Dr. Downtown, David Brussat: Stadium Design Hits Home Run

Monday, April 20, 2015

David Brussat, GoLocalProv Dr. Downtown

 

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Proposed PawSox stadium in Providence, courtesy of Populous:

The design announced last week for a stadium to house the Pawtucket Red Sox - keep them the PawSox at PawSox prices! - in Providence is so striking that it nearly knocked me off the fence.

Rhode Island’s capital has not faced a proposed new building with such exciting architecture since the Providence Place mall was proposed in the early 1990s. Jim Skeffington was involved then, too, as lawyer for a development team that was fighting interests who sought to keep Rhode Island shopping dollars flowing to Warwick. Skeffington & Co. won that battle, and Providence Place has been a boon to the state, far exceeding expectations in profits and tax revenue.

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The traditional appeal of the mall created a boomlet for classical design that lasted for almost a decade. If it had survived Mayor (now congressman) David Cicilline and Capital Center design committee chairwoman Leslie Gardner, Waterplace Park would not have been dulled by its sad phalanx of sterile modernist towers. 

Jim Skeffington to the Rescue

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Jim Skeffington on 195 land, courtesy of therepublic.com:

The I-195 Redevelopment District Commission threatens to do to the Jewelry District what Cicilline and Gardner did to Capital Center, which, except for the mall, has struggled now for a quarter of a century. On the 195 corridor, the city and state have another chance to do it right. 

News reports have focused on the brick, arched openings and lighthouse of the proposed ball field, but its general conventional look is key. People like a house that looks like a house, a bank that looks like a bank, a stadium that looks like a stadium. That is what is on tap for downtown Providence. It may be hoped that the new 195 commissioners will pick up on this, and perk up the doldrums of its early years by calling for design that will make the district popular.

So the new PawSox owners, Skeffington and Boston Red Sox President Larry Lucchino, hope to strike a blow for regular people in Rhode Island. They should aim higher. If they build a broader campaign on their project’s high design IQ - the nation and indeed the world could benefit.

Traditional architecture arises from natural human biology because it incorporates trial-and-error in design development - as opposed to novelty for novelty’s sake that makes modern architecture intrinsically insensitive to human needs and desires. The world has suffered for almost a century because leaders resist embracing this elemental fact of life. That is true of individual buildings, but it is also true of communities and - within communities - development projects.

My Trip to Charleston and I’On

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Traditional suburban development of I’On, near Charleston, S.C., photo by David Brussat

I visited Charleston, S.C., a city in a state that unlike Providence and Rhode Island has emerged with vigor from the national recession. The city’s traditional stock serves as a strong foundation for its healthy business climate. You cannot touch historical property there, and it is fiercely protected. When Clemson University proposed a school of architecture of modernist design in the historic district, its citizens said “no way!” Clemson withdrew the proposal.

Charleston has done a much better job than Providence at building on the strength of its historic character. Recent enclaves have been built outside Charleston that extend the city’s traditional look into the suburbs. I visited a neighborhood called I’On. Now 20 years old, it seems as if it might’ve been there for 200 years. Although constructed with advanced materials and techniques to bring down project costs, its more modest homes are no more within reach than the mansions along its waterfront or along the narrow, lengthy canal that connects its two lakes.

Traditional houses in new suburban towns built in historic styles are just as expensive as those in historic districts, not just in Charleston but wherever they are allowed. Most of the places with old charm and beauty in U.S. cities have been restored and bought up by the wealthy. Zoning law bars most “new-old” places from being built in the first place. Rich families gobble them up. If there were more such places, Americans would not be so desensitized to their built environments.

But Only If the Price Is Right

The prospect of a traditional PawSox stadium offers hope that the principles behind its appeal can begin to make lovely places normal again in Rhode Island. That can be a worthy legacy for deep-pocket guys like Lucchino and Skeffington. But they will fail if their noble ambitions are seen as an effort to pad their already fluffy financial nests. 

Rhode Island taxpayers are being asked, it seems, to reimburse the new PawSox owners with $120 million for an $85 million stadium they blithely assert that they will pay for themselves. Even dressed up nicely in brick and arches, the pitch looks like a strikeout to this fence-sitter. So I’m rooting for a change-up that Rhode Island can hit out of the ballpark.

 

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