THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 10, 1996 TAG: 9607100004
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A8 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 56 lines
Editors and reporters publish their mistakes. Physicians bury theirs. And architects build theirs.
Critics of the $300 million MacArthur Center superregional shopping mall to be constructed in downtown Norfolk argue that the project is fundamentally flawed. They contend that the inward-oriented shopping center is passe.
Citing examples elsewhere, they argue that outward-facing malls are again in favor, and are especially appropriate to cities. Norfolk should insist on an outward-looking, pedestrian-friendly center, they believe.
But Norfolk won't do that, because the upscale Nordstrom department store that will be the center's most-potent magnet and Taubman Co., the principal developer, have clear ideas about what will work on the downtown site.
So the critics, including some Hampton Roads architects, predict that the inwardly focused MacArthur Center will exist in isolation with scant or no connection to downtown.
They may be proved right, but they may also overstate.
Who in Norfolk doesn't want the shopping center to be an integral component of downtown? Who wouldn't prefer a center drawing pedestrians as well as motorists to it?
And who could want a shopping center filled with consumers inside but bland and deserted on the perimeter? Not us.
But we are not convinced that the inward focus of MacArthur Center, which its major tenants are confident is essential to the center's success, precludes a lively scene on its four sides.
First, the basic plan approved Monday by the city's Design Committee is the fruit of a couple of years' discussions with representatives of MacArthur Center's immediate neighbors - businesses, professional firms, the MacArthur Memorial, The Chrysler Museum (which is custodian of the historic Moses Myers and Willoughby-Baylor houses), the Norfolk Historical Society, Ghent residents. . . .
Second, efforts to keep the mammoth center from seeming to dwarf downtown have produced a basic plan that includes 13 pedestrian entrances, including major entrances fronting on streets between Monticello and Granby, City Hall and Plume, Cumberland and St. Paul's and Freemason and Chrysler Hall. Variations of design at parking-garage entrances, strong verticals suggesting a series of structures instead of one, restaurants spilling out onto the sidewalks and abundant landscaping already envisioned should go a long way toward erasing the monotonous-wall effect common in suburban malls.
More can be done - and must be done - to make the center pedestrian-friendly and connect it more strongly to the rest of downtown.
Maritime, Virginia Zoo and Norfolk Botanical Garden themes could be used in small parks on the perimeter. A coffee-break and news kiosk could be factored in. There are many ways, including live entertainment events, to bring life to MacArthur Center's exterior.
The Planning Commission tomorrow will say yes or no to the center's basic plan. Its answer should be yes, and most likely will be. That will clear the way for first-stage construction. At a later stage, exterior details will be considered. The more creatively they are dealt with, the better. by CNB