Lost In Space

Have you ever walked into an urban space and felt awe and wonder, dumfounded by the work of man? You can feel the tug of vertigo as you stroll about, head tilted, staring into every nook and cranny trying to absorb what the space does to you. It tricks your senses and perspective, it diddles your brain, and it can and will challenge your conceptions about what the hand of man can do. On a recent trip from London to Milan we visited churches, museums, cathedrals and gallerias, each built for different purposes yet left us with lasting impressions, from religious awe to architectural giddiness. So let’s take a brief look.

St. Paul's - London

St. Paul’s Cathedral – London

To hear the boy’s and men’s choir in the great space of St. Paul’s has been a desire of mine since our first visit way back when. Those voices and the magnificent organ of the cathedral is more than enough to bring you to tears. The vaulted spaces and the detailing of the paintings and the carved woodwork would require weeks of study to appreciate this creation by Sir Christopher Wren in the late 17th century (a time when there were barely two story buildings in the colonies of America). Beyond its historical presence and iconic and real defiance of Nazism during the WWII blitz, its solemn funeral services for England’s great leaders and military commanders, it continues to stand as a reminder of Britain’s place in the world for over four hundred years. I suggest a Sunday morning service.

 

Covent Garden - London

Covent Garden, London

And for the complete opposite the small retail center of Covent Garden in London’s older city center has an historic place as a market and cultural center (London’s opera house is here). While today it seems to cater to touristy stuff, there still is a rabbit warren of flea market tables and crafts men and women displaying their goods. The iron and glass roof are from a period when this was the height of urban architecture and style, the quality of stores and shops in arcade have continuously upgraded (by market forces I’m sure) and seem to be different every time we visit.

Basilique du Sacre-Coeur - Paris

The Sacre-Coeur – Paris

As European cathedrals go, the Basilique du Sacre-Coeur is demur. But its placement, on the top of Montmatre overlooking all of Paris, is divine. On a sunny summer day the white travertine glows against the brilliant blue French sky. The style is a bit of a hodgepodge, Romano-Byzantine stands in contrast to Notre Dame and other Gothic confections sprinkled around the city. Its interior, not nearly so large as Notre Dame or St. Paul’s, is rich with gold and blue mosaics and, most prominently Christ in Majesty with his outstretched arms fills the dome within the apse. It is intimate and comfortable (for a basilica built at the turn of the 19th century), yet more religious than most cathedrals and churches.

Duomo - Milan

Duomo di Milan – Milan

It would take five people, hands linked, to enclose one of the interior pillars of Milan’s Duomo. This Gothic cathedral took over 600 years to build and is the fifth largest cathedral in the world. Its exterior is beyond description with its white marble overlaying a massive brick building. It has been ridiculed and praised for its architecture for hundreds of years. It was started in fourteenth century by an Italian archbishop in the French style and centuries later was finished by Napoleon. The interior space is so great that one could believe it might have its own weather. The mosaic stone floor has withstood centuries of visitors and worshipers and the wear patterns are evident from millions of footfalls through the cathedral. Its sculptures, there are thousands of figures, are lost amongst the Gothic arches and swags attached to the exterior. The stain glass windows are spectacular. This is not an intimate and comforting space; as intended it will scare the hell out of you.

Galleria - Milan

The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II – Milan

Literally at the door step to the Duomo, the entry to the Galleria Vitorio Emanuele II draws you into, in my opinion,  one of the great non-religious architectural spaces in the world. Built between 1865 and 1877, this “shopping mall” is a jewel for the city of Milan and it alone is worth a visit. Essentially a cross of two vaulted galleries four exceptional stories high it presents a scale and breath that is both comfortable and awe inspiring. The glass in the vaulted arcade changes color as the day passes, the building facades are in style and concert with each other (a mixture of stone and terra cotta), and the carpeting is a rich and varied mosaic of tiles and stone. It is as if the base of Eiffel Tower (1889) were enclosed and turned into a retail center, both are from the same era of architectural design and engineering. Whereas today’s shopping malls are boring and redundant, there are very few spaces in the world like this.

