Hisaka's CSU Student Center Photo Update

I have been meaning to get out to the Cleveland State University campus and watch the painful demolition of Don Hisaka's 1974 student center. I was never one who was sold that the student center was a weak demarcation of the entrance to the campus, mostly because as a commuter school a proper entrance seemed unrealistic to expect. Now that CSU is moving to create more on site residence halls I can see the argument for necessitating a "proper entrance" however I fail to see why the student center needs to mark that entry or why, with such a strong entry face, it didn't mark it enough.

I also have to wonder why a school with a seemingly decent engineering division didn't retrofit the existing structure or choose a designer who dealt with structures that expressed engineering intellect. Granted some may not enjoy the Hisaka building and even call it brutalist due to the raw concrete and expressed structure and materiality but I would think that very foundation could create a proving ground for one of Cleveland State's hallmark divisions to undertake and exploit. These are the sort of lost opportunities that sadden me. These are the chances that institutions have to set themselves apart.

Regardless of the semantics of what new urbanism is required to "front the campus upon Euclid" or "organize a proper main street" the tentative kid gloved nature that has resulted in this demolition work, and the proposed befuddlement of style could be construed as misguided at best and insulting at worst. If Euclid is to be the new Cleveland "main street", then the front door of our institutions should do their best to intrigue as well as welcome. Otherwise, who is going to come knocking?

more resources:
Action shots by Improvising Schema
Puff pieces do nothing to increase the quality of work expected
Ramsey Architectural Group

Drinking beer in a Cleveland Park on a Friday evening was once legal?

It was a perfect dreary morning for starting to begin reading through the ridiculously large pile of books that has accumulated near the living room chair (Not to be confused with the gigantic pile of unread books in the office. These take precedent, they are from the library). I thought I would start out with the smallest of the bunch, a softcover book published by the American Planning Association and written by Project for Public Spaces entitled Managing Downtown Public Spaces.

More of a manual to running various urban planning exercises then a book on urban theory there were still plenty of case studies and interesting stories (and images) supplied including references to one of the few movies I remembered sitting through in college called The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces which, regardless of the quality of video and era in which it was shot, is still a surprisingly relevant and humanistic approach to looking at shared public/private space.

I am not posting to bemoan Managing Downtown Public Spaces, I'm not, it was a quick read and actually gave me something to ponder, I am posting because Cleveland (I can only assume Ohio) was used as a case study of successful urban spaces multiple times, most noticeably referring a regularly planned public event that actually made more money then it cost to put on. Yup, an actual income generating event that the city had hosted to bring people downtown.

I haven't been able to find any information online in regards to this event. Supposedly it was hosted by the Greater Cleveland Growth Association (who has recently merged with the Greater Cleveland Partnership and took place every Friday during the summer between the hours of 5pm and 8pm, each time in a different section of town, with the idea to keep people downtown after work and expose them to businesses or parts of the city they "normally wouldn't see".

It was called "Party in the Park" and was started in 1969 (or so I can surmise). It was self supporting and in 1979 grossed a profit of $6000 according to PPS which was distributed to the non-profit organizations that volunteered services.

I just was wondering what had happened to it. I almost remember hearing about the event and am sort of sad that it either a) went away or b) doesn't advertise enough for me to know about it.

Design Council - Finding and working with a designer, a step-by-step guide

Step -by-step guide

There are many reasons to hire a professional designer or design consultant to facilitate a project however there may be some difficulty in quantifying the value of hiring a person who has specifically been trained in the art of design. This is where the Design Council wants to helps out. This specific guide contains chapters on;
- how to find a designer
- how to choose a designer
- how to agree on budgets and costs
- writing a brief and getting the project started
- working with your designer
- completing the design project

The Design Council is an online resource for designers and how-to guides for those wondering if they should hire a designer or design consultant. The Design Council also has added resources for designers including podcasts, design related stories and issues and opportunities and is a fantastic resource whether one is in the United Kingdom or not.

1/3 Movie Night - Wet Hot American Summer

1/3 Movie Night
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Bela Dubby
13321 Madison Ave. Lakewood, OH 44107
7.30pm to 10pm

Free and open to the public.

brought to you by LAUNCH cleveland