The Manufacturer's Hanover Trust Company building of New York from 1953 has been the focus of much debate over the right way to preserve an historically significant building.
Avinash Rajagopal sees the building as the quintessential example of the confusion at the heart of historic preservation efforts. Given landmark status in 1997, developers pushed to preserve the exterior but redesign the interior:
"There is a case to be made for preserving the envelope of a building as the marker of a period in architectural history, but in most cases a building's aesthetics are intimately linked to its interior life. The issue becomes especially tricky in the case of the Manufacturer's Hanover Trust Company building: where the aesthetics, the function, the interior and exterior were so intricately woven together by Gordon Bunshaft that it is nigh impossible to separate those strands."
FULL STORY: Modernism Mummified
Pennsylvania Mall Conversion Bill Passes House
If passed, the bill would promote the adaptive reuse of defunct commercial buildings.
Planning for Accessibility: Proximity is More Important than Mobility
Accessibility-based planning minimizes the distance that people must travel to reach desired services and activities. Measured this way, increased density can provide more total benefits than increased speeds.
World's Largest Wildlife Overpass In the Works in Los Angeles County
Caltrans will soon close half of the 101 Freeway in order to continue construction of the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing near Agoura Hills in Los Angeles County.
Colorado Bans No-Fault Evictions
In most cases, landlords must provide a just cause for evicting tenants.
Alaska Village Becomes Test Case for Climate Change Relocation
The Yup’ik village of Newtok is the first Alaska community to begin a full-scale relocation necessitated by the impacts of climate change. Another 31 Alaska communities remain vulnerable.
Amtrak Takes Lead on Texas Central Rail
The high-speed rail project isn’t a done deal, but if it moves forward, trains could begin operating in 2030.
City of Costa Mesa
Licking County
Barrett Planning Group LLC
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Tufts University, Department of Urban and Environmental Policy & Planning
City of Universal City TX
ULI Northwest Arkansas
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.