Re: MIT - Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research
Anyone have a good example of how a superblock can be broken up to allow for the richness of a street?
I really don't think you can suggest that all the architects that have been given the problem have simply failed, or have not cared. It seems that it is a very difficult proposition. A developer buys a city block so to save money on the economy of scale. The developer hires an architect to design his/her building to achieve their proforma. Even if the architect makes the argument that the scale of the building requires breaking the street wall into discrete facades with varying materials, window types, rhythms, and articulation, there is still a lack of time, money and support from the developers point of values, budget, and schedule. Why does he/she care? What can the architect do at that point? Dump the job?
I agree that a municipality has to have the vision to require that superblocks either be mitigated, or that parcels be smaller to allow for the kinds of richness we see in older city fabric. If it means a loss of tax revenue, this is not going to happen either. A city is making way more in tax revenue right away with a superblock project than with parceled out land that takes time to infill.
The picture above is a great example of what I am talking about. I dont think anyone would say that the retail buildings on the right side of the street are anything special architecturally, but together they make a "nice street". Is there a super block that anyone can cite that reaches that kind of richness?
