Early Work

A project from 1970.

And here's one for you blue door fans.

Yes, I am still writing on Architecture though I haven't posted recently.

My wife was impressed that my mother saved all my art work. Happy Mother's Day to all to whom it applies.

"Resiliency" or "Economic Sustainability"

Yesterday at the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at U. W. Milwaukee the Charles Caussier Memorial Lecture was held in conjunction with the Architecture departments 40th Anniversary. Timothy Beatley was the guest lecturer and the topic was 'Resilient Cities' or the resiliency movement in general. The latest evolution of environmental or sustainable design that captures man's true place in the world. A movement where man is promoted to intimately interrelate with his natural surroundings, including his fellow man, creating beautiful and productive responsive environments, and not punished for being a scourge to the planet.

The question and answer session soon became a corporation bashing bonanza. Maybe soon is the wrong word. Does anyone realize that this is straight out of atheistic Marxist ideology? That we were all sharing resources until one group decided to hoard the resources for themselves; the origin of evil in the world. A theistic view teaches that we are all subject to the same proclivities that are inherent. Proclivities not dependent on how much money (material) one possesses as communism professes.

One question came to mind for the distinguished speaker that I kept to myself; "Have you found it easier working with government or corporations?"

Friday February 20th, at the school's Friday Afternoon Live (FAL) lecture series the 'Congress for a New Urbanism' had a forum on what the Obama stimulus package means for Wisconsin. In general it was to support the principles of Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND). There was a common agreement on the panel that the dollars should be going more to urban infrastructure rather than freeways. A position hard to deny with our overbuilt out lands and the condition of the roads in our urban areas.

Mark Ernst of Engberg Anderson Design Partnership was one of the panel members and made an interesting comment.

He said, 'the number of dollars determines whether good or bad decisions are made.'

So much for the quality of one's character. But he went on to qualify that by lamenting that people with educations in architecture and planning are not more involved in government; in seeking elected office and shaping our communities in a more responsible fashion.

I asked the FAL panel how they could support rail solutions, a topic that took a good portion of the discussion, without the potential for any real growth in Wisconsin; with companies leaving Wisconsin. To have a truly vibrant community we need not only jobs to increase, but corporations to decide to make their headquarters here. Much of the arts and other amenities a city has to offer can only be supported with corporate sponsorship. Amenities that draw people into the city.

The answer was, developing unspecified water based and green industries will bring growth and a supposed justification for rail. Most likely heavily subsidized corporations and rail. And how profitable will those companies be? How many jobs will that create? What kind of profits, corporate dollars, will go back into the community and what percentage of those actually originated in government subsidies? (is there any real tax revenue generated?) In our current tax and anti-business climate, even if such jobs materialize they will not bring vibrant corporations to Wisconsin that can support the amenities that define a major urban center. Corporations and jobs have been leaving Wisconsin far before this economic down turn.

The blunt reality is that centralization of capital is required for man to advance. Corporations have been the centers for free market development in the past and abuses are far to easy to find. But man has been abusing his fellow man irrelevant to ones social or economic condition. As we see the consciousness of man advance we find the inverse to also be true. Corporations are becoming more and more responsive to their employees, the environment and the world condition. There are many examples of corporate philanthropy. Architecture is no exception. Below is a picture of a Carnegie Library in Ladysmith, Wisconsin, now a bed and breakfast.

On the other hand the centralization of capital in government is the greatest threat to freedom and prosperity that exists in the world today. No organization wastes money more efficiently and is subject to scams and abuse than the government. And government produces nothing. Even more dangerous is the misdirection of resources. Resources that could be directed to real need rather than manufactured need that breeds dependency. A dependency some may call buying votes whether you are on the dole, working in a government run health care system or building structures ever increasingly funded by the public dollar.

Under my last employer I learned some very basic economic realities. If a church comes to you wanting to do an addition or new building ask them if they have a segregated building fund. If they don't... don't waste your time, the project isn't going to happen. As far as Day Cares, it is not an uncommon occurrence that the investors will realize, far before they inform you, that they cannot afford to go ahead and they don't understand why they have to pay for something they are not doing. If you already brought in consultants, such as an engineer, it is a cash flow catastrophe.

