Here, along with CSUF anthropology professor Hank Delcore, we offer our take on the results of the Downtown Community Charrette held on May 10-15, 2010, by Moule & Polyzoides and the City of Fresno. Over at TheAnthroGuys we assess the charrette process. Please read both and leave your comment.

There has been talk about revitalization of downtown Fresno. There has been money thrown at the revitalization. Now we are getting what is long overdo, a comprehensive community and specific plan. To understand this, look at the Tower District. Tower has had a specific plan since the early 90’s. Not everything happens over night but the plan ensures that everything that does happen is consistent with the community’s long range vision for the area.

Just recently the week long design workshops, called a Charrette, was held at the Radison regarding the Downtown Neighborhood Community Plan. What we see in the preliminary maps and renderings from Moule & Polyziodes team leading the community planning effort is no surprise. They have a long track record of new urbanist planning and architecture. The plan focuses on creating pedestrian friendly streets that encourage foot traffic. They stressed that foot traffic is key for the economic viability of downtown businesses, being attractive to new businesses and promoting a sense of security with “eyes on the street”.

In the vein of “eyes on the street” they have also have rendered views of infill, renovated and replacement building that have a traditional urban form. These buildings face the street, have large window also oriented to the street and often feature porches, stoops or balconies. All of these forms together create an urban environment that both fells vibrant and feels safer.

Regarding transportation, Stefanon Polyzoides stressed that the City of Fresno Traffic Engineering department is the most progressive and innovative they have dealt with. One of the key things in this planning effort is introducing a new word into the Fresno lexicon. That is “road diet”. This means narrowing many of our roads that are too wide for the amount of traffic they have. They space then gets gained for the pedestrian, bicycle lane, businesses can have sidewalk dinning. There is also room for health street trees and landscaping.

We also hear that we should protect the downtown grid, open previously vacated streets, and return two way traffic to one way streets. This is all in order to improve downtown connectivity and way-finding.

Below are photos from the charrette as well as the final presentation products from the process. You can find the full version at www.fresnodowntownplans.com And also check out our review of the process.
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Following the development of the Fulton Corridor Specific Plan from the inside, Tim Schulz, will be reporting on his experiences on the Community Advisory Committee. Below are his notes from the 1st public meeting.
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Representing Moule & Polyzoides Architects and Urbanists are;
Stefanos Polyzoides, David Sargent, and Juan Gomez-Novy

Most of what the M & P representatives’ presentation covered was an introduction to what they do, how they define their role, and an overview of the process they oversee to reach the end target of establishing new codes and standards by which we will improve/develop/redevelop Downtown Fresno as a whole.

Instead of re-writing everything that was presented, it is much faster to view the Power Point presentation they displayed during the introduction of their overview.

One important point that Stefanos Polyzoides established early on was to answer a question that was yet to be asked, which was that “Downtown is part of the Neighborhoods Plan.” Although we (Fresno) have two separate community advisory committees; the Fulton Corridor Specific Plan, and the Downtown Neighborhoods Plan, the two will be subject to the same codes and standards to be established over the next two years, approximately. An overview of the process, which as they state is the most important and indispensible part they will employ is as follows;

Discovery and Outreach reach out, listen, educate, listen, evaluate- underlying theme being collaboration
Vision and Charrettes learning w/ community, build political support
Unpack charrettes w/ staff, Committees
Implementation connect downtown and neighborhoods, base on current demographics
Sustainability Green Infrastructure/water/storm-water
Code + General Plan Policy adjustments Form-Based Code
Environmental review integrate w/ plan process, EIR streamlines the review process

Success for this process will largely depend on the Committees to, 1. communicate key issues, 2. gauge how MPA is doing, and 3. act as points of interest in order to attract other people

The last portion of the meeting was open for questions from both the Committee and the public. I did not record all of the questions, but tried to get the ones that I thought were more relevant and probably more common questions that the public may have.

Q Alan Allen: Fulton Mall- walk or street solution?
A Stefanos Polyzoides (S.P.): We will decide that through the process
- Side note: the Historic Preservation Commission will have a vote on April 5 to appoint the Fulton Mall a Historic Landmark.
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A S.P.: Fulton Mall may be highly important to people, but it is only one issue. There are and will be many other issues and we want to make sure that the Mall does not drown out other issues. (I personally appreciated this point and his making the statement from the beginning. We need to make sure that we don’t hyper-focus on minute or singular items, as important as they may truly be, and in doing so lose focus on the big picture and the all-encompassing purpose of the whole process.)

A David Sargent (D.S.): We will concentrate on developing standards and guidelines for adaptive re-use, zone level regulation, etc. We can change the current zoning and standards if that is what is found to be necessary.

A John Dugan (J.D.): We are going to build on Form-Based Code; we will establish a whole new foundation. In the meantime, we can adopt interim development standards and interim zoning changes in the interest of forward movement. It will be very much green field based.

Dennis Manning (Downtown Improvement Group) – would like to work with the group, and is very interested in and has background in transportation and the involved systems.

Community member – encourage going back to 2-way streets (Tree Tops), encouraging geo-tourism to celebrate our ag and immigrant history, and concerned about possible adverse affects of bringing the high-speed rail

Q Arthur Sadine – Who makes final decision for Specific Plan?
A Elliot Balch (E.B.): Ultimately the City Council, which will most likely happen in 2012.

Heather ?: What will make us unique, stand out? Worth looking into arts, entertainment, cultural diversity, and avoiding the “mom and pops” and corporations. We need character and personality. We need to make Fresno a cool place to visit.

