Our third round of Architecture on Tap was yet another great discussion between some of this city’s vociferous design professionals.
Our panelists for this installment were: Monica Heid, Community Projects Manager at the City of Richardson; David Whitley, Associate Director at citydesign studio; Larry Good, Principal at Good Fulton & Farrell; and Benje Feehan, Director of bcWORKSHOP.
Mr. Good shared an anecdote about our current sprawl endeavors which opened and started to steer our discussion. The takeoff from it was that we as design professionals need to preserve and restore what our current city is, and we need to reform the opinion (or culture) of sustainability. Houses out in the middle of nowhere with nothing to drive lot size or aesthetic decisions is not a very sustainable path for Dallas.
One opinion from the panel on how to alter this mindset was to convince our clients that sustainable and efficient aren't mutually exclusive. Preserving a sense of place instead of reinventing a city every time we build could be important to the success of this. Our current culture worships the car. Our buildings are formed from right of way setbacks and traffic view triangles at corners. “This cast in place attitude towards the car needs to change,” was a common thought from our panel.
What can we do? – design for this place, make regionally appropriate decisions at every available chance, focus less on our skyline and more on what happens between the buildings.
Come have a drink in August with us and remind yourself why you picked architecture for a career – details soon to come!
Luke Archer
JHP Architecture / Urban Design
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