But are Planners and Architects aware of the public capacity to fund the projects they promote, such as rail based on archaic technologies? Tax dollars are not a bottomless pit of money. As organized as the AIA is, do they hold any views on the economic sustainability from the public perspective of the projects its members are working on? The reality is Architects and Planners have much more influence on how our money is spent than they want to admit. (I was working in one of the more prominent firms in the city before a major Presidential election some years past. Next to a junior partner who spent the greater part of his day organizing vehicles and drivers to bring people to the polls.) Do they understand their own bottom line but are incapable of understanding economic sustainability on a larger level? Can any responsible organization look at Southeastern Wisconsin with it's density, tax burden and business climate claim with competence that rail is economically sustainable? They claim, Architects and politicians alike, that it is an amenity that will draw people and businesses to Milwaukee. I guess that is over other cities such as, San Francisco, Seattle or Phoenix. I believe 'Penny wise but pound foolish' is the proper expression for the profession. And just foolish as far as government goes...

No,... just foolish overall.

I am not against dedicated mass transit under the right conditions, but the conditions do not exist and new technologies are not being implemented to the extent they should be.

Charities, NGO's, other organizations such as Architects for Humanity, Center for Resilient Cities and even corporations, that must produce to remain viable, are far more accountable and do far greater economic good for the world as a whole than any government that can simply raise taxes that must be paid under threat of imprisonment. Government that has increasing power to outlaw or ostracize those in contention with their policies as the masses become more and more dependent on the mind numbing dole effect. Dependent on monies bound to dry up along with the charities and fore mentioned engines of human advancement.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely and no corporation comes close to the power of the government.

Natural Lighting

I was in Madison today, which shouldn't surprise anyone. Designers spend a lot of time designing buildings, finding materials, products and systems to provide as much natural light as possible with the least amount of heat loss and/or gain depending on the climate. In this age of environmental consciousness and man's tendency to work from illuminated screens reducing energy consumption has become a priority.

As you can see in the liberal capital of the United States, in a building with a near completely glazed exterior, the lights are on. And it's lunch on this clear sunny and first truly warm day this year. There is no one inside.

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink... yet.

Diagonal Parking

Over the past several years planning and development work has been done for the Menominee River Valley east of Miller Park. The industrial park infrastructure includes, if you look closely, diagonal parking. If you reflect a moment one thing should strike you. The parking stalls angle opposed to oncoming traffic, called reverse angle parking.

When I went by earlier on bicycle, on this late summer day, I did not have my camera with me. Though one might conclude that traffic would back into the stall, giving the driver better visibility when leaving, I witnessed the contrary. Even with the median vehicles had crossed over and pulled in front first. How much more so will that occur when there is no median as we see in the photo below? And how dangerous will that will be for traffic when the driver backs out crossing both lanes? Perhaps signage would control man's natural urge to take the path of least resistance and worry about the consequences later, or traffic volume would be such that it is inconsequential.

I had a group project when in school where all three in the group planned to use diagonal parking, at least initially. Though diagonal parking has received a bad rap for being a traffic hazard, according to our then professor studies had shown it is no more dangerous than parallel parking. We had put together a kind of mixed use traditional neighborhood approach that worked it into the scheme with additional parking shielded from view from the street by the buildings.

Anyway... that was the plan we thought we were all following until four weeks into the six week project. At that point, in our group revue with our professor, one member of our team, I'll call 'Pompous One', walked up with three sheets of marker on mylar drawings with a scheme completely contrary to what we had been doing for four weeks. A modern concept with parking lots directly off the street. He really had a problem with diagonal parking. We all looked at him like he was from Mars and he at us like fools for not just falling in line with his obviously superior design.