Orlando Veloria – (from Orange County, Santa Ana) Although a Clovis resident, I own a restaurant at 860 Fulton. I would encourage everyone that while this process is taking place over whatever span of time it requires, that we stay the course and invite/bring/encourage visiting downtown. Things don’t start after this is all done. The energy started long ago, and just as I have lived through and seen downtowns grow and revitalize when growing up, Fresno is more than capable of doing the same thing. Let’s clean up Fulton Mall. Let’s have public displays of renderings. Let’s show people that the wheels are in motion and that it’s not just a bunch of talk.

Q Joe Moore: Explain, 1. new urbanism, 2. economics – how does that fit into the exercise?
A S.P.: 1. Accept traditional urban form and feed a synergy between old and new. 2. Take certain steps, sequencing (Pasadena, Ca.), and patience.
A D.S.: Strategic Economics (from Berkeley). Will be on website (don’t know which site) May 4 and 5.

Don Simmons – 1902 Divisadero, Historical preservation is a large part of the environmental factor. Reiterate the April 5 hearing for Fulton Mall as State Historic Building/Site.

End note: anyone can visit the website [fresnodowntownplans.com] to ask questions or leave comments, or call 621.PLAN.

Timothy Schulz

*photo above from City of Fresno Downtown and Community Revitalization Department’s Facebook page

The days of vague plans for downtown Fresno are over. It’s time to get specific.

This is the hope of the Swearengin administration, Downtown Revitalization Department, The Planning and Development Department and a diversity of private citizens.

The contract for the Fulton Corridor Specific Plan and the Downtown Neighborhoods Community Plan were approved by Fresno City Council on January 28, 2010. Now the sleeves get rolled up and the hard work begins. The contract allots $900,000 in Community Block Grant funds (I believe there are some other minor funding sources) this year in a total contract of $2.3 million with Moule & Polyzoides | Architects and Urbanists along with other specialized consultants.

If you read Craig Scharton’s meeting calendar blog then you’ll have seen that preparation meetings for the spacific plan have already been occurring. They have even launched a new website [http://fresnodowntownplans.com] “This website will contain a variety of information pertaining to the development projects, include details about public involvement process and how you can help shape Downtown Fresno.”

The site announces the first of the public meetings:

TUESDAY
March 9th
4:00PM – 6:45PM
Downtown Neighborhoods Community Advisory Committee Meeting #1
Location: The Grand, 1401 Fulton St, Fresno
In this first Community Advisory Committee Meeting, the consultant will outline the planning process that lies ahead, describe some of its initial findings, and give the Committee and the public a chance to share thoughts regarding priorities, issues, and concerns for the Downtown Neighborhoods Community Plan area.

TUESDAY
March 9th
7:00PM – 8:45PM
Fulton Corridor Specific Plan Community Advisory Committee #1
Location: The Grand, 1401 Fulton St, Fresno
In this first Community Advisory Committee Meeting, the consultant will outline the planning process that lies ahead, describe some of its initial findings, and give the Committee and the public a chance to share thoughts regarding priorities, issues, and concerns for the Fulton Corridor Specific Plan area.

This blogger will be out in Portland at the National Charrette Institute training. However, we have arranged for a corespondent that will be covering Fulton Corridor Specific Plan Community Advisory Committee. If you are on the Downtown Neighborhoods Community Advisory Committee or plan on attending most the meetings, then consider being our corespondent as well. If interested please contact us.

What are your hopes and aspiration for the Specific/Community plans? Post them in the comments below.

I’ll start. I ride my bike to my office in the Cultural Arts District from my home in Tower. I would see some of the weird intersections redesigned for better flow and safety from the pedestrian and cyclist perspective. One in particular is the Divisadero, H Street, Weber intersection.

Many the announcements and outreach about the plans are pretty focused on investment. Investment will revitalize downtown, investment will disperse alleviate concentrated poverty. I would like to see equal or more attention on the people. I guess it is a different perspective or approach. I think downtown should be a healthy inviting place for people and people will bring money/investment. Feel free to disagree, I would like to have that discussion.

It was another warm Saturday morning in Fresno. Tower District residents walked, biked, and drove to a 3rd in a string of community meetings. The purpose of these meetings is to craft a Streetscape Master Plan that will guide City of Fresno infrastructure investment in the district.

Meeting #1

Saturday, July 25, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm: Visioning Workshop to develop design alternatives

Video & Critique

Meeting #2

Tuesday, July 28, 7:00 – 9:00 p.m: Workshop to develop the design concepts

Designs, critique, discussions (1, 2)

Meeting #3

Saturday, September 27, 11:00am-1:00pm: Workshop on specific elements and details

When I arrived to The Landmark at 11am, I locked my bike the the patio railing because there was no bike rack nearby. As I walked in the meeting was calling to order. Many of the faces were familiar from previous meetings and daily life in the neighborhood.

I settled into a table near the back, joined by friends Travis, Ed and Adam. We were ready to get to work and start a collaborative design process. All we needed was a brief update about the latest design, outline of the meetings goals, and some instructions of the task at hand. 15-20 minutes would have been a reasonable time for that.

However, was not the case. From 11 until several minutes after 12 the group was talked to. Those that held the mic included: Director of Tower District Marketing Committee, Bill Kuebler; Council member Blong Xiong; consulting architect and planner, Mark Steele; City of Fresno traffic engineer, Brian Jones; and consulting architect and planner, Diego Velasco. Everyone at our table was frustrated by the slow start and several escaped to the Landmark bar for a drink to kill the time.

