Dining Dilemmas: Balancing Urbanist Values with Chain Cravings

 

The Olive Garden restaurant in Eugene.

An admission:  My wife and I happily frequent casual dining chain restaurants, such as Outback Steakhouse, Red Lobster, Applebee’s, and Olive Garden. We appreciate their convenience, consistent menu offerings, moderate pricing, and the familiar and relaxed dining experiences they present. Just yesterday, we partook a standardized, carb-loaded escape at the Olive Garden restaurant here in Eugene, savoring unlimited breadsticks, salad, and pasta. Molto gustoso!
 
Many people associate casual dining chain restaurants with suburban sprawl, mass-consumerism, corporatism, and generic, placeless experiences. Olive Garden’s carefully crafted ambience is designed to evoke a warm and welcoming Italian trattoria, but it does so in an expectedly ersatz manner: faux-Tuscan architecture, vintage decor, and murals depicting Italian scenes. Critics argue the standardized design formula and menu lack the depth and authenticity of a true, locally owned Italian restaurant. Moreover, snooty gourmets look down upon the chain’s homogenized flavors and absence of culinary innovation. Of course they do. Olive Garden is what it is.
 
Should I lose my card-carrying urbanist credentials because I enjoy patronizing casual dining chain restaurants? Perhaps. As an urbanist, I am supposed to be all about thoughtful urban planning and promoting local businesses. I am supposed to advocate for vibrant, unique neighborhoods. The proliferation of chain restaurants in the urban landscape is anathema to the urbanist vision of creating a diverse, thriving local food scene. Typically sited within low-density, automobile-centric settings surrounded by parking lots, they contribute to the hinderance of lively streetscapes essential to successful urban design. Their cookie-cutter architecture does little to foster a desirable sense of place and community. And given their reliance upon vast supply networks and the embodied energy inherent in the processing and transportation of their products, casual dining chain restaurants do not always prioritize sustainable practices.
 
Brand-name casual dining establishments do have their positive attributes. One of their primary strengths is the ability to deliver consistent food quality and dining experiences across separate locations. Customers know what to expect from the menu, which is reassuring for those seeking familiar experiences. Recognizable brands offer a sense of reliability and a known standard of service. Additionally, chain restaurants are often strategically located in commercial and easily accessible areas, including near highways and popular shopping centers. Amidst the hustle and bustle of life, chain restaurants offer predictability and ease. When navigating unfamiliar cities or facing time constraints, these reliable dining spots are convivial oases.
 

Yesterday's lunch: Spaghetti with meat sauce, salad, and bread sticks.
 

So how do I square the allure of Olive Garden’s reassuring, familiar ambience, and reliable comfort food with the urban design principles I repeatedly promote on this platform?
 
The key is for me to be aware of the impact of chain restaurants on the local economy, urban sprawl, and the character of our community. I am not blind to the issues at hand and the challenges they pose. What are the answers? How do we support independent, local businesses while also accommodating national chains? What can we do to better integrate the casual dining chain restaurant model within more sustainable, less auto-oriented urban typologies? On balance, I will continue to be enthusiastic about sustainable development, public transportation, community engagement, and the dissemination of good urban principles.
 
My guilty pleasure serves as a reminder of the complexities of urban planning and development. It challenges me to explore ways in which to strike a balance between diversity and familiarity in our urban environments. Embracing chain restaurants with self-awareness allows me to understand the dining preferences and needs of all Eugene residents, including those who seek comfort in these spaces.
 
Am I being hypocritical? The answer again is "perhaps." That said, it is okay to not entirely align my lifestyle with a specific set of preferences. Being an urbanist is about engaging with broader urban design matters and advocating for positive change in cities. The fact I like an occasional meal at Olive Garden does not negate my interest in urbanism or my desire for thoughtful urban planning. My indulgence only adds to the layers of complexity that make cities fascinating and ever-evolving spaces. Like you, I am only human, and comfort food is my kryptonite.

The Story of Architecture

Decluttering the very cluttered home my wife and I live in is one of my modest life goals. We have managed to accumulate a ridiculous amount of stuff over the course of our lives together, much of which we no longer have use for or have any emotional attachment to. Our pledge is to be more mindful moving forward, only adding to our home what we truly need, and to live with more intention. I do make one exception to this pledge, which is to exempt my ever-growing library of books on architecture. I have added to it once more, my most recent acquisition being The Story of Architecture, by Witold Rybczynski. 