Of course this didn't sit well with anyone. I certainly was not going to compromise myself by producing (not producing) a group project in which I had no input, even in the final production. The young lady in our team surely didn't recognize his genius and wasn't going to give in to the 'Pompous One.' And the professor wasn't motivated to let him pull this stunt again. The same thing the 'Pompous One' had done on the previous group project, and gotten away with for the most part. (He has blood relations in the profession)

The 'Pompous One' wasn't going to budge either, but it is when we had our individual meetings in our professors office when things really ... Let's just say got interesting. When the young lady in our group was meeting with our professor the conversation became obviously heated. I walked to the far end of the hall wishing nothing to do with petty quibbles that ultimately tear down. Another young man who I knew fairly well was just outside the door waiting for his personal revue. He kept looking back at me with a nervous tension.

A few moments later the young woman yelled, with such force that not only I could hear but most of the building as well,

"I WONT WORK WITH HIM!"

And as she clearly wouldn't give in to the 'Pompous One' it became clear it was not he she was speaking, or screaming, about. I was told we were working together and continuing our original concept and the 'Pompous One' was on his own, but the young lady refused to acknowledge my existence. Whenever I went to speak to her in regards to the project it was as if I wasn't there, and she said, had said, nothing to me.

One of the more charismatic members of our studio who knew her, came to me with a wink wink, nod nod, telling me she was graduating valedictorian. Most likely some other honor like summa cum laude, since I don't believe she gave a speech at our graduation. But the message was clear; 'Why mess up her honors?'

The professor had an entire studio to guide and there was no time for him to get dragged into conflict resolution, beyond his initial attempts, without detriment to the others in the studio. What was done or not done to address the issue, I believe was decided by the larger administration.

The young lady in our group worked on a very detailed and well crafted perspective drawing modeled from a book. A drawing to reflect the residential part of the project. And that was it. And it wasn't a clear match to the design concept. It didn't reflect the street plan that in the end I had to resolve, or the surrounding environment of the real world site we were working with.

We were to produce four sheets of ink on mylar for the final review. As I said the 'Pompous One' brought three sheets of mylar drawings to the week four review. He spent the next two weeks, when he was in the studio, lamenting that he was burdened with producing the entire project himself. He shuffled around his work and then left muttering under his breadth. He had a job in the profession and spent little time, and did little to no work, in the studio. In fact I was nearly the only one in the building Thursday evenings when "Friends" was on. This was 1997. But I digress.

I feel I'm a good judge of people and in fairness I would say the 'Pompous One' was just that, and he didn't care what my religion was. And yes we are talking about religious bigotry. I could have been Jesus Christ, Gandhi or Charles Manson in a blood lust and he would have treated me or anyone he was working with the same. I received several words of sympathy from the two who worked with him on the previous project on more than one occasion.

For the final review the 'Pompous One' put up the three mylars he had at week four and one more he had produced since. The young lady of our group put up her rendering off to the side. I had spent the last two weeks of the six week project developing all the designs and all but one drawing required for the final review. Work that was intended to be dome by three. I also produced a perspective of the commercial buildings to highlight the tower and heavy column feature I had designed to connect the design to the water tower down North Avenue and a church steeple down Humboldt. I was only able to complete one ink on mylar sheet with the remainder of the required drawings (on trace, vellum or paper) taped to sheets of foam core. The Dean shooed away the camera man as he came to our presentations.

At graduation the young lady seemed intent at parading in front of me with multiple chords over her shoulders, much to the chagrin of the dean as we all waited to enter the auditorium. I had spoken with the administration about this and other problems more than once in my time there. One of the Chairs expressed sincere regret on any problems I may have experienced and another simply wanted to know if I had any evidence.

The stark reality is if you are part of any group that may be associated with the label 'cult' you really are a second class citizen, if even that. This is a problem not specific to the Architectural profession, where diversity generally comes with a foreign accent. If the administration had come down on this young lady that would be one more person, with her family and relatives, who would blame Reverend Moon and the Unification Church for the consequences of her actions. Our society is so adverse to so called 'cults' that the University itself very well could have faced ridicule for taking any action against this young lady. While religious discrimination is illegal in employment and enrollment neither were clear as the issue here. I didn't look into it either. And I certainly do not know, or care, what her justifications would have been.