The most informative of the 5 speakers was Brian Jones, traffic engineer with the City of Fresno. He spoke about the narrowing Wishon to 2 lanes and using narrowed lanes and sidewalk bulb outs to make divers feel less safe driving fast. In other words using design and drivers’ natural reactions in order to create more bicycle and pedestrian friendly traffic patterns. Very cool stuff, but some residents had a hard time believing that bikes and cars could use the same lane.

The important items to know about the updated design is that the much discussed traffic circles have been removed and the pilot project to implement the design has been selected as the strip of Olive between Wishon and Maroa.

design workshop

Our task for the meeting was to select preferences in street furniture. We were given a matrix of furniture to select. This included: paving, bike racks, seating, planters, trash cans, lighting, kiosks, etc.

Our table often circled one option that best fit our preference but wrote out notes that they should be commissioned from local artists and designers. Other than some of the photos of the existing, nothing seemed to call out as authentic to the Tower.

In the few minutes we had left we noted on the plan where we believed this street furniture should be placed. If more than 35-40 minutes had been devoted to the design workshop, we would have been able to make more thorough design decisions.

I had also expected that we as a group would have some part in selecting what the first pilot project would be. It seems that decision was made between the Tower District Market and the city. Work on the pilot project is expected to begin as early as January of 2010.

While I have been frustrated with the process, I see that there has been a lot of hard work going into the Tower District Streetscape Master Pland. And it is comforting to see that the design is improving and that the pilot project will actually get built.

other outcomes

One encouraging outcome from these meeting is that a group of residents has organized to repair the lights strung over olive. They are taking $10 donations for lightbulbs and selling $25 t-shirts with a cool design.

So if you’d like to see Tower shine a little brighter, then pitch in at least $10. I’m sure Flo will comment here and let you know how to donate and where to buy t-shirts.

A third community meeting will be held this Saturday for the Tower District Streetscape Master Plan project.

Visioning Workshop to develop design alternatives
Saturday, September 26th
11:00 am – 1:00 pm
The Landmark Restaurant

The first meeting involved a series of group visioning and design exercises led by Mark Steele and Diego Velasco. CSUF professor and practicing design anthropologist Hank Delcore PhD and I, co-wrote a critique of the methods used by M.W. Steele Group.

A few days later was the second meeting M.W. Steele Group presented the conceptual design of the new streetscape. There where strong design moves such as reinforcing an existing pedestrian corridor from Fern between the Post Office and Dollar Tree to the Restaurants on the North end of Fulton. However, what got the most attention and passionate debate were two proposed traffic circles at Wishon & Olive and Van Ness & Olive.

It was Fresno’s Blogosphere that this discussion took place. Find those discussions here:
The Anthro Guys, Gustav’s Groupie, Fresno Beehive, Business Street Online, The Fresnan

From the amount of contentious attention among the community and emails between a Tower committee led by Bill Kuebler, I predict the traffic circles will not be in this second draft of the plan. However, I have not seen any updated designs yet.

Below is the announcement of the 3rd meeting that was emailed out to everyone that had attended one or both of the other meetings.

Now, come see the results of everyone’s efforts and join us in discussions relative to the draft conceptual plan as we focus our attention on the specific elements and details contributing to the creation of an overall final streetscape plan and… implementation!

Saturday, September 26th
11:00 am – 1:00 pm:
Visioning Workshop to develop design alternatives

NEW MEETING LOCATION!
Meeting will take place at The Landmark Restaurant (644 E. Olive Avenue) Located on the southwest corner of the intersection of East Olive Avenue and North Broadway).

For more information,
call 497-8362

The City of Fresno contact for this endeavor is:
Will Tackett, Planner III
Planning and Development Dept.
(559) 621-8063

I encourage all Tower residents and regular visitors to attend this meeting. Your input is valuable. I’m not sure what the format will be this time. However, make sure you focus on the details. What happens at each corner? How is the street furniture placed? How will the proposed changes alter the way you experience the street (i.e. walking, driving, biking, sitting, dining, entertainment)? Look at the boundaries of the project area, how does it connect with the rest of the Tower District? How can the design be improved?

Also the city will be moving forward with a pilot project from this streetscape master plan. Surveying of Olive’s topography has already begun. Be sure to voice what you feel is the best place to start, whether it is the most prototypical and/or will make the greatest impact.

And please report back here for discussion.

Architecture thrives on creativity and creativity thrives in architecture. It is perhaps the single greatest force which moves architecture forward. However, creative ideas emerge through a conscious effort to seek them. New ideas are developed in practice, discourse, technology and materials as a result of investing time and energy in creative pursuits. Mark Wigley, Dean of the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (GSAPP) at Columbia University touched on this phenomenon during a recent conversation that took place at Columbia University when he suggested that during a healthy market we “minimize the friction between what we are asked to deliver by our clients and what we deliver.” Friction – in this context – referring to a tolerance for creativity and our interest in challenging norms.

Half disgusted with the current economic climate and half motivated by the availability of time to pursue ideas which time did not allow for during the past few years, I set out to find others who were leveraging changes in their career in creative ways. What I found were several inspiring stories which only confirm that creativity not only thrives in down economy but also that it can create opportunity regardless of the state of the economy.