I am just a few chapters in, but that is enough for me to understand how Rybczynski organized his book. Ambitiously sweeping in scope, The Story of Architecture traces the evolution of architectural ideals from the Stone Age to the present, demonstrating how technological, economic, and social changes, as well as shifts in taste have shaped those ideals. Rybczynski uses a host of examples to illustrate the universal human desire for order, meaning, and beauty in architecture, ranging from the neolithic Cairn of Barnenez (circa 4800 BC) to the Louvre Abu Dhabi, completed in 2017. 

A survey of architecture over a period of more than six thousand years would seem to be a daunting task for any author or reader, but Rybczynski broke his book into 39 manageable essays, each about 3-6 pages in length. I will read one or two of the essays during each sitting, picking up where I left off as I have time. 

Unlike a typically pedantic, academic accounting of architectural history that prioritizes precise scholarly language, The Story of Architecture is breezy and broadly appealing. Witold Rybczynski is an engaging writer, skilled in making esoteric content accessible to anyone. Unsurprisingly, his writings on architecture and urban design have graced the pages of popular publications like The Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker, and Slate.com. With a diverse bibliography of over twenty books covering topics ranging from architecture to the history of the seven-day week (Waiting for the Weekend - Wikipedia), to the humble screwdriver (One Good Turn: A Natural History of the Screwdriver and the Screw a book by Witold Rybczynski (bookshop.org), Rybczynski's skill lies in imparting personal thoughts on each subject he explores. 

Like me, Rybczynski spent his formative years in Canada, he in Montreal (though born in Edinburgh, Scotland) whereas I grew up in Vancouver. Despite the undeniable historical, geographical, and cultural differences between Quebec and British Columbia, I think we share a trait that betrays our mutual Canadian-ness: a pragmatic conservatism that shapes our perceptions of what we consider to be good design. 

My personal library now includes four of Rybczynski’s titles; the other three in my collection are:

• The Most Beautiful House in the World (1989)
• The Biography of a Building: How Robert Sainsbury and Norman Foster Built a Great Museum (2011)
• How Architecture Works: A Humanist's Toolkit (2013)

Rybczynski does point out that he did not intend The Story of Architecture to be a comprehensive accounting of architectural history. He limited the works he describes to prominent projects, notably those still in existence and available to visit. He also admits he did not give equal attention to all parts of the world, primarily working within the story of the Western canon. He states his goal was to “best convey the principal thrust of the strain of architectural thought that has most influenced [him],” and to tell the story of architecture as an accounting of the unexpected twists and turns he has followed in coming to appreciate its ability to celebrate, honor, pay homage to, and impress.  

I am looking forward to reading more of The Story of Architecture. Though as of writing this blog post I have only completed the first three chapters, I feel confident in offering my highest recommendation for the book because Witold Rybczynski has never disappointed me in the past. Accordingly, The Story of Architecture already occupies a proud place in my library, a collection I cherish and will continue to add to, decluttering be damned.

A Golden Age

Photo by Timothy Eberly on Unsplash

My career has spanned a period of significant advancements and achievements in the field of architecture. Whether these qualify the period as a “golden age” for the profession is my own subjective judgement, but I know the magnitude of those advancements and the sociocultural circumstances in which they arose allowed me to flourish. My good fortune is to have lived and worked during this time and not during another when being an architect may not have been an option for me.

Historians most usually define golden ages by contrasting them with adjacent periods. They look at the past and note that in a specific time and place there was more production and innovation than before and after. Thus, a golden age typically refers to a period of great prosperity and cultural achievement in a particular society, civilization, or field of endeavor. It is often associated with a time of extraordinary accomplishments, advancements, and overall well-being. Optimism, abundance, and cultural refinement are marks of a golden age.

Being able to witness and experience firsthand the groundbreaking ideas, creations, and innovations that shape society during a golden age is inspiring. It is energizing to feel connected to a time of exceptional significance in human history, one that provides a unique perspective on the cultural, social, and intellectual development of a society. It can foster a sense of pride, identity, and belonging to a generation that contributed to remarkable advancements and achievements. In my life, the Space Race culminating in the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969 was such an achievement.

