DENVER | Main Development Thread #6

[mr1138]

I find it hard to take architects seriously when they propose that we need to re-invent the wheel when it comes to site layout in order to design for the modern world. This is basically what Corbusier was saying when he designed the "Radiant City," and the kind of thinking that gave us Pruitt-Igoe. A couple months ago somebody posted an article on here by an architect who was trying to claim that "innovative" modern structures should all include at-grade parking courtyards.

Claiming that Taxi is the answer to all our urban design problems is similarly ridiculous. As Stonemans_rowJ points out, it's surrounded by a sea of private surface parking lots. And it's actually a super-block with only one, poorly defined public street frontage.

I do agree with the criticism that structured parking can have a negative effect on the massing of urban structures. But short of putting it all underground, or simply eliminating parking entirely (which may be possible someday, but not now), I haven't seen any solution that works better from an urban context. I'm convinced that the correct answer is NOT to throw away classic urban design principals of density, lot coverage, and a public ROW that's well defined by a street-wall of buildings.