Across the country, large firms, small studios, ateliers, young professionals, associates, and recent graduates alike are faced with the challenge of reduced workloads, furloughs or unemployment altogether. This posits and interesting challenge to either seek stability, or to pursue creative opportunities regardless of the potential instability. Follows are a few stories to help inspire those debating whether or not to invest the time, energy and resources.

Ryan Spruston | Ryan Spruston Architect, Los Angeles

After nearly 10 years of “working on great projects with great people” at Gensler, ELS, and MBT, Ryan Spruston decided to resist the intuitive notion of job hunting and venture out as an independent contractor. His newfound mobility and freedom to pursue work independently allowed him to shift his focus from the corporate, developer-based approach to one that has him teamed up with a multi-disciplinary team pursuing affordable housing solutions using shipping containers.

‘project retan‘ is an affordable housing solution developed for the City of Pomona using ISO shipping containers. The multi-disciplinary team which prepared the response to the “ULI 100 Home Competition” included recent business school graduates, social housing service associates, city planners and architects. Not only has the economy afforded Spruston the opportunity to pursue creative ventures such as project retan but it has allowed for his creative energies to be directed towards helping address need for social housing.

Working outside of the corporate arena for the first time in his career has afforded him several opportunities to team up with sole-proprietors looking for talent and expediency; something Spruston and his network of independent contractors can certainly provide given their new found freedom.

Joel Karr | Group 41, Inc./Container Nation, San Francisco

As the recession impacts the ports of the world – creating a surplus of empty shipping containers – Joel Karr recognizes an incredible opportunity to house people in need. With over 15 years of research and design invested into shipping container projects, Joel is experiencing what he considers as the “moment of inflection in affordable housing.”

He is currently working on affordable housing projects which “up-cycle” the shipping container for a prominent Indian Tribe in Central California as well as a developer driver 200 unit project in Salt Lake City. Both of these are examples of projects which are now moving towards realization as a result of the bad economy and increased need for affordable housing. While Karr suggests that project such as these were ‘on the boards’ even in otherwise healthy times, he admits that the projects are now met with a certain level of urgency as a result of the downturn. He is careful to remind me that there is plenty of room for creativity in a healthy economy, “the difference now is that the ideas are finally taking hold.”

With projects that creatively repurpose shipping containers ranging from housing for the poor in 3rd world countries to environmentally friendly re-use of containers for housing that can be achieved for less than $6 per square foot Karr’s projects are gaining more and more traction now as economics become a critical factor. Group 41, Inc. is hardly feeling the effects of the economy nowadays, a great example of the benefits of ‘front loading’ creativity.

Edgar Papazian | DOON Architecture, Portland

Avoiding the myopic challenge of how to survive the recession altogether, Edgar Papazian is utilizing the free time as an opportunity for calibrate his studio in Portland to embrace the inevitable return to a healthy economy. “In the downturn, I have concentrated solely on what happens after the downturn.” For Papazian, this means shifting his focus away from billable hours and pursuing work in new markets and towards testing some of his creative ideas and concepts. This has led to the commencement of work on an “innovative yet necessarily low-cost renovation” of a private residence in Portland.

Having built up a portfolio of work while with Cesar Pelli and the Polshek Partnership in New York, Edgar ventured to the Pacific Northwest to begin a practice in a region where a thriving culture, design community and the arts have attracted talent from around the nation in recent years. However, shortly after launching his practice the economy began to decline. Rather than take the simple road back into corporate architecture, he has turned his focus towards putting his creative ideas to the ultimate test – by building. Cognizant that a shift in focus away from his desired market could lead to becoming confined to that market, he has directed most of his energies towards a manifestation of his theories, concepts and cultural background into physical form.

What began as an exploration of a casual curiosity has led to a realization that economically difficult times are as important, if not the most critical stage, in the development of a career or a practice. As Mark Wigley has pointed out, healthy economic times do not afford us the opportunities to pursue new ideas, new concepts and new markets nearly as much as economically recessed times. Proof that when there is little or no work out there…..it’s time to get to work!

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More information on Mark Wigley and the Columbia Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation can be found at: http://www.arch.columbia.edu/ and http://bldgblog.blogspot.com
More information on Ryan Spruston’s work can be found at: http://ryanspruston.com/

More information on Joel Karr’s work can be found at: http://www.containernation.com/ and http://group41inc.com/index.php

More information on Edgar Papazian’s work can be found at: http://doonarchitecture.com/

Discussion

Above are three example of how creativity in architecture is blooming not despite of but because of the current economic climate. We would like to hear example of local architects, designer and creatives doing the same with their creative pursuits. This will be the topic of a follow up article.

I get lots of lawn care flyers at my door. These flyers for the most part are copies of hand written originals. Others where created in the computer and include clip art of a lawnmower or other yard care icon.

When I got home yesterday, there was a new flyer jutting out of my mail slot. When I unrolled it, I was pleasantly surprised.

This flyer is obviously drawn by Juan’s son or daughter. It is my favorite and intrigues me because it shows a curiosity about architecture and landscape, it also demonstrates an understanding of how people interact with space and the concept of perspective (the men in the background are drawn smaller than in the foreground). These are concept many architecture students struggle with.

In my experience doing community and participatory design workshops I’ve found that many have the raw talent needed for architecture or design. But often it is not nurtured along.

Any one can be an architect, not to say everyone can be an architect, but an architect can be found anywhere. The hand that drew this is the hand of a future architect.

Last week we focused on the design of archop park. We made some good progress. As the designs become visualized, I’ll post them here. We’ll also be taking them back to the community and the PARCS Department for further input.