There is no doubt architecture also experienced momentous changes, mostly for the better, since the day I first stepped into an architectural office back in 1978. Some of the notable developments include the advent of computer-aided design (CAD) and then building information modeling (BIM), the growing emphasis on environmentally conscious design practices, greater cultural sensitivity and inclusivity, and innovations in urban planning, transportation design, and the development of smart cities. The years since 1978 have also witnessed an explosion in architectural theory, stylistic and philosophical diversity, and the arrival of some truly iconic projects that captured the public’s attention.

I have been a beneficiary of these changes. While I didn’t exactly start by producing design drawings on stone tablets, it almost seems as if I did, so great is the chasm between the means I had at hand back then compared to today’s digital tools. The range of concerns I must address as an architect has certainly broadened greatly and contributed to increased complexity in the work that I do, but it also means the projects I worked on over the years progressively became more inclusive, more respectful of their environmental impacts, and better tailored to the needs of the users.

From a more personal and culturally narrow perspective, I have also been a beneficiary of historical circumstances. Had I been born as part of my parents’ generation or earlier, the obstacles in the path to me becoming an architect would have been formidable. Most prominent among these obstacles would have been racism and a lack of economic opportunity. Of course, systemic racism remains a problem, but it was many orders of magnitude worse before I was born. I have not lived through a prolonged monetary crisis like the Great Depression, nor have I directly endured the horrors and deprivations of a world war. I grew up in a halcyon time, mostly free of stress and existential concerns, during which I had the freedom to choose any career path I wanted.

Conversely, I am not sure if I were much younger and only now embarking upon my life as an architect whether I could look forward to a new golden age in the coming decades. Given the current trajectory of global challenges, I doubt it. There are simply too many signs pointing toward the opposite: social fragmentation, economic disequilibrium, and of course climate change. You can accuse me of being a climate “doomer,” and it is true I do despair about the planet’s future, but my overriding fear is the degree to which the climate crisis will come to overwhelm all other human concerns. Architects will play a role in mitigating its effects, but their efforts will not otherwise contribute to a Renaissance-like flowering in architectural design and discourse because our species has bigger fish to fry. Another golden age is simply not in the cards anytime soon.

The troubles in the years to come will be overwhelming, so much so that I am thankful people will not be counting upon me to help address them. I do have great faith in the drive and talents of young people and their stubborn desire to realize a better future than the one I imagine. By necessity, they express hope in the face of immense insecurity and uncertainty.

The years between when I joined and when I do leave the profession will neatly bracket a period I am most privileged to have been a part of. I know how fortunate I am. I have enjoyed the fruits of what for me has truly been a golden age in architecture. I will leave it to future pundits to determine whether history will likewise deem it so.

Reality Capture on the Construction Jobsite

 
July 5, 2023 construction progress screenshot from OpenAI of the LCC Health Professions Building comparing a photo capture with the corresponding view of the BIM model in Navisworks.

The pace at which innovative technologies are transforming the AEC industry continues to accelerate. I have seen many advancements throughout the course of my career, and several of these have become second nature to how I do my work. The latest high-tech widget I am benefiting from is a 360-degree reality capture tool developed by a company called OpenSpace AI.
 
OpenSpace AI’s Capture tool works by mapping construction jobsite photos to BIM models automatically. The closest analogue I can think of is Google’s Streetview. Like Streetview, operators use 360-degree digital cameras (mounted on top of their hardhats) and simply walk around the project under construction. The technology relies on computer vision to automatically align the images into a single integrated scene, recognize and label key features, and map them to floor plans, for a rich, visual understanding of the captured environment. The result is a comprehensive, time-stamped digital record of the construction site. The app generates a capture coverage “heatmap” to show the path taken and the areas previously documented, helping to plan the next capture path.
 
These digital models can be beneficial as they enable project teams to have a comprehensive understanding of the site, aid in planning and design processes, support clash detection, improve communication among stakeholders, and facilitate progress tracking and documentation.

 

Rendering of the future Lane Community College Health Professions Building

Fortis Construction is using OpenSpace to document as-built conditions throughout the construction of the Lane Community College Health Professions Building, a project designed by a team led by Robertson/Sherwood/Architects with Mahlum Architects. I am serving as principal-in-charge for the $32.8 million project, which will provide new teaching spaces for the college’s Medical Assistant, Dental Hygiene & Dental Assistant, and Emergency Medical Services programs. The new building will open its doors in May of 2024.

