fight or wrecked a happy relationship.
I realized that this situation had the same suffocating effects as the blank wall, but at a higher level. It didn’t LOOK that way; it didn’t even FEEL that way. Most important, it IS that way. There is not really any way to respond differently as the street facade is not activated with any pedestrian interaction. The facade is a continuous translucent barrier that shuns the street.
The issue is I believe to understand the intent. The building mass shields the customers from the street and wraps the site to create a centralized entity to embrace the project’s residential component and the adjacent light rail station. The project provides that residential zone directly at the station which is always a positive attribute. The question: is that architectural and urban centrality necessary, especially at the cost of continuing to address the street properly. Although there is a desire to get projects with zero setbacks for effective pedestrian level interactions, this situation might have benefited from a five foot setback to accommodate street side seating and access, while projecting a feel of distance between patrons and the passing vehicular traffic.
It should be noted that the road is a multi-lane artery with vehicles travelling at an average of 30 to 40 miles per hour. However, this site is situated between more than four intersections, a light rail line, and has more than three converging streets which are slightly curving with progressive sight lines. It is interesting that those site elements actually have a calming effect on the traffic since there is a wide variety of movements in play. There are many crosswalks, parking lot entrances, fast food drive thru’s, and commercial cross streets. I attended school just East of the site and have driven down the main road many times. Looking back, getting to the convergence of those elements, there was never a time when you were stepping on the gas. Also important to mention is that the main road terminates directly west of the site so a turn is inevitable, which also causes a reduction in speed.
With those site elements in mind, a designer (in my opinion) would infer that this is actually a corridor that can accommodate street side pedestrian activity successfully and measures could be taken to create ground level pass through situations where there is seating opportunities and a much higher level of visual communication between the street and the trolley station. That pass through element does exist but only at the corner of the project and it is designed like a narrow passage, a bottle neck or a venturi tube where pedestrians either loiter at the corner while waiting for a bus or are swept into the embrace of the commercial amenities. It is difficult to say that there is an attraction from the trolley station unless you know that it already exists in that location. Some one new to the area that is driving past might never know that a light rail stop is present behind the glass and stucco barrier.
One unfortunate reality for these design decisions are the development finance constraints: Square footage must be maximized as that this the means to attract and lock down significant long term corporate tenants. Addressing the street architecturally may eliminate the space for one commercial space, thus jeopardizing the project’s feasibility. These are the tough choices that developers and design professionals must make everyday.
Another aspect of the project is the amount of parking. This is not a development issue, but rather a zoning and planning issue. We will never encourage pedestrian and public transit integration when we are mandated to provide for automobiles. It is that strange instance where the City’s regulations prohibit developments from achieving the goals and visions the city desires - to become and/or reinforce healthy, walkable and sustainable communities. The current iteration of the zoning code simply will not allow it. There is a tremendous fear present. There is this fear of no available parking which equates to a fear of having to walk a short distance from one’s ultimate destination. There is the fear of being inconvenienced which leads to anger, frustration and stress. Unfortunately, until the parking requirements are significantly reduced or even vanquished (developers know when and where they need parking even if not required), the generation of inconvenience will not be granted the opportunity to pass on and fade away. In contrast, that air of inconvenience will pass on to the next generation.
That is the most baffling part of it all: the city does not wish to solve their own problems. All these issues are merely tolerated because there is a complete lack of vision and tenacity for our leadership to tell the public “this is what is needed and this is what we need to do.” Our leaders are in a tough spot and they need jobs too and going against one’s constituents does not equal job security and career longevity. If we are to have the opportunity to develop for change and begin to repair the gross errors that have been created by the implementation of suburbia, there needs to be a earth shatter shift of the mentality of what it means to be a political leader and those future political leaders who wield the utmost honor with the conviction to execute significant positive change will sacrifice themselves for one term and perish on their swords. What is most profound is that these necessary changes will be so significant that the general public will never understand and will actually impart tremendous resistance. Remember, the general public, many of them extremely intelligent individuals, do not want to be inconvenienced. When is enough enough?
I will depart this writing with some words from a group lunch meeting with a world renown architect whom I admire a great deal. Thom Mayne with Morphosis Architects once said: “I don’t understand why a client even hires an architect with the notion that he or she will begin to tell the architect what to do. That would be like me going to my doctor and instructing him on how to perform needed surgery. Clients are stepping out of there area of expertise. I am the expert. I have been practicing for many many years and I don’t allow clients to instruct me on what’s needed architecturally or within the realm of the built environment: period.”
I went to architecture school just to sit with him that day and listen to that. It is not offensive or in any way an ego-maniacal position to have and it does not imply a notion that a professional cannot be collaborative or translate the wishes of a community. It is simply the truth and a uncompromising unwillingness to execute designs that could negatively impact those that initiated the idea or demand. To me, that attitude says “I have spent my career focused solely on the built environment. My life and travels have been dedicated to absorbing the necessary knowledge and experiences that allows me to instill the best practices to activate spaces that have the greatest positive impact in the world. I approach this craft with a great deal of honor and in no way will I impose designs that will knowingly be detremental to the public I serve.”
Architecture and urbanism is such an important facet of life and it has subtle psychological effects that only a educated professional (or extremely aware, articulate, and street-smart individual) can decode and decipher. Place a person in a box and they will feel and act a certain way. Place that same person in an open field and they will act differently. This is true from the way we place our roads, lighting, open space, enclosures and buildings. When you place a pedestrian along a corridor those feelings shift and change as one moves through space. Each integration of a new project makes a subtle change to the intensity of the built environment. For almost eighty years, yes, eighty years, we have been impacting our built environment with projects, large and small, that have taken an accumulative toll on the human experience here in Southern California and in many other places in the United States and across the globe. Thom Mayne also said that the create of a city occurs in a process of accretion, meaning that it occurs very gradually over time. That accretion is not beginning to affect us adversely and it is time now to take action. But what action do we need to take?
The action is to focus on the aspect that creates the most strife in urban life: the ability to move around efficiently and safely. URBAN MOBILITY IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT OF THE CITY. Without mobility we are basically stuck and we deserve to be stuck in traffic. Stuck without access to quality food or health care within a walk from your residence. We deserve to be stuck by not being able to send your child safely to the store to pick up a half gallon of milk or a loaf of bread. We deserve to spawn a generation of weak minded individuals who are immobile and want to project that misery onto others. We deserve to be reliant on our automobiles and with that all the stresses that come with along with that lifestyle.
