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Andres Duany vs. Reed Kroloff in New Orleans

freebornman
http://listserv.miami.edu/scripts/wa.exe?A1=ind0603&L=tradarch&O=A

Check out the #3 discussion group. Andres and Reed are getting pretty nasty. Any thoughts from the archinect crowd?

 
Mar 10, 06 9:02 am
5

but he is an 'architect', in the priinceton sense of the word, anyway.

Mar 10, 06 11:12 am  · 
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Ddot

As a student at Tulane, I had a platform studio that attempted to use Seaside and the thoughts of the New Urbanists as the be-all, end-all for the "next great architecture". Wow, did that piss me off.

We visited Seaside, and while it is lovely, with quaint post card images waiting around every corner, and to be fair, some impressive modern buildings, my entire visit had me talking to myself about how I hated the pretension of the entire place. Just down the road from Seaside was (supposedly) the little beach town of _________, (the name I can't remember) that was the original that Seaside tried to recreate. I remember that it was a beach town. I remember that the houses were modest. I remember that Seaside was neither of those things.

One of the short, week-long design projects was to select one of the typical lot styles from Seaside's 'zoning' ordinance, or whatever other form that manifesto took, and design a house. Chipboard models make everyone happy, but at an eighth inch scale, and no context, they don't begin to convey how houses and neighborhoods evolve.

The more involved project for the semester was to find a suitable location near New Orleans to create a New Urbanist community. This got me in shouting matches with the professor, because I felt the examples he was citing from Calthorpe were based on a light rail corridor that didn't, and I thought wouldn't, ever exist for NOLA. I couldn't stand the thought of plunking something new down in the middle of nowhere, where the real connection to the city was tenuous at best, having already seen examples in parts of the city that could use much more help in creating a real identity. (I should add there are many - 50? 100? more? - distinct neighborhoods in the city of New Orleans. I'm confident each of those neighborhoods would rebuild themselves without the help of the new urbs, if they had the resources.)

Two classmates and I decided we'd find some local existing communities, with real boundaries, real buildings, warts and all, to demonstrate to the professor how much better the ideals he held dear in a 'new' community might better suit some existing communities. We drove him around a city he'd lived in his entire life, and he rattled off reason after reason why we couldn't do what we were proposing. Some younger students bought into the thinking, and were backed into a corner to do some far-fetched community project, then develop one building that they thought a new community would need. What a farce. I can't remember what they were, and I mean no disrespect to any of my classmates, but I was not very good at office politics then, and I'm not now, either.

My group finally settled on a town about 40 minutes from the city up the river, and to make a long story short, we each received the best reviews and comments from our jurors that we ever had, then turned around to find out our grades didn't reflect how well received the project really was. It was my best work, and worst grade during school. So, the new urbanist movement tends to get me riled up a bit, though my understanding of their recent work is obviously limited by my own choice.

I hold New Orleans very dearly in my heart. I don't know Mr. Kroloff, and didn't really admire the magazine he edited, but I wish him the best. In my opinion, he has quickly become a great spokesman for Tulane and for the city, and everytime I hear of someone trying to impose some super plan on New Orleans, it turns my stomach.

Mar 10, 06 2:34 pm  · 
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Ddot

PS - I work to f*ing hard to tolerate Mr. Duany calling me ignorant, barbaric, or inept. If he would like to live his life acting like a first-grader, and stick his tongue out at architects like me, he's welcome to it. But I won't be buying any of his books of schlock.

Mar 10, 06 2:39 pm  · 
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lol,

i am now just finishing a tome by andres and al as part of my research for phd (i am studying change in suburbs in japan; of which there is a LOT of ). i tend to agree with a lot of the issues he is riled up over but am not as happy with his approach, which is quite high-handed and utopian (in both the good and bad sense). The book is, btw, surprisingly intelligent, the arguments well made... he slants the data a bit, but not as much as i had expected he would. worth reading, if just to get an idea what he is ranting about...

anyway, funniest part of the book is where he tells/shows his readers how awful the architecture schools are at training architects and how they are all pursuing stupid theories and spending their time THINKING for god sake. Thinking going on all over the place, and we all know that is dangerous, must be stopped.

so......stop it.

main thing about duany is that he believes that if everyone did everything he says the world would be pretty much perfect. and until they do, it ain't HIS fault that new urbanism doesn't work. which means it must be kroloff's fault. DAMN YOU KROLOFF! (cue John Stewart Damn-you!-Cam...)

Mar 11, 06 10:36 am  · 
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AP
Remember that we are streetfighters as good as you, but
that you are not on Manhattan turf any longer. This is our 'hood.
There is not much time for you to decide to do so.
Ciao.

-Duany to Kroloff


wow.

Mar 11, 06 1:29 pm  · 
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Lord Auch

Hey Ddot has Reed started dating the young male students yet? He was quite the chicken hawk at ASU.