Stay Tuned . . . . . .

The Trains of Europe – A Mini Grand Tour

High Speed Milan - Trenitalia

For the past two weeks we've traveled Europe: London, Paris, Geneva, Montreux, Milan and Florence. All by using Europe’s elite high speed rail system, the Eurostar under the channel, the TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse) from Paris to Geneva, local to Montreux and another fast train from Montreux to Milan via Trenitalia Line (an Italian subsidary). It is without a doubt the most civil way to travel from one place to another that doesn’t include a cruise director. While I continue to rail (pun intended) about high speed rail in California, as you race through the spectacular scenery south of Paris and approach the Alps, you are mildly shocked at how nice it all is and quite. Tables, room to move around, power jacks, roomy toilets (such as they are). Delightful! And did I mention they leave on time.

My problem with the state of California version of HSR, as I have written, is that they haven’t a clue as to what it will cost. And remember that most of the countries that have these high speed rail systems are broke or very close to it. For them bankruptcy is not an issue, it’s a reality. But I whine and thus digress. The cost in 2008 for the Milan to Bologna portion of the trip cost 64.6 million dollars a mile to build (133.5 miles). Just the track construction from San Francisco to Los Angeles would then be 24.5 billion, I'm sure!

Milano Centrale

The terminals of major cities are magnificent and chaotic, the St. Pancras railway station in London (with the highest security – the others have almost none) is spectacular in its Victorian red brick and in the Eurostar waiting room, modern and efficient. The Paris Gare d’Austerlitz is the gateway to the south-east of France and the line to Geneva, it is old and very French in design but has evolved into a rabbit warren of walks and ramps because of the expansion of the lines. Milan’s is huge and you can still feel the exterior’s visual impact of the fascists and Mussolini when it was completed in 1931. The size and scale is something so Italian. Florence is disappointing considering the demand on its trains by the tourists. But Norman Foster is designing a new multi-level station.

Florence to Milan - 186 MPH - top speed can be 224 MPH

To the traveler in Europe it’s ho-hum, nothing special. It’s expected; trains leave and arrive on time, no big deal. For us American’s it’s unlike anything we know. It’s how AMTRAK should be if there were competent managers about, but since it’s not, it is on the bottom of long distance travel modes. In the U.S. its car, then plane, not much else works well enough except in the northeast corridor between Washington, NY and Boston. Trains are for local commuting – not long distance. Maybe that will change, maybe it won’t. But it won’t be during the next ten years.

We enjoyed it; wide roomy seats, places to store your luggage, convenient terminal location usually in the middle of the town, clean restrooms – what more to want. And ticket prices are competitive when compared against renting a car or trying to fly for distances less than 400 miles. After that time becomes the issue, not cost.

Over the next few weeks I’ll offer more insights into the state of things in Europe – at least from my perspective. One would think that Italy was about to implode from all the bad news – not so and the pizza is still spettacolare. 

By the way were were spared from even one strike across four countries - wow!

Stay tuned . . . . . . . . .

Oversupply – Everywhere

“Buy land, they ain’t making any more of the stuff.”

Will Rogers

Even with the inevitable and growing dearth of housing, one commodity is still in great supply around most cities, land. During the past twenty years every city that could expanded their supply of job-producing lands for everything from retail and commercial acreage to industrial, warehousing and office. Now there is zoned land everywhere for non-residential use and it’s forcing down land prices, all to their own competitive disadvantage. And sadly the jobs aren’t coming either.

Restrictions on housing development, especially in most areas of California’s 50 mile coastal strip, and the foreclosure crisis have pushed prices up and up. Foreclosures have led to higher prices simply because these units have been pulled out of the retail market and are now being rented. As with all things this is temporary but the result is a severe lack of housing and increasing prices. You mess with the demand-supply balance and that’s what you always get. Some builders I know in the Central Valley of California have not built one house in five years.

