THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 21, 1996 TAG: 9607210096
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TERRI WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 97 lines
An alternative design for the planned MacArthur Center mall is not merely for art's sake in the eyes of 30 people who gathered Saturday at St. Paul's Episcopal Church.
It's about spurring surrounding businesses, contends the group of mostly architects and designers. It's about creating an environment that will foster social interaction, bringing people back downtown.
The architects toiled for nearly eight hours during an all-day design session known in architectural circles as a ``charrette.''
By day's end, they hadn't come up with a final plan. But they drew up sketches that encompass alternatives to the design approved by city officials this month. They will show their works at 1 p.m. today during an American Institute of Architects fund-raising event for the SPCA at the Hermitage Foundation Museum.
Ideas outlined included:
Leaving department store anchors where they are under the current plan but altering parking to allow more space for ground storefronts and include a center court and windows.
Modeling the mall after the Galleria in Milan, Italy, with an interior glass gable skyline, large windows, larger interior shops and three huge pedestrian entranceways.
Giving anchor department stores more depth to their facades by mixing up brick and concrete.
The city's Planning Commission and Design Review Commission have each already approved the mall's basic design plan - a fact that charrette participants acknowledge could make changing the plans difficult.
Critics of the plan have said they didn't have enough opportunity to comment before the vote was taken. But city officials said several public hearings were held.
David Levy - one of the organizers of Saturday's session - said the city's plan needs improvement to attract more pedestrian traffic in and around downtown.
Levy says the city's plan is incompatible with downtown and instead would create a suburban mall in an urban setting. A walled-off structure downtown won't attract pedestrians who are at other parts of downtown, said Levy.
Lots of windows, street cafes and street-level stores is the way to draw an urban customer, he said.
``In Pembroke, they're talking about creating a downtown, and we're trying to suburbanize ours,'' he quipped.
The city's plan provides for a three-level mall that has six levels of parking garages along City Hall Avenue and Freemason Street. Under the plan, each level of the mall is served by two levels of parking.
The plan also calls for an 18-screen movie theater on the third level and a food court on a balcony overlooking Monticello Avenue. Three-story Dillards and Nordstrom department stores are anchors.
Mayor Paul D. Fraim stands by the city's plan, but he said Saturday that he'd be willing to study the architects' sketches. Fraim said the aim of the $300 million mall is to be a regional one, not one that serves only Norfolk.
``The mall has got to work to attract shoppers from the entire region and not just from the pool of downtown shoppers,'' said Fraim, who did not attend Saturday's session.
The mayor and other city officials also have said they have confidence in the center's developer, Michigan-based Taubman Co. Taubman built malls in downtown Columbus, Ohio, and in Denver. Both malls are financially successful.
But other architects, like Hampton University architecture professor Ron Kloster, say Norfolk officials haven't planned for the entire downtown.
``I think it's about economics and ease,'' said Kloster, who participated in the charrette. ``It's a lack of vision. I don't think people have sat down and said, `What do you want our whole downtown to be?' ''
Kloster said that in cities like Seattle and Portland, city officials worked out how a number of projects would enhance one another - rather than planning just one at a time. Such a holistic approach, he said, is a win-win situation for businesses and citizens.
Meanwhile, Planning Commissioner Don L. Williams said the process isn't over.
He said he's receptive to adding more windows and moving storefronts closer to the street during later planning stages.
``We haven't voted on the street-scape yet. What we voted on was the footprint. We still have more input,'' said Williams, who didn't attend Saturday's charette.
But Williams said the footprint - which provides for 13 entrances - is pedestrian-friendly. The architects have a right to propose a different plan, Williams said.
But there's no telling if their work will be incorporated in the city's design.
But that didn't seem to concern most participants Saturday.
``It's a slim chance we'll make an impact,'' said architect Lem Watts. ``But there's a possibility.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
VICKI CRONIS/The Virginian-Pilot
Virginia Hawley joined other local architects for an all-day session
Saturday at St. Paul's Episcopal Church to work out alternate
schemes for the MacArthur Center mall planned for downtown Norfolk.
Critics are concerned that the mall won't be inviting to
pedestrians.
KEYWORDS: MACARTHUR CENTER by CNB