THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 6, 1996 TAG: 9607060341
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALEX MARSHALL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 95 lines
Driven by the notion that a mall that turns its back to the streets will deaden downtown, an ad-hoc group of architects and activists has begun a campaign to develop a more pedestrian-friendly design for the proposed MacArthur Center mall.
The group's leaders said Friday evening that they have faxed letters to more than 50 local architects and are passing out thousands of fliers in neighborhoods and downtown to generate support for changing the mall's inwardly focused design.
They don't have much time.
The city's Design Review Board meets Monday, and the Planning Commission will meet Thursday. Each may vote this week on the mall design. The City Council would probably consider the issue in coming weeks. And site work has already begun for the mall.
Leaders of the redesign effort favor alternatives that range from merely putting more windows in walls that face city streets to breaking the mall into smaller pieces or re-orienting its internal hallways.
The group, which has no name, is planning a design workshop for July 20, called a ``charrette,'' at which local architects and others will be asked to donate their efforts to come up with a better design.
They said they will invite Taubman Co., the mall developer, as well as representatives from the two department store chains that will anchor the project, Nordstrom and Dillard's.
``If they'd be open to these ideas, we'd love to have them,'' said David Levy, a 32-year-old architect and Navy construction manager who is helping lead the group.
The group has formed largely through the efforts of Mark Perreault, a local lawyer and board member of the Norfolk Historical Society, who began a personal campaign to change the mall's design. The leadership now includes Perreault, Levy, some local architects and downtown business owners. Patrick C. Masterson, president of the Hampton Roads Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, has been helping the group, although the institute has not taken a formal position on the mall.
Norfolk's Design Review Board and the Planning Commission, which lead the city's design review process, have been generally supportive of the mall's current design. They believe it is pedestrian-friendly, despite suggestions by some members last week that more windows should be put on the street.
Also generally supportive of the current design are two city consultants, Ray Gindroz and Jonathan Barnett, who are nationally prominent architects and urban planners.
Gindroz, identified in national publications as a ``New Urbanist'' architect who favors street-level design, said the mall will fit in well with the city's planning for downtown.
With the new Tidewater Community College only a block away on Granby Street, plus other city projects, the mall should easily tie in with downtown traffic, Gindroz and others have said.
Councilman Mason C. Andrews, who has helped lead the design process for several years, had not seen the fliers, but said the city is open to all ideas. Andrews, however, said he doubted that the mall's developers would approve significant changes to the project's design now. He urged potential critics to first look at the plans themselves, or talk to members of the city's Design Review Board.
This week, the Norfolk Historical Society released a report by a design consultant who criticized the plans as failing to meet city guidelines that the mall be friendly to pedestrians.
Last week, the two department stores unveiled their designs. Although each had prominent street entrances, they also featured long brick walls without windows, which brought criticism from city design officials.
At an interview Friday evening, Levy, Perreault and Marshall Smith - owner of the Toysmiths store on East Main Street - said they were starting the campaign because they wanted to make the city a better place and improve the long-term health and livability of downtown.
A mall with too many blank walls means few people will walk surrounding streets. This would not help nearby businesses and could even make downtown streets more unsafe, they said.
The flier faxed to architects begins: ``URGENT! MACARTHUR CENTER NEEDS DESIGN GUIDANCE NOW! ARCHITECTS SPEAK OUT!''
Those circulated in neighborhoods begin: ``A TIME TO STAND UP FOR NORFOLK.'' The group has scheduled an organizational meeting to plan the design workshop for 6:30 p.m. July 11, at Levy's home, 230 Tazewell St. The group plans to hold the all-day design charrette July 20 at a location to be determined.
The city sponsored a charrette - an architectural term for a public design workshop - in 1994 to develop a plan for East Ocean View, where homes are being bulldozed to make way for a new neighborhood backed by the city.
Levy and Perreault said they hope the charrette will produce three alternative designs that could influence the mall's developer and department stores. If necessary, they said, they are willing to travel to Seattle to make their case with officials at Nordstrom's headquarters. MEMO: GETTING INVOLVED
When and where: An organizational meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m.
July 11 at 230 Tazewell St. The ``charrette'' - workshop - is scheduled
from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on July 20 at an undetermined location.
Info: About the charrette: David Levy, 626-3679. About the city
design process or the mall: the city planning offices, 664-4752. by CNB