And that’s what’s happened to commercial real estate in all its various forms, oversupply. Commercial lands in foreclosure are being quietly peddled in bankruptcies at fifty cents on the dollar or even less. Along the freeways there are miles of land zoned as commercial/business/professional and they can’t give the land away at any price. Cities are left scratching their collective heads. There are bright spots such as San Francisco and some areas of the Silicon Valley – but other areas are begging for users and jobs.

Housing always leads, or it used to. More homes means more people resulting in more demand for commercial uses; that was the usual mantra. Now, not so much. Areas immediately to the east of the San Francisco Bay area are now, once again, beginning to supply low-cost housing to the job centers in the East Bay and Silicon Valley. Buy a nice house at a great price and receive, at no extra cost, a daily five hour commute regime. But you’re fortunate. A similar home in the San Jose are will cost you three or four times the price, and to be honest the internal commutes within Silicon Valley are almost just as bad.

We have overbuilt retail, we still have empty office buildings, and signs saying “Available” hang on empty warehouse buildings. Anyone want a million square foot warehouse? No, how about an enclosed shopping mall? Amazon is flying into the logistic centers that surround our major cities, demand secrecy, and then provide jobs at about 1 per 1000 square feet. Cities need four and five per 1000 to even come close to justifying the infrastructure costs. That rebalance won’t happen for a long time.

I see a lot of rezoning of commercial lands to residential in the future. One way or another, the costs of the infrastructure already in the ground will force cities to make these changes – someone has to pay for the bonds.

But the bright side is that these lands are a bank account that can be drawn on when the time is right. During the fifties and sixties a lot of development came from outliers who, like the sod-busters of the late nineteenth century, opened the way for the massive suburban growth and the spectacular rise of the American economy.

And I can see this again in America’s future – I’m hardly a Pollyanna, but when the time is right there will again be another dramatic shift to the suburbs.

Stay Tuned . . . . . .

Is the Government Screwing Up the Electric Car?

The Fisker Karma - very cool but bankrupt

There is nothing stranger and sadder than thinking you can manufacture demand. Sure you can spend millions marketing the “Leaf” with every conceivable cultural bribe you have in your bag, environment, style, design, and sex (electric sex is certainly better than gasoline sex, don’t you think?). You can offer federal grants, tax rebates, and even push for higher gas taxes. All to push the consumer into something they still fear – and I mean fear. I’ve written at least five blogs on the problems and blessings of the electric vehicle:

The Urban Umbilical Cord – Part 1 – August 26, 2010 

The Urban Umbilical Cord – Part 2 – September 3, 2010      

The Electric Dream Car – March, 2011         

and others that looked at batteries and bribes.

My favorite economist Ludwig von Mises famously said in his great book on economic systems Human Action, A Treatise on Economics, “The market is supreme.” And right now the market is saying an emphatic, “NO!” There is too much confusion, an accumulation of never ending poor news, and the overriding sense of an industry that is failing. Battery makers (with government guarantees) going out of business, car companies failing (the Fisker Karma bankruptcy is the most dramatic due in great part to poor construction, software, and price – against its very cool design), and the confusion about hybrids and electrics in general.

This is not an argument against the product, it will be the primary type of urban vehicle at some point in the future but it has to get past this welfare image that tells a buyer that the only way they can come to market is through some sort of government gift or outright grant. They will tell you in marketing perception is everything and right now the electric car is very, very questionable. Visions of an out of work Depression worker with his hand out comes to mind when I think of the industry.

Will I run out of power before I can get home? Will it be safe? Will it explode if the battery overheats? What happens if the battery goes to zero – can it be recharged or will I have to pay $30,000 to fix it? Is this only a product for the rich and ostentatious? Is Tesla really telling us the truth about its mileage or do I have to buy one to find out?