Mar 11, 06 2:05 pm  · 
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MysteryMan

Nothing like a couple of mama's boys 'th-lappin' @ each other.

Mar 11, 06 4:48 pm  · 
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nightrain

Kroloff at least lives in New Orleans. Go back to Miami Napoleon.

Mar 11, 06 7:15 pm  · 
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nightrain

Duany claims that they originally set aside some lots for affordable housing at Seaside but people in his office bought them all up. "What can you do?" he says. Lots bonehead, it's done all the time. Funny you can get real dumb at the right moment.

I actually spent a summer vacation there in my youth before Seaside. Real nice median-income vacation spot. Emphasis on "real." Small cmu houses with jalousie windows. Sure no designer would defend the Sand Destin type golf/condo monstrosities, and sure "mixed use" subdivisions are easily better. But you know what? There are more than two choices.

If you go back, check out the Red Bar. Great spot for locals. Hope it has survived. I was last there in 2000.

Mar 11, 06 10:30 pm  · 
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outed

nightrain -

red bar is still there. at least it was at christmastime.

the whole thread on the tradarch blog (linked above) is really bizzare. where the rub occurs between these two isn't just in some stylistic rendering of the 'new' new orleans - it's in who gets to make the decisions politically. duany got in tight with the republican gov. of miss. early on and the c.n.u. was hugely instrumental in creating a blueprint of standards that each of the communities could take and use for planning afterwards. not all of it was practical, but credit duany for getting in there, volunteering at first, and making the c.n.u. available as a resource to the state (a little goodwill, by anyone, will go a long way. in constrast to duany, where were any of the 'avant guarde' at? they could have just as easily made themselves available to help. but didn't.)

the fight over new orleans is thus: back in november, reed was appointed by the mayor to a newly created advisory group - here is the press release:

"New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has appointed Reed Kroloff, dean at Tulane University's School of Architecture, to the Bring New Orleans Back Commission. As conceived, the commission will resolve conflicting visions of reconstruction and will, therefore, play a key role in deciding such basic questions as how best to spend federal relief dollars, restart a crippled economy, and rebuild neighborhoods. Among the 17 commissioners, there are a few religious and cultural figures—including musician Winton Marsalis—but most commissioners represent business interests.

Kroloff is co-chairing the urban design subcommittee, with local architect Ray Manning, AIA, under commissioner Joseph Canizaro, a local real estate mogul who has developed more than $1 billion in projects. Kroloff says his subcommittee is “still getting up and running.” He adds, “Because we want to make sure we’re being very careful about how we go about this, our first step is to secure advice from nationally renowned professionals.” "

bascially, reed has shut duany out of having any meaningful say in what will happen to the reconstruction of new orleans. and, by bringing in mvrdv (among others) to re-imagine n.o., well, you can read the threads to see what duany thinks...

a couple words of caution when wading into this debate: not all people associated with 'new urbanism' (whatever the hell that means) are in lockstep with andreas. and you have to dissociate the man from the product he produces and from what gets produced in their projects. what andreas has re-projected back onto the mainstream conciousness, as a conceptual framework, is really the only set of urban plannning theories that have had any real traction over the last 40+ years. and i say that as someone who has chafed repeatedly having to work within those types of guidelines and as someone who isn't convinced at all that new urbanism is 'the only way', but who has to grudgingly admire what the movement has been able to accomplish.

and nightrain - i grew up in the town next to seaside and can tell you there are more myths than truths surrounding the early stages of seaside's development. actually, the developer gave away lots to the earliest interns working on the project, as nobody had money to pay them for their work. now, they weren't prime, ocean front lots (in fact, they were waaaay in the back), but for those that held on to them for a while, they made out ok...

Mar 12, 06 8:15 am  · 
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nightrain

Laru,


I do appreciate the care and depth of your reponse. But I'm not sure if you are defending Duany or not. I would shut him the hell out too. He's no team player, goes right to the power (Barber etc) and money and everybody else can get lost. Are you saying he should get credit for that?

Yes I know New Urbansim has moved planning away from 35' wide curvey streets with no sidewalks etc. But again, it's not the only option. For example, well, Old Urbanism had it's strengths too. Why do we need new towns when so many great towns with real post offices (not Seaside fake ones) are dying. Talk about sustainability. Let's abandon old towns and build new ones for a small demographic segment. And my point was not whether some interns made out well in selling lots but there was no real effort to have a diverse population there, like a real town. If that effort to have affordable lots was a myth, it was one right out of the mouth of Duany.

New Oreleans has a complex social chemistry that doesn't fit "new improved" suburban planning models, call them New Urbanism or whatever you want. I am from there. I know this. Porches from New Haven in the Duany slide show and other middle-class eye candy may catch Gov Barber, but "re-design" for a city is a little more complicated.

Mar 12, 06 10:51 pm  · 
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nightrain

And laru, one more thing, responding to the statement:
(a little goodwill, by anyone, will go a long way. in constrast to duany, where were any of the 'avant guarde' at? they could have just as easily made themselves available to help. but didn't.)