One of the community requirement was nice places to sit with a good view of the park. For instance, this is a space where a parent or grandparent could relax and watch their kids play.

These seats and under the freeway, so shelter from sun or weather is not necessary. However, one of the site conditions is a large amount of noise constantly coming from the freeway above. That noise isn’t as noticeable if you’re involved in an active sport or play. Though, when sitting quietly or trying to have a conversation, the noise is distracting and irritating. So shelter from sound becomes the challenge.

The design posted here attempts to quite the freeway noise with a strategically placement of a sound panel. The panel absorbs the sound from above and creates a more pleasant sitting experience. The angle is adjustable depending on the prevalent angle of freeway noise.

The materials of this Sound Seat are reclaimed wood and galvanized light gauge steel channel, and Tectum sound board. We plan the benches to be scrap chunk of granite from local quarries.

This design is still conceptual and will be refined depending upon community input, structural calculations, and materials donated.

For those of you unable to attend, M. W. Steele Group presented the following 1st draft of the Tower District streetscape master plan to the community meeting Tuesday night for feed back. Click on the images to zoom in.

I’ve decided just to post the plans here and not issue an opinion. Feel free to discuss here and I’ll try to answer any questions you have. On a side note, there is an essay I wrote about the Tower District and public space in 2005 that was a finalist for the Berkeley Prize. The full version isn’t online but check out the abstract.

For opinions and discussions focused mainly on the proposed traffic circles see:

The Anthro Guys
Gustav’s Groupie
Fresno Beehive

Related posts:
Tower District Streetscape Plan
Q & A with Diego Velasco
Tower District Streetscape charrette video
Critique: Tower District Streetscape Design Charrette

Hank Delcore, Ph.D., and Kiel Famellos-Schmidt
also found at http://theanthroguys.com

Saturday from 10am to 2pm, about a hundred Tower District residents and business owners gathered for a design charrette put on by the City of Fresno planning department and MW Steele Group. Steele has the contract for planning a redesigned Tower District streetscape as part of the Tower District Specific Plan. Saturday’s event was a day of community input, with Steele returning this Tuesday night to present some design alternatives.

We laud City Councilman Blong Xiong, the city, various Tower District advocates, and the Steele Group for putting on this event. Mark Steele and his team listened, took some hard questions, and were willing to engage in some good give and take.

As professionals in participatory design and community design methods, we also noted some things about the program that can inhibit the quality of community input and seriously limit the degree of real community participation in the design process. This critique is intended to increase the quality of design charrettes and community input in Fresno as well as raise awareness about the potential of participatory design.

Expert focus of the event
The organizers stated that the day was all about the participants, but in practice, the more consistent emphasis was on the expert status of the architects/planners vis a vis the participants. After an introductory presentation on the distinctiveness of the Tower by two long-time Tower advocates, Mark Steele took the stage and talked mostly about his firm and their approach to the project. He presented his goals for the project, despite acknowledging that the day was about understanding our goals and aspirations. His associate, Diego Velasco, followed with the firm’s views of the strengths and challenges of the Tower District – again, topics that the charrette was supposed to probe. Expert statements are not the best way to begin an event meant to foster community participation in the planning and design process.

It wasn’t until 11:15am that the twelve tables of participants were unleashed on the first design drill. By that time, some participants had already turned their attention away from the stage and were fingering the maps, stickers and other supplies on the tables. An hour is too long for facilitators to dominate the stage at a four hour event. The long lead-in both cut down the time for participants by a quarter, and set a strong expert-focused – not participant-focused – tone.

Diversity
The tower district is a very diverse place. It is called home by many including: African American, Asian, Caucasian, Latino, young and old, the progressive community, and the GBLTQ community. Economically, there is a mix of home owners and renters, working class through upper class and even homeless. As well, Tower is a destination for those throughout Fresno and beyond in search of unique cultural, entertainment and dining experiences.

The participants at the charrette were overwhelmingly white and weighted toward local property and business owners; the average age looked to be about 50. Conspicuously absent were youths and Latinos, two large and important resident/user groups in the Tower. Tower visitors from other neighborhoods were also missing. Those who attended are important, but they are already the most likely people to have their voices and preferences heard in this process, and they have a partial view of issues at stake in the streetscape. For example, there were probably relatively fewer public transportation users among the participants than some other Tower constituencies, an important point when it comes to redesigning bus stops and associated features like sidewalks and bike racks.

Tight format, short time
For each design drill, the participants had 15 minutes to work through complex issues, like recommending placement of street furniture and other features all across the Tower District business core. Each exercise time was followed by 30 minutes of often repetitive presentations from each table to the entire group. The design charrette had us wrestling with important and potentially highly creative design issues, but the format was too tight.
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Constrained approach to community participation
Finally, with the design alternatives meeting coming up Tuesday, we wonder how much of Saturday’s charrette can really be incorporated into the process. Again, we agree that Mark Steele and his colleagues (and by extension the city) are sincerely trying to listen. But it’s hard to believe that Steele and company didn’t already have some designs in mind or drawn up before the charrette. If not, then they would have to work day and night from Saturday afternoon till Tuesday night to synthesize ideas from a hundred participants and come up with some design alternative to present – and even then, this time frame is probably too tight. Surely they are working with the charrette data right now, but they also probably had some designs already laid on and ready for their return to Fresno Tuesday night. This raises the question: how much community input can really be incorporated when the goals, strengths, challenges and preliminary design work have all already been done before the community is consulted? (In fairness, Mark has said that the design alternatives they will present Tuesday night will not be very detailed; we’re sincerely curious about the firm’s process for analyzing charrette data and incorporating it into their designs.)

