Where is the Coliseum? Any fairgrounds renovation proposal that means knocking over the Coliseum is something I'd fight tooth and nail. The attitude of 'well I don't like sports, so this isn't a historic or important building' is wrong headed. I think the question in regards to whether a building deserves to be saved or not needs to change from 'is this building important to me' to "is this building important". I don't see how an argument could be made that the Coliseum isn't a huge part of Phoenix's history, not only the buildings use, but also its architectural style. Its mid-century look is definitively Phoenician.
You've done a good job of trying to mix uses (the retail and office), but I don't know if thats enough. I'd really like to see Encanto Park expanded to incorporate all of the fairgrounds. By eliminating the Encanto 9 hole course, you'd have enough room for both more fairground space and more general open park space.
Like I said in the previous thread,
Forest Park and
Exhibition Place ought to be looked at as examples of what Encanto Park/the Fairgrounds could become.
I also think adding a 4 year college to the South side of the site would be a huge boon for the city. Phoenix has no independent, non religious, 4 year colleges, and thats pathetic. Adding a college is a great way to help bring back an area, it leads to more retail and dense living to spring up around the area and almost always increases surrounding land values.
I made a map of what I'd hope to see in this area as well:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UT...af69b&t=h&z=14
I'd even be fine w/ doing away w/ the MLS Stadium, as I don't think Phoenix landing a MLS team is very likely. That way a refurbished Coliseum wouldn't have any competition for concerts and the like. That way you could have more open space for the fair, the park or the college.
I think the most important thing for the Fairgrounds as it pertains to the fair is, quality permanent exhibition buildings. The barns are gross and pathetic. I'd wager that a lot of people don't ever even go in them when they go to the fair, they just eat the food and ride the rides. We need structures along these lines (though done in Desert Modern):
Of course constructing quality buildings like that isn't easy or cheap. One thing I thought about is, revitalizing the idea of the "Desert Cities Conference." For those not familiar it was an idea that came out of the Phoenix Futures Forums that had Phoenix hosting a reoccurring (not sure how often, every 4 years maybe) conference of world desert cities. It would focus on things like water usage, desert sustainability, etc. With the new Convention Center nearly finished, maybe its time to bring back that idea. The Convention Center could house more business type aspects of the conference, but the Fairgrounds could be the portion for the public. Various cities/countries could build structures at the fairgrounds (like whats done at Worlds Fairs) to exhibit their own stuff. So you'd have a "Dubai Building", a "Tucson Building", etc. Each done in its own style, designed by someone from that city/area, thus giving the area a unique and diverse look. The buildings could be required to be multi use in their design, so that the college could use them when the conference was over (plus I'd imagine a conference like that would likely want to rotate cities).
Anyway Sean, I like your idea in general. We need to do away with the excessive parking, add more green space, improve the fairgrounds and surrounding area. However, I don't think that should come at the expense of one of Phoenix's most unique buildings. I'd like to see a different mixture of uses to the area, like a college and a year round attraction/symbol of the city, like a wheel or spire. I think adding too much office to that area would be opposed by the local residents and may detract from our downtown and midtown areas which are already being pulled apart by the Biltmore area, and the various office parks lining all of our highways.
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