What access to OpenSpace means for me is that I can stay on top of the building’s progress from anywhere by virtually touring the worksite as if I were physically present. Next to being there in person, the OpenSpace technology is my method of choice for checking a project’s progress, or for defining or solving problems. No matter how many static photographs are available, it is inevitable the one photo you really need will not be among them. OpenSpace largely eliminates that problem, especially if the most recent capture depicts current imagery. At a time when accountability is paramount, OpenSpace provides a superior solution for thorough documentation of construction progress.
 
A key benefit OpenSpace provides is the ability for multiple members of the project team to see the same things at once, while simultaneously comparing them to the BIM model or 2-D plans, sections, or elevations. The software also includes tools that enable anyone to create field notes or flag issues from anywhere, pinning these notes to the floor plan or syncing the imagery with a construction management software platform, such as Procore and its RFI tool. In turn, the app can automatically email RFI notifications to appropriate team members so that responses can be as timely as possible.
 
OpenSpace Track is another function that uses computer vision and machine-learning to recognize, track, and quantify the work in place. I haven’t yet seen this function in use, but OpenSpace claims it makes it easy to compare work completed against a construction schedule with live status dashboards, details views, and the ability to export data to analytics tools. For general contractors, this can help reduce delays and increase productivity.

 

OpenSpace AI’s Vision Engine has potential applications beyond construction projects. Its ability to automatically align images and map them to plans makes it a powerful tool for any industry that requires visual understanding of an environment. For example, it could be used in manufacturing, logistics, or even in the film industry to help with set design and construction.
 
There are alternatives to OpenSpace. Competing platforms include HoloBuilder, Matterport, and StructionSite. I am not familiar with these competing products, so I cannot comment on their features, ease of use, or how truly similar they are to OpenSpace, but a quick glance at their respective websites suggest they are.
 
No, OpenSpace is not sponsoring this blog post. Honestly, I have simply been impressed with the technology, hence my enthusiasm. The bottom line is that a tool as powerful as OpenSpace AI’s Capture helps teams manage construction projects more efficiently, with less risk and greater accuracy. Its ability to provide a complete, as-built record of a building from the time the first shovel of dirt is turned to project handover and operation is a game changer.

City Hall, Vision Eugene, and a Different Downtown

The City of Eugene finally has its new city hall, formally closing on the purchase of the former Eugene Water & Electric Board headquarters last week. For far too many years, I’ve chronicled the almost tragically comic and protracted course taken to provide the seat of our city government with a new home. Now that the question of where Eugene City Hall will be is settled, those of us who have a vested interest in the future of our downtown core can take stock of the long-term implications. There is no question the goalposts have moved, and not only because of the City of Eugene’s purchase of the former EWEB headquarters. 

Vision Eugene is an ad hoc group of citizens who came together with the goal of convincing the EWEB board to support redevelopment of its former headquarters as the “Eugene Cultural Center.” Their vision initially included entirely transforming the building and its immediate precinct into a cultural and educational neighborhood on the river. The attractions they proposed as possibilities include a “Rivers Museum,” a new (and heretofore nonexistent) Eugene Art Museum, and fancifully, a "National Hippy Hall of Fame." Additionally, they imagined both the Lane County History Museum and The Eugene Science Center relocating to the site, addressing both institutions’ longstanding desires to expand. While the City of Eugene intends to repurpose much of the building to meet the needs of its city hall functions, Vision Eugene believes a master plan incorporating elements of their proposed Cultural Center remains not only viable, but also necessary to fully capitalize on the site’s riverfront location and maximize public benefit. 

Recently, at the invitation of Otto Poticha, FAIA, and David Hilton—two of the group’s members—I attended a meeting of Vision Eugene. The goal of the meeting was to bring everyone up to date regarding their current plans and the implications of those plans for our city. Numbering among Vision Eugene‘s members are some notable individuals with a long history of service to the community or interest in improving Eugene’s livability and vibrancy, including Roscoe Devine, Sue Prichard, Anita Johnson, Jerry Diethelm, and George Brown.(1) Otto and David led the discussion. 

To their credit, Otto and David acknowledged the reality of the current situation, which is that the City of Eugene’s needs for its new city hall will first and foremost take precedence over the aspirations of others. Vision Eugene is not giving up the hope that the former EWEB headquarters and riverfront site will one day become a truly active and public place, but the group also recognizes that moving forward it will be the community’s overall cultural and economic vitality that will define Eugene. Fundamentally, Vision Eugene wishes to engage and inform development projects that enhance the cultural and educational quality of life for everyone. Whether Eugene City Hall is part of any such future projects is secondary to that overarching mission. 

