Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 15, 1993 TAG: 9308130048
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Selecting design professionals for public projects involves sensitive and controversial issues. The recent recession has resulted in a dearth of public projects. Understandably, this has exacerbated the dismay of local firms when we see two projects in quick succession, the library and the health center, going to outside firms.
Virginia Tech and Blacksburg are widely recognized for turning out great numbers of architects, planners and landscape architects of merit. It smacks of "carrying coals to Newcastle" to import architectural firms, especially for projects of modest size such as a library or a county health center - projects that could be handled competently by small local firms best attuned to local conditions.
In my view, a number of Virginia Tech's larger building projects require the services of architectural firms of national and international status - with track records that assure facilities of the highest quality. A recent example is the extensive redesign of Squires Student Center, which has exponentially enhanced the cultural and social ambiance with a state-of-the-art little theater and unexcelled music recital salon.
If the state's procedures and requirements were not so rigid and bureaucratic, many smaller Virginia Tech projects could go to local architects with consequent savings to the Virginia taxpayers.
Supervisor Henry Jablonski is correct in questioning the requirement for a designer to have prior experience with the particular building type, and in his assertion that professionals entering a new field often have the freshest and most creative ideas.
The "prior and similar" experience requirement is particularly onerous for young professionals trying to get ahead. A building committee might be well advised to look for a creative architect who has never designed such a project. He or she will not come to the task burdened with preconceived ideas.
A trouble with mandating preference for local firms is that the sword has a double edge. Montgomery County firms would not like to be shut out of more distant opportunities. Mills Oliver & Webb, Blacksburg architects and engineers, would be reluctant to forgo their several large projects in other states and countries in exchange for assured access to local jobs.
The discussion is timely. But it should not slow the drive for a vitally needed new Montgomery County library in Blacksburg. The Design Collaborative has been awarded the job, and they are moving forward at a good pace. Partner Richard Fitts has met attentively with the Library Board, Board of Supervisors, Townscape Committee and the general public. A recent issue of the journal of the Virginia Society of AIA features the Chesapeake Central Library recently designed by The Design Collaborative - with praise for the design.\ Leonard J. Currie\ Blacksburg
by CNB