Bigotry was validated. Did I make an impression on anyone with how I handled the controversy? Was just letting it ride the proper approach for the University? Or myself? Of course, as in the profession, most if not all teachers and administrators in the school belong to the AIA, an organization that claims to hold its members to ethical standards. There is a reason I have little to no interest in belonging to a group that makes such claims. On many levels, not just personal but public, of which I will write more when the opportunity presents.

Well ....

So much for diagonal parking.

Pays Big

I never was in support of the Casino in Milwaukee. I've always said, if someone can't afford to go to Las Vegas they can't afford to gamble. Of course, I should question my logic since much more than gambling occurs there. Things I am no way in support of. It may be best to stay far away from Las Vegas all together.

But I have several relatives that go to the casino here regularly and my wife has always wanted to visit since she knows friends who go occasionally and talk about it. So I took my wife to the Asian restaurant, RuYi, for her birthday. It was right off the floor and too noisy for my taste, but the food was clearly very fresh and well prepared. Excellence obviously a pronounced goal of the Potawatomi Bingo Casino. My wife was looking for sushi, but I should have guessed with the older clientele and short shelf life that we wouldn't find any there. They have fine dining also, isolated from the gambling floors.

But how are Casino's designed? When the Casino was approved I was working at American Design and had commented to the managing Architect, first of all my views on gambling previously stated and, on the Casino design. I suggested windows.

American Design didn't work on the casino but did work on the Milwaukee Connector study. Something, I made clear to everyone I worked with, I thought was redundant and unnecessary. A misuse of the tax payer's dollars, though I did the work I was told to do. I also made clear my opposition to the Kenosha, Racine, Milwaukee Commuter Link (KRM), in favor of simply extending the Chicago Metra service farther north, something the public prefers two to one over the KRM, if needed (it's not, Amtrak fills the need if any exists). I attended one in office meeting with HNTB as we worked together on the 'Milwaukee Connector.' Others were scheduled on my days off or I was given out of office duties. I also had no knowledgeable opinion on the MPS school expansions we worked on, but did ask questions. "Are they necessary?" "Do they have that many students?"

Windows? The Casino was highly controversial and split the community. Many cited the downsides of gambling, how it can destroy peoples lives, during the debate. I suggested a compromise to embrace the whole community would be a design that didn't accommodate the maximization of profit. Views of the outdoors, natural vistas or a star filled sky to give the gamer a sense of a 'greater reality'. These could be actual or generated images. A window wall showing the valley in it's pre-European influenced state. Where the real world outdoor weather conditions could be matched with computer simulation. Or the allusion of an open roofed structure creating the star filled skies of the North Woods those of us in urban environments have been denied. Images that instill wonder at the beauty of the natural world, the passage of time and vastness of the universe. A 'Greater reality.' There are some nature motifs worked into the interior but they are inconsequential.

But Casinos are designed to focus all ones attention on gambling. It may be appropriate for a game of skill that requires ones attentions, but the majority of the floor is filled with slot machines. The design serves the client but how well does it serve the public? Yes, there is more to do than just gambling. And the Potawatomi have invested in programs to help those with problems and casinos have ways to find and track anyone with serious problems, but that deals only with the aftermath.

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is the leading professional membership association for licensed architects. It claims to hold its members to ethical standards. The law, in many ways, is a minimum standard, a minimal expectation of good conduct to support the mutual well being of a society. When we begin to speak of ethical standards that suggests striving for the highest possible standards, ....at least in my book. Their Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, while holding their members to a standard of public awareness and service beyond the norm, does not strive for absolutes. One should ask which is worse; claiming ethical standards you have no intention to pursue to their ends or mistaking technical and professional excellence for ethics? I certainly wasn't rewarded or acknowledged for any ethical queries I may have made on the job.

While we were driving to the Casino, less than ten minutes from our home, we had to pull over to allow some emergency vehicles to pass. They were there at the casino when we arrived. We saw on the news that a man had apparently killed himself in his car in the casino parking lot. There was no follow up in the media.

