Review the Capitol Mall Centennial Plan reports and Legislative Commission presentation
Executive Summary by Darren Petrucci
Team
Darren Petrucci, Director, School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture
Carlos Balsas, Assistant Professor, School of Planning
Joseph Ewan, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture
Philip Horton, Faculty Associate, School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture/SCAPE
Nabil Kamel, Assistant Professor, School of Planning
Nancy Levinson, Director, PURL
Sara Loughman, Manager, PURL
Patrick Riddle, Faculty Associate, School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture/SCAPE
Julie Russ, Communications Manager, College of Design
Claudio Vekstein, Assistant Professor, School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture
Partners
Arizona Department of Administration
Arizona Department of Transportation
Capitol Elementary School
Capitol Mall Association
Legislative Governmental Mall Commission
Maricopa County Department of Planning
Phoenix Community Alliance
City of Phoenix Department of Planning
City of Phoenix Historic Preservation
Weed & Seed
Historical Context
The Capitol Mall Centennial Plan is the latest in a long history of master plans for the 300-plus acres that comprise Arizona’s State Capitol district. In one especially dramatic proposal from the mid-twentieth century, parttime Arizona resident Frank Lloyd Wright depicts a luminous hexagonal building topped with tall spires. In retrospect, what this and other unrealized proposals have in common is the desire to respond both functionally and symbolically to the state’s climate—a climate understood in both the atmospheric and political senses. From the start, the state of Arizona underemphasized the role of government (all the while overemphasizing the role of private real estate development). This was evident in the planning of the original capitol in the late 19th century (the building was completed in 1900). Rather than choosing to create an edifice evocative of the culture and climate of Arizona, the state borrowed the design of the Texas state capitol. This capitol, adapted from Austin, was reduced in scale for its Phoenix site; it was further diminished when Arizona chose to eliminate one of its most distinctive features: the monumental staircase leading to the main entry hall beneath the copper dome. Instead, visitors to the Arizona State Capitol would enter, then and now, unceremoniously through a ground-level service door. Unsurprisingly, this view of the meaning and significance—or insignificance—of governmental functions and facilities has resulted in today’s desolate and decayed Capitol Mall District.
But things change; cities evolve. Recent development in Phoenix, engendered by ASU’s decision in 2004 to