The current state of downtown is clearly another matter of concern to Vision Eugene. Numerous factors have contributed to the public's perception of downtown Eugene's decline in recent years. These include increasing office vacancies exacerbated by the shift to work-from-home or hybrid work regimes, the shuttering of brick-and-mortar retail establishments, and the intractable problems of homelessness, drug addiction, attendant crime and the absence of adequate resources to deal with their underlying causes. As others have noted, the downtowns of many U.S. cities are facing an “urban doom loop” attributable to an accelerating disinvestment in their downtowns, exacerbating their downward spiral. Businesses do not willingly choose to locate in such environments, especially as the necessity of 9-5 five days a week in-office work wanes and more companies embrace remote working. The City of Eugene’s relocation of hundreds of its employees to the riverfront site away from the core will further, rather than reverse, this trend. 

Reframing a different future for downtown Eugene is necessary. Rather than attempt to fully resurrect it along the lines of what it once was—a center for commerce, government, and culture—I believe we should emphasize the development of housing of all types at various levels, both market-rate and subsidized, at mid-to-high levels of density. More housing is one means to help forestall downtown Eugene’s further hollowing-out. When people live in the city's core, they become caring stakeholders who take ownership of its future; however, providing additional housing by itself is not a panacea. 

As Otto pointed out during the meeting, you must give people reasons to want to live downtown. Presently, the number of those reasons is insufficient. It is somewhat a cart-before-the-horse matter: simply increasing the stock of new housing will not make downtown’s problems disappear. Downtown Eugene will need a greater variety of quality attractions if it is to possess the gravitational pull necessary to draw a resident population of sufficient size. 

The City of Eugene has identified a list of downtown priorities and projects, which includes supporting the creation of a mix of new affordable housing across income levels, increasing the public safety presence downtown, identifying needed social services in the downtown area, strengthening downtown’s commercial environment, improving the pedestrian and multimodal experience, and supporting downtown’s role as Eugene’s cultural hub. Building a strong sense of community and fostering civic pride are clear goals. 

It may be that realizing Vision Eugene’s plans for a Eugene Cultural Center will bear more fruit if proposed for location downtown. The various elements of the group’s plans could adaptively reuse the area’s surplus of underutilized real estate. For example, imagine transforming the former Bon Marche department store building (later Symantec’s downtown Eugene office location, then a call center, and now vacant) at 190 W. 8th Avenue to become a National Hippy Hall of Fame or the new home for The Eugene Science Center. 

Obviously, with a new Eugene City Hall no longer part of the plans for the Eugene Town Square site north of the Farmers Market Pavilion, another opportunity exists there. I personally can envision the construction of an annex to the Graduate Hotel Convention Center, perhaps as a public/private partnership that would ensure the facility’s availability for programming events of broad interest to the community. The annex could be connected by either a tunnel or pedestrian bridge over 7th Avenue to the hotel. 

Do we need to further rethink what the morphology of a successful city should be? Does the paradigm of a thriving and vibrant downtown still hold? I posit it is not necessarily obsolete, but it is evolving. We may be witnessing in real time the transitioning of cities like Eugene from a model focused upon a single urban core to one that embraces polycentric development. Such a model would foster multiple centers of housing, activity, and employment throughout the city, reducing the concentration and opportunities in any one area. This approach can distribute economic and social benefits more equitably and create a network of vibrant neighborhoods. Eugene’s neighborhoods could assume a degree of preeminence over the city’s greater identity such that people may come to regard Eugene primarily as a constellation of neighborhoods, each with its own unique character and attractions. 

As the very recent history here in Eugene has proven, the concept of a successful city is constantly changing, and it is important to adapt urban planning and development strategies to suit those changing circumstances. The City of Eugene’s purchase of the former EWEB headquarters is certainly one such example. Time will tell whether City Hall’s move to its new home is a tipping point, beyond which downtown Eugene cannot reverse its downward spiral, or a trigger effecting a welcome paradigm shift in the way we regard its future development.

(1) Notably absent from the meeting was a younger cohort. I pegged the median age of those in attendance at around 70.