Remember that Tulane is in New Orleans and had issues to deal with just getting going again. They have great things going now like a design/build consortium of schools to go down and help (www.seed-network.org). One can be amazed at how fast Duany swoops in, but don't rule others out. Things have just barely started in New Orleans any way. It is more like 10 year war recovery than a hurricane recovery as we have ever known them.

Mar 12, 06 11:04 pm  · 
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progressive reactionary

I think this latest exchange between Kroloff and Duany, beyond exposing the incredible ego politics that are at play, reveals the ridiculous level to which the discourse of Gulf Coast reconstruction has deteriorated. While it is a shame that the supposed professional vanguard charged with various responsibilities (Mississippi for Duany, New Orleans for Kroloff) cannot seem to rise above petty turf wars, it seems a waste of time for the rest of us to relish in the drama without offering concrete alternatives. Indeed, as much as I detest the New Urbanist agenda (see here and here for some previous commentary), the alternative offered by the Kroloff camp seems hardly an improvement, especially if he spends most of his time defining himself as the non-Duany. I understand and certainly agree with Laru's words of caution about completely discounting the content of New Urbanist theory -- there is indeed merit to notions of walkability, density, etc. However, I also concur with Michael Sorkin and Christopher Hawthorne, who have recently and accurately pointed out the not-coincidental ideological, organizational, and operational convergences of the Congress of New Urbanism and the contemporary right-wing political establishment with regard to reconstruction opportunities in the Gulf region. It seems like now is as good a time as any for those of us progressive enough to rise above political opportunism to be a little opportunistic ourselves, take advantage of the chaos in which our supposed leaders are engulfed, and start imagining an alternative -- and better -- future for Mississippi and Louisiana.

Mar 12, 06 11:13 pm  · 
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to be fair nightrain duany himself is on record with the opinion that there is lots of old urbanism around that should be used instead of building new urbanist enclaves on the fringe...

his response to this trend is that he has to at least do something, even if it is a suburb on the outside for rich cats. not taking part would leave it ALL to the developers and be another point for the status quo.

also doubt that mvrdv or un studio are any more concerned or capable than duany when it comes to mixing demographic groups.

i am not a supporter of duany by any means. i think the architetcure of new urbanism is really god awful, but there are some very good ideas in his spiel that are worth thinking about even if he is a bit of a dink.

Mar 12, 06 11:30 pm  · 
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outed

nightrain -

i think you and i are probably closer in our thinking than not. i completely agree that 'new urbanism' is not the only game in town, nor should it be. but, if we're going to be honest with ourselves and be objective, name another urban planning movement that's gained anywhere near as much traction. it's really hard to do (much to my own lament).

as far as defending duany? don't need to and wouldn't want to. he can speak for himself. also, my comment about nobody else showing up wasn't meant to discount all the other groups that are there and working (outside of the limelight) - i certainly don't know all about them and wouldn't dare to say their efforts aren't greatly appreciated. all i was trying to contrast is the complete absence of reed's preferred architects - the mayne's, the mvrdv's, etc. the 'avant guarde' if you will. none of them showed up and it doesn't look like any of them will unless reed invites them. (my disdain resides more with them, not so much in lauding duany). so, no one's ruled out, that's for sure.

i also agree with progressive above (and that was my point with the jab) - there are other visions possible, although mvrdv's was pretty lame, but it's going to take a level of political engagement and design saavy to win over public opinion. the fact is, it's a pretty red-state region down there and if reed's strategy to find an alternate is to propose funky mid-scrapers, he's going to marginalize himself out of existence. what the c.n.u. did well in mississippi is to hold lots of local charettes and try to get some consensus built on how to proceed. agree with results or not, but it's going to wash down with the locals better than having some hot-shit architect in rotterdam cook up a proposal on a computer and try to force it down someone's throat. don't we all agree on at least that?


Mar 13, 06 9:39 am  · 
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nightrain

No defense of mayne, mvrdv or un studios working in New Orleans from me. If that's Kroloff's solution, no support here. I did see an Art Forum piece that probably proposed this but didn't actually read it. The effort I know about is Tulane encouraging, orienting and facilitating arch school studios and design build programs to go help. Not much but at least equal in strength to CNUs weekend charrette in MS. And while there may not be a consensus a la CNU drones, there is at least organization.

I agree with Progressive too and maybe this effort is one way to: "rise above political opportunism to be a little opportunistic ourselves, take advantage of the chaos in which our supposed leaders are engulfed, and start imagining an alternative -- and better -- future for Mississippi and Louisiana."

Well said.

Mar 13, 06 11:28 pm  · 
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blah
is quite possibly the most arrogant, self-absorbed, obtuse individual walking the earth

Isn't that Ben Nicholson? ;-)

Mar 14, 06 7:04 pm  · 
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