Does not design have a marked influence on human behavior and well being?

Happy Halloween

An example of form equals function, or where a function creates the ideal form for a seasonal sales vehicle in its simplest form. I e-mailed the company a couple weeks ago in regards to the inspiration for this structure. Was it a marketing professional who came up with the idea? An engineer, specialist contractor, entrepreneur or even an architect? I didn't get a response and no one working there had any idea.

Air-supported structures have been around for decades now and have evolved into a variety of smaller scale seasonal uses. Clearly the engineering would be the driving force behind the application. Where would we be without engineers? But as I look at this structure and contemplate the variety of sources from which the concept may have originated, perfection of the form equals function ideal, I have to wonder how relevant is the architect? As architecture becomes more technology driven, are architects becoming glorified technicians? A set of tools and management skills driven by markets, trends, production demands and the pursuit of public funded projects that anyone of reasonable intellect can master? Where the obvious as well as the artistic innovation is missed? ... Scary!

Sidewalks

One change in consumer habits created by rising gas prices is the rising prominence of the local usually ‘upscale’ grocery store. And this before the recent near doubling of gas prices. Here in Milwaukee county in Wauwatosa a Rainbow Foods replaced the Sentry on State Street, and then converted back to an upscale Sentry store within the year. Sendick’s expanded to several new locations. The Pick n’ Save also on State Street has musicians playing on the weekends. hello

The first picture is the Pic-n-Save on State Street. Completely remodeled and turned high-end. The sidewalk feature added to the parking lot is not unique. Many if not all new development (e.g. Lowe’s on Burliegh) contain such features.

The next picture is Whole Foods, with its very wide sidewalks, on the East Side and as on the UWM campus bikes are numerous. The student population is strongly into bicycling and this will hopefully carry over onto their later years. Of course the radius of travel for a college student cannot be much over two miles, if that.

The next picture is The Outpost, also on State Street. One bicycle most likely that of an employee in the rack. One was also in the rack at the Pick-n-Save. The final picture being the Sendick’s’ on North Avenue; a remodel of an old Kohl’s Foods store. One bike and two scooters, and one bicyclist leaving as I drove up. There are no schools of higher education near by, only neighborhoods. The difference, the terrain is generally flat in the surrounding area unlike the river valley the State Street stores rest in.

Here is a blog post in which the first commenter clearly cannot tolerate riding on the street. It may appear she is in the minority but you have to consider who the readers are. The arguments against adults bicycling on sidewalks are valid for an experienced rider moving as fast as possible. I would argue those potential riders who cannot tolerate riding in traffic, or past parked cars whose doors may swing open at anytime, would not be going nearly as fast. They would be operating like pedestrians rather than vehicles at intersections, stopping and looking both ways. And they would be moving even slower than a child on a bicycle and easier to see.

Here is an article on bicycling in Britain. Documenting the results of a predominance of parents expressing a general fear for their children riding bicycles in traffic. My personal observations suggest this is a widespread fear in our nation among all age groups. Bike lane advocates also are moving to alternatives that create much greater separation from the automobile.

There are certain areas where I ride my bike on the sidewalk. Where Watertown Plank Road goes under highway 45 or parts of Hawley Road and pedestrians are near non-existent. I have two reasons that at times I do. First, it is much safer and second I’ve been stuck myself behind a bike in these stretches and know the frustration a driver feels. Highway 100 is an impossible ride with traffic speeding in all lanes and in some stretches there are no sidewalks. Of course it is illegal for an adult to ride a bike on the sidewalk. But should it be?

Bicycle advocates fight hard to protect bicyclists rights to roadways and vehicle status. They are generally ardent riders who ride many a mile and are in excellent shape. Unfortunately, there is a large group of potential riders that do not want to interact with auto traffic at all (even in a parking lot) when riding a bike, so don’t. As gasoline prices continue to rise and people grow more environmentally conscience there is an opening for promoting the use of bicycles for everyday tasks such as going to the grocery. Trek, a responsible bicycling advocate, has targeted this group with several models most notably the ‘Lime’ recognizing a large market that shuns shifting gears, and even hand brakes, as too complicated. In my own travels I spent three years overseas with a bicycle and public transit as my only form of personal transportation. In parts of the world where bikes enjoy wide use, multiple gear bicycles are almost non-existent for everyday use and all have baskets or a cargo rack.

