Wexford Is a Modern Delight: Architectural Critic Will Morgan
William Morgan, GoLocalProv Architectural Critic
Wexford Is a Modern Delight: Architectural Critic Will Morgan
Would that I could write a piece that heaped praise on some exceptionally handsome and truly innovative project for downtown Providence–one that was all design greatness and as embraceable as a basket of puppies. But, Cassandra-like, I am left discussing the follies of architectural planning in our fair city.
The almost completed Wexford Innovation Center, despite the sort of lackluster design review that governs the I-195 redevelopment land, is surprisingly quite handsome. While not lovable, Wexford is a sleek and handsome office block–a decent example of a Modernism.
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Alas, Wexford is about the only good news on the west side of the Providence River, as the I-195 Redevelopment Commission appears to confuse mediocre real estate development with good urban design.
There is no better illustration of this than the five proposals for Parcel 28 being considered by the I-195 Commission.
That committee counts no architects, historians, preservationists, artists, or urban planners among its members–the equivalent, say, of manning the Federal Reserve without bankers or economists.
To peruse the various schemes for the one-and-a-quarter acre plot framed by Richmond, Chestnut, Friendship, and Clifford Streets, one would guess that the Commission requested proposals only from the blandest, most unimaginative suburban real estate developers.
DMG claims that their 13-story behemoth will "improve the local economy by adding Ground Floor Retail," and "increasing pedestrian traffic."
While the diagonal shape responds to the pork chop-shaped lot, it looks like a mid-level hotel.
The would-be builders are able to attest to their anywhere-and-everywhere experience in management and raising capital.
But other than an occasional catchphrase, real urban issues and architecture are not addressed.
Architecturally, does it matter that Exeter Property's management "exceeds $6 billion across several asset classes and geographies"? Even if you can imagine their offering wrapped in an attractive skin, this blocky scheme does little to enhance the urban commonweal.
What sort of Requests for Proposals did the I-195 Commission put out there in their search for builders? "We are looking for clunky, commercial buildings without any sense of style, so dull that they would put a whirling Dervish to sleep," perhaps.
How does this undifferentiated precast concrete mass speak to Providence's history? Will this really enhance "the City's long-standing active and vibrant streetscape," and "contribute to the "public realm," as Waldorf ("Creating Value From Opportunity") claims.
Could we imagine a design so innovative that it might actually bring visitors to see it? Instead, what we have here is merely insulting indifference.
Penrose's motto, "Bricks and Mortar/Heart and Soul," seems a bit of misnomer. Ground level retail and restaurants barely interact with the street.
This package of square-footage uses half a dozen or more types of cladding. Despite the attempt at snazzy colors, this looks like a warehouse where bold ideas for revitalizing a city go to die.
All of these proposals may rank well in terms of commercial real estate. But none of them succeed as objects of visual interest. Will any of these become the landmarks of tomorrow?
Renderings like this have a certain appeal, with their young, happy white people, and nothing but blue skies.
But what says "Providence" about this view? If this complex were in Europe, would you seek it out and a take a selfie in front of it?
Taken together, this handful of forgettable buildings should make us question how we go about securing the architecture of tomorrow.
Competitions, for example, could bring in talent from all over the country, and perhaps the world.
Yet, local design firms have spawned innovative design that has garnered national attention, such as the pioneering use of shipping containers to create an unusual and attractive office building.
Or one could mention the rehabilitation of the U.S. Rubber Company factory as the home of WaterFire.
(It is ironic that the architects of that successful work are DBVW, the same architectural firm that is paired with DMC on the tallest of the Parcel 28 proposals.)
Universities and colleges–Brown, RISD, RIC, and Bryant, as well as schools such as Meeting Street, Moses Brown, and Lincoln–have commissioned notable buildings. Johnson and Wales' Cuisinart Center is a stunning piece of new architecture.
It is time that our building trades unions, who seem too quick to support the most ho-hum projects, realized that constructing architecturally significant buildings brings in just as many jobs as the unadventurous ones.
And, most of all, powerful entities such as the I-195 Redevelopment Commission need to find a better method of recruiting the designers of significant building blocks of our urban fabric.
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