What We Would Do
In our experience, facilitating dozens of participatory design charrettes, as well as observation of other charrettes and research of best practices, here’s how a truly participatory design charrette might look:

Participant focus
At one point Saturday, Mark Steele said, “today we’re gonna make you into streetscape designers.” In other words, the experts were ready to teach us how to do something of what they do. But a community design event shouldn’t be about transferring knowledge about design practice from experts to community members. Instead, we start from the principle that everyone is a designer already, without expert help. In other words, we all have design ideas and practices related to our surroundings, including our streetscapes. A community design charrette should be aimed at unlocking the design insights we already have (or could have, in the right context), and making those insights available to professional designers. Professional designers apply their experience and expertise to produce the actual design, inspired by community input.

In practice, a participant focus means that you deemphasize the role of expert or facilitator. No long and potentially intimidating statements of who has what degree or affiliation or expertise; instead, you dive right into the participatory design exercises and maximize the time that the participants have at center stage.

Recruitment means diversity
If you open the event up to “concerned citizens and business owners,” you tend to get a self-selected group of the usual suspects, as we saw on Saturday. Instead, we recommend targeted recruitment among all user groups to ensure a diversity of participants in the design process. This of course takes more work upfront in recruiting and screening. The result is much more useful data that can more accurately influence the design process.

Loosen up the format, take your time
Getting true participation takes time and flexibility. We would have recommended a series of three participatory design charrettes, with smaller yet more diverse participants, and more creative exercises involving, perhaps, larger scale prototyping and methods drawn from theatre and the arts — this is after all the Tower! (Diego said that they considered a skit-making exercise but time constraints precluded it.) Participants could act out common Tower interactions with streetscape props. Examples we bounced around included: the bus stop, the sidewalk café, the tower rat hangout, bar hopping, Rogue, etc. This would give the designers data about our culture and spatial needs. Using audio and visual recording, can capture both the data and the process through which it was produced for later analysis.

Another method we thought would be useful is to have different tables focus on different areas of the project area. With twelve tables of participants at the event all focused on the same design drills never more focused than the entire project area, a lot of redundant results were produced. The area is easily broken into six overlapping parts. Each area is then worked on by two tables. This would get all of the project area equal focus. At Hank’s table and the three tables Kiel facilitated, we noticed input was light at the edges. Also at the 1”=30’ scale aerial photo that was the last of the design drills, it was hard to definitively place streetscape elements and furniture represented by stickers in our tool pallet that included: sidewalk cafes, potted plants, streetlights, handicap ramps, benches, bike racks, etc.

Some of these measures would increase costs at the event level. However, we have Fresno-area expertise to accomplish participatory design and planning work and the savings from keeping the work local would more than pay for the changes we suggest.

True participation
Let’s face it, whenever we create something, we become wedded to it: we want to defend it, sometimes not even consciously. From talking with Mark, and Diego, observing how the community was prompted, and the tight timeline, it seems much of the design is already in place. Community consultation should take place before any designer digs into a project or puts pencil to paper.

While we value and honor the expertise of MW Steele Group and the work done by the City of Fresno and the Tower community, this is our honest assessment of the design charrette process and how it could be improved upon. Please attend the next meeting Tuesday, July 28th 7-9pm at Roger Rocka’s Dinner Theatre, where the design alternatives will be presented.

Related posts
Tower District Streetscape Plan
Q & A with Diego Velasco
Tower District Streetscape charrette video
Bored in Fresno? Become an Anthropologist
ArcHop Construction Proceeds

Video courtesy of Business Street Online.

related posts: Tower District Streetscape Plan and Q&A with Diego Velasco

This Saturday 10am – 2pm at Roger Rockas Dinner Theatre there is a community design charrette for the Tower District Streetscape Plan. The architecture and planning firm coordinating the design charrette is M. W. Steele Group along with assistance from members of the Tower District Marketing Committee, Tower District Design Review Committee and City of Fresno Planning Department.

Diego Velasco Assoc. AIA, LEED AP with the M. W. Steele Group will be conducting the process tomorrow. Below he answers our questions regarding the upcoming community design charrette:

KS: What can community members expect at the community meeting? I assume this is a design charrette type setup. What kind of activities will we be doing?

DV: Folks can expect to have a fun time. We have prepared a series of “design drills” to help engage participants and walk them through the steps that we, as designers, often take in the design process. We will start the workshop with a powerpoint presentation that will highlight the fundamentals of streetscape design and key streetscape elements. Our first exercise will be a classic brainstorming session to get the juices flowing and give folks an opportunity to express their ideas, visions, and concerns. The next “drill” will be a mapping of the tower district, where we will ask everyone to identify some of the key existing conditions of the area, and finally, in the last exercise we will roll up our sleeves and get to work, proposing ideas and potential designs for the three streets we have been asked to consider: olive, fern and wishon. To assist stakeholders in this, we have prepared a series of icon stickers that depict streetscape elements (such as benches, trees, waste bins, etc.) and some cutouts of potential streetscape designs (such as bike lanes, sidewalk cafes, pop-outs, etc.). We will also have color markers and trace paper for the more adventurous, and plenty of opportunities for folks to write comments or ideas (if they prefer more anonymity).

KS: What are your goals for the outcome of the meeting? What would make it a success?

