A Shifting Sense of Urban Design in Dallas

In an opinion piece, architecture critic Mark Lamster discusses the merits and deficiencies of recent Dallas developments. He praises a rising sense of "progressivism" in the city's design choices.

1 minute read

September 11, 2017, 2:00 PM PDT

By Philip Rojc @PhilipRojc


Trinity Park rendering

Courtesy of Trinity Trust / Design by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates.

In a wide-ranging piece, Mark Lamster describes a transitional mood in Dallas. Highlighted by large-scale projects like the Trinity River park project, slated to be an order of magnitude larger than Central Park, a more "progressive" set of urban design choices includes new mid-rise and high-rise construction.

Lamster sees much of the new development, housing in particular, as architecturally lacking. Think "banal, pro-forma junk, five-story beige blocks." But en masse, mid-rise neighborhoods can redeem themselves. "From an urban design standpoint, one bad building alone is actually worse than two together. A single building sticks out like a sore thumb, and does nothing for the street. But several together can at least define a place, creating a streetscape that subsumes individual deficiencies."

Lamster points to several examples of new buildings done wrong, and right. Of the city's Arts District, he writes, "For more than a year, a revised master plan for the area has sat on a shelf as its architects wait for the city to take it up. Only in Dallas do you build the buildings and then release the master plan."

Friday, August 11, 2017 in Dallas Morning News

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