I have brought up the issue of riding bicycles on sidewalks with bicycle advocates in the past and have always been met with a resounding, “No!” The reality is that is what we have already done in the new Canal Street corridor. Some will say the cities are not designed for such use of their sidewalks. They are if you widen the sidewalks. I recall all the Traditional Neighborhood Development types lamenting the past and the loss of the corner grocer. People did not drive their cars to the corner grocer. While the corner grocery is gone, the neighborhood grocery is on the rise.

The older parts of our cities were designed for our sidewalks to accommodate significant pedestrian traffic. I remember when we all walked to school every morning. Now many of our sidewalks are nearly empty. Altering the sidewalks to accommodate a specific user group is a kin to the building of bike paths and lanes. The difference is the potential users have no representation. A user group not particularly athletic or mechanically minded that would only travel short distances on every day errands. If gas prices continue to rise, a group potentially much larger than any group of bicyclists we have now. A group whose use of bicycles, on errands they had used their cars for in the past, would be making the largest contribution to fuel conservation.

The multi-use paths in our County Parks are ten feet wide and handle a variety of traffic of all different types, age groups and activities. They are quite crowded at times and accidents rare. There is a beauty to our sidewalks. They are size perfectly for their traditional use. But as gas prices increase, if the bicycle truly is an alternative to our energy and environmental needs there are places where the sidewalks should be widened and adults allowed to ride at slower speeds. Restricting this privilege to single speed bicycles may be the best way to control the speed.

Rather than engineering and reconstructing roadways to include bicycle lanes, wider sidewalks on stretches such as highway 100, here in Milwaukee County, would serve the fore mentioned user group. Sidewalks along Highway 100, where they have sidewalks, have few pedestrians and many destinations are currently only accessible by automobile. Ten-foot wide multi-use path on both sides along the entire length of Highway 100 would give access to jobs and shopping to bicyclists.

A ten-foot multi-use path on one side of Watertown Plank Road from Highway 100 and the Village of Wauwatosa would be similar to what was done on Canal Street. However, for most of the city, for those who will not travel more than two miles by bicycle on an errand, what would be the proper criteria for widening the sidewalk?

A combination of destination, terrain and crime are determinants for other locations for wider sidewalks. Local grocery stores and shops such as video rental or health food stores, being the main target, where consumer products would fit into a bicycle basket. The target user group not necessarily being the athletic type, there is no need for wider sidewalks in hilly areas. North Avenue is an ideal model where there are few hills in the surrounding neighborhoods to frustrate the target user group. Not that every sidewalk be widened, but those on one side of a street that would be central in a neighborhood and feed to the desired locations (North Avenue in this case), which can also include connections to bike paths. The final piece to the puzzle is the perception of crime. Low crime areas and secure bicycle parking facilities in any circumstance are necessary. Large numbers of inexpensive bicycles are the norm where bicycles enjoy widespread use and drastically reduce the threat of bicycle theft. A goal metropolitan areas have been trying to achieve in a variety of fashions.

My opinion is based highly on anecdotal evidence, common observations. I would argue that such observations are more relevant than the social engineering so prevalent in government and the professional community. Built on an understanding of why the majority of people are not riding bicycles rather than deciding how people should live in spite of themselves.


Part of a response from Shea Schachameyer of the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin;

...as a bicycle advocate and a regular bike commuter I discourage people from riding on the sidewalk as statistically it's more dangerous to bike on the sidewalk than in the roadway. Yet, as a bicycle advocate I am all too familiar with people's fears of riding with traffic. .....
Bicyclist education and motorist education are both essential in creating safer conditions for bicyclists. The Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin as well as most other bike advocacy organizations offer adult bike education classes to give people the skills and confidence to safely bike in traffic and on trails.