DV: We often say that as the urban design consultant we are really only the conductor, and the stakeholders are the orchestra. The quality of the music that results is highly dependent on the energy and efforts of the orchestra. We do not approach a project as an opportunity to impose our ideas, but rather, believe our role is primarily to demonstrate to folks the range of possibilities and common practices, so that they can decide what works best in their neighborhood. Our hope is that people will come out of this feeling energized and enthusiastic about the future potential of the Tower and ready to implement some of the good ideas.

KS: What is the time line after the meeting?

DV: We will take all the information gathered at the first workshop and synthesize it into a set of guiding principles, which we will use to guide our design proposals. We then will return to the community on Tuesday evening for a second workshop, where we will show some design alternatives and get deeper into the specifics of the streetscape elements and design. We hope to get a good direction as to a preferred alternative or a combination of preferred options, and will take that back to our office and develop the design in greater detail. We have tentatively scheduled a third workshop at the end of August, beginning of September, to come back to the public and present a draft streetscape design plan for comment. Beyond that, the schedule is in the hands of the City of Fresno Planning Department.

KS: Being from San Diego, what strategies will you use to ensure the final design is authentic to Fresno?

DV: The most important strategy is always to listen, listen, listen. We have several projects in our portfolio that are outside of San Diego (including the El Dorado Park Plan here in Fresno). We have found that the best way to ensure authenticity and preserve a local flavor is to research as much as possible about the area, engage meaningfully with the community, and be willing to make revisions when we don’t get it right. One idea we have come away with is that we need to engage the local arts community to help incorporate public art in the streetscape design. This may be a good way to highlight the unique “funkiness” of the Tower.

KS: What is the product that you’ll be delivering to the City of Fresno?

DV: We never fully know what the product will be until we have completed the workshops. However, in general we will complete a streetscape plan that will include a summary of the ideas and concerns expressed in the workshops, a design plan for each of the three street segments in our project area, a series of perspective “vignettes” or renderings depicting the key concepts, a palette of streetscape elements appropriate for the area, some discussion about streetscape best practices and references.

KS: What are some projects in your resume that are similar to the Tower District Streetscape Plan?

DV: We have designed some major avenues in the City of National City, we also prepared streetscape designs for the San Diego Naval Training Center Reuse and Precise Plan and for the Yokohl Ranch Town Center Design Guidelines.

Like Diego said , so please attend the workshop Saturday, July 25, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm at Roger Rockas Dinner Theatre (1226 N. Wishon just North of Olive Ave.) Bring your energy, bring your ideas.

Diego’s bio from http://mwsteele.com:

Diego brings a broad view of architecture to MW Steele Group since joining the firm in 2007. With degrees in city planning and urban planning, he approaches design as an all inclusive process. As an integral part of our urban design and planning practice, he has opportunity to include architecture, urban design, landscape architecture and planning to some degree in each project. This connective way of thinking makes him flexible, and diverse in his skills. Diego’s ability to conceptualize projects, whether detailed and technical or more broad in nature makes him an asset to any project team.

Diego has worked in private practice as well as with municipal planning and development agencies, giving him an understanding of both sides of the planning process. He is technically adept with graphic software programs as well as being an exceptional artist in hand drawing. Diego’s talents have been recognized with several honors and design awards.

Diego Graduated from the University of Washington with a Master’s degree in Urban Design in 2006 and the University of California, Berkeley with a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture in 1999.

Today an announcement was made regarding the future of the Tower District Streetscape and upcoming community design charrette.

The announcement was posted on the Tower Exchange by Will Tackett with the City of Fresno Planning and Development Department. A mailer was also sent to all residences and businesses within the Tower Districts boundaries (Shields to 180, Fruit to Blackstone). The announcement is below:

Community Charrette – Tower District Streetscape Capital Improvement

We’re renovating Olive Avenue and neighboring streets, and we need your input!

The City has allocated funds for the creation of a Streetscape Plan for the commercial area of the Tower District. The plan will include improvements such as
• New Sidewalks
• Bike Racks
• Lighting
• Trees
• Public Art
….and anything else we come up with!

Our plan will be developed by everyone attending the community meetings, and we want to include your opinions and ideas, so please put these dates on your calendar.

Let’s get together and create a great community plan!

Saturday, July 25, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm: Visioning Workshop to develop design alternatives
Tuesday, July 28, 7:00 – 9:00 p.m: Workshop to select a preferred alternative and develop the design concepts

Both meetings will take place at Roger Rocka’s Dinner Theatre (1226 N. Wishon).

For more information,
call 497-8362

M. W. Steele Group is the architecture and planning firm from San Diego that was selected for the project through an RFP process in September of 2008. They will be coordinating the design charrette along with members of the Tower District Marketing Committee and Tower District Design Review Committee.

All available Tower residents and regulars should attend this meeting and give your input. This post will be updated with experiences at the meeting.

disclaimer: I am a Tower District resident, property owner and membe of the Tower District Design Review Committee.

The Business Journal has been contacting me allot lately for information about architecture in the San Joaquin Valley. Most of this interaction has happened because of Twitter. I think this is fantastic. One of archop’s goals has been to get architecture more regularly and accurately feature in local media. The Business Journal is setting the bar.

Most recently, Gabriel Dillard contacted me to request my employer’s participation on an Executive Roundtable focused on architecture. I diligently passed on the questionnaire to Russ Taylor AIA, partner and architect at the Taylor Teter Partnership. I also passed the questionnaire off to the board members of AIA San Joaquin.