Like everything there is a classic bell curve of acceptance, a long slow climb then acceleration to the level of almost a fad – it happened with everything including the radio, television, computer, even the mobile phone. The time frames were long or compressed but the curve is still there. The electric automobile still has a way to go. And the competition is increasing; look for more cars powered by natural gas (which we have a lot of now and it’s cheaper) and the technology for those vehicles is a lot closer to the gasoline and diesel powered machines.

I have maintained that a vehicle with a replaceable (think refuelable) battery is the future – the extension cord at work and home is all so very DIY, but the electric vehicle’s use as a replacement for the gas-guzzler must meet a different standard. They are two different technologies – car building versus battery making, ask Boeing about that. Build the car with a slot that accepts a battery with a range of options: range (storage amount), price (to essentially rent the unit), and source (nuclear, wind, solar, natural gas). The last is for the touchy-feelies out there.

The government (feds and state) keep trying to pick a winner by throwing cash around like drunks at a strip club. For what was wasted at Solyndra ($535M loan) and Fisker ($529M loan) we could keep the airport towers operating for two years (FAA cut due to sequestration is $600M). That is why the electric car is in trouble – government diddling.

Stay Tuned . . . . . . . . . .

Paolo Soleri (1919-2013) - An Innocent Architect

Back in the day, when I was at Michigan State studying landscape architecture and urban planning, the great architects were Philip Johnson, Mies van der Rohe, and Eero Saarinen. Bold, dramatic, controversial, and if you included Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier you could enjoy a pleasant evening of arguing and threats of bodily harm. Each had their acolytes and each carried an ego as large or larger than their buildings. Yet none came close to the imagination and utter boundless belief in architecture as habitats as Paolo Soleri, who passed away this week, he was 93.

From the Arcosanti Website:

Paolo Soleri (1919-2013), the founder of Arcosanti

Through his work as an architect, urban designer, artist, craftsman, and philosopher, Paolo Soleri has been exploring the countless possibilities of human aspiration. One outstanding endeavor is Arcosanti, an urban laboratory, constructed in the Arizona high desert. It attempts to test and demonstrate an alternative human habitat which is greatly needed in this increasingly perplexing world. This project also exemplifies his steadfast devotion to creating an experiential space to "prototype" an environment in harmony with man.

In his philosophy “arcology” (architecture + ecology), Soleri formulated a path that may aid us on our evolutionary journey toward a state of aesthetic, equity, and compassion. For more than a half century, his work, marked by a broad-ranging and coherent intellect (so scarce in the age of specialization), has influenced many in search of a new paradigm for our built environment.

If the act of living includes the pioneering of reality through imagination and sweat, Soleri has given us more than enough food for thought in the examples he has left on paper and in the desert wind.

For a young architecture student in 1971, Soleri’s imagination was a source of boundless inspiration. I remember walking through an exhibition of his work at the Chicago Museum of Modern Art during this period of time (a spectacular traveling exhibition of his works), enthralled and frightened. His building concepts included whole cities built into a dam, massive structures where jet planes landed on the 80th floor, models and sketches that used model airplanes as set pieces to understand their scale. To this day I wonder where those models are stored – another generation of architects could use a kick in the pants by just studying these.

In the summer of 1970 I took a pilgrimage from Chicago to California and back. A coming of age thing – and it worked. A year later I was in California, newly married, and a practicing professional. How cool was that! On the trip I stopped to see the Arch in St. Louis (Saarinen), the Grand Canyon (God), Taliesin West (Wright), Los Angeles (smog was in high season), the Marin Civic Center (another Wright), and Soleri’s small encampment in Scottsdale. More than enough buildings and structures to set my malleable mind on fire.

Paolo Soleri was an Italian from Turin, he studied with Frank Lloyd Wright in the late 1940s (was fired), and in 1956 he settled in Scottsdale, Arizona. Wright and the dramatic structures of the desert were to have a profound impact on this man. His career and his artistic works would take books (and they have) to fill. Take a minute and look at his Wiki site (here).

A new documentary called The Vision of Paolo Soleri in the Desert has just been released (I have not seen it), but here is the trailer.

Dreams are the molds that form our futures.