After transcribing Russ’s responses, I put my fingers to the keys to put down some of my thoughts on the questions from an archop perspective. While I’m not a licensed architect or an executive, I fired it off to Gabriel. Below are my responses to his questions.

1. Please tell us a little about your firm.

archop is a project of the American Institute of Architects: San Joaquin Chapter. It was launched in October of 2007 as a response to the need for an improved built environment in Fresno and the greater San Joaquin Valley. The program emphasizes the importance of quality architecture, landscape architecture and urban planning by: showcasing gallery exhibitions; designing and building full scale installations; holding panel discussions on relevant architectural topics; and organizing public workshops for outreach, educational and research purposes.

2. How has the economic downturn affected business?

As a not for profit effort aimed at improving our built environment we find ourselves surrounded problems that need solutions, public art, homelessness, inner city park space. We have been able to tackle these problems with a budget under $5,000 per year. Financial donations have become increasingly rare. Our response to that is to identify scrap or surplus building materials and utilize those in our installations. Substantial contributors include: Western Building Materials, Patton Air Conditioning, Better Flooring, CBC Lighting, Shipman Fabrication, Trinity Construction, and White Pine Lumber. Economic issues have also increased our volunteer base.

3. What advice would you give business owners trying to find the right architect for their project?

While experience, referrals, and past performance should remain architect selection tools, I’d add web content is an interesting litmus test. Our world is increasingly digital and that will not change. An architecture firm with well designed web site (functionally and aesthetically) and developed web communication tools, understands the ways this technology has changed today’s economy.

4. What are the current trends in architectural design in this area, and what can we expect in the future?

I see two current trends in the region. The first is rampant in our city. That is what I call artificially flavored architecture. It is the use of branded styles that are only skin deep. Examples are Tuscan and Italianate which hardly resemble their European counterparts and achieve their look with veneers and foam details. They are popular simply because of marketing and pop culture.

A trend that gives me hope is the acceptance of sustainable design strategies into the mainstream market place. I want this to develop further and a new local vernacular will emerge that embraces our climate and locally available materials.

5. What kinds of clients are you serving these days?

We do not serve clients in the traditional fashion. In this sense my inspiration comes from my former employer Public Architecture. We treat the entire public as our clients. It is our responsibility to engage and educate the public so that they can recognize good and bad design in their daily lives and call upon political leaders, developers, and architects to provide a quality and healthy built environment for our city and region.

We are also pursuing design workshop projects with the Institute of Public Anthropology (1, 2) and research grant partnerships.

6. What kinds of projects are you designing these days?

To date archop has held 7 exhibits, 5 panel discussions, 4 public workshops, and built 2 installations. The current installation is the redevelopment on an underused park in central Fresno underneath a freeway overpass. The park will demonstrate successful planning strategies to invigorate the park and low water low maintenance landscape to ensure long term sustainability.

If you are involved in architecture feel free to answer any of the above questions in the comments. All others comment on what you’ve read here if so inspired.

For the 2nd edition of Theory Thursday we focus on the small stuff.

What started as an ideas competition for a small sign sponsored by the City of Fresno’s Downtown and Community Revitalization department has ballooned in to a hot debate involving community leaders, downtown advocates, graphic designers, and city leaders. So how and why did such a small sign create such a big conversation?

There is a book called A Pattern Language, that is basically standard issue at the College of Environmental Design, UC Berkeley, where I got my education. That is partly because CED faculty such as Christopher Alexander wrote the book. But a larger part due to its great success at dissecting planning, architecture and design theories in to small manageable parts. Those managable part can be discussed individually and as an integrated part of the whole. The premise being that a pattern language emerges.

The book is meant more as reference guide than a read it cover to cover kind of book. It begins with large sweeping topics like: Independent Regions, Distribution of Towns, City Country Fingers, Agricultural Valleys, etc. But as the book progresses its focus narrows to smaller more manageable theories like: Pools of light, warm colors, ornament, paving with cracks between the stones, climbing plants, raised flower beds, canvas roofs, seat spot, etc.

These small things are important and sparked a huge discussion about one little sign because they are tangible. We can much more easily grasp the idea of a sign or a bench because we have intimate experience with them. And it is the details that make a world of difference in design and our experience of the built environment.

Please share some of the small things that have caught or your eye or intrigued you in Fresno or other cities.

place: future location of archop park

time: april 17th 4:30pm – 6:30pm

who: community members

reason: redesign of existing park

At the corner of San Pablo & Belmont is a clean but stark triangle of concrete and gravel quietly winding under the rush of the 180.

This is a park. However, it’s not a park in the sense of the feelings that word can evoke. There are not children playing, no one socializing, no one getting some sun or sleeping under a tree. There is no one engaged in a playful sport. There is no where to sit but the ground.

This is a left over space. It is the remainder of the 180 slicing through neighborhoods, the Fulton Lowell to the South and Tower District o the North. At the junction of these neighborhoods and amount of traffic, this site has great potential.

Working in partnership with the Hank Delcore PhD and the Institute of Public Anthropology of CSUF we seek to gather community input. Nothing has been designed yet, so this is an opportunity for you to help craft this park to suit your needs.

So come down to the park, do some drawing, talk about the landscape of your dreams and have fun. We will provide refreshments and plenty of paper and markers.

This is also National Architecture Week. Today topic being inclusiveness, it is no accident in the scheduling of this date for the design workshop. We would like to get the community included in the designing of Fresno revitalized. Join us in reinventing and activating this urban park.

A special thanks to the City of Fresno PARCS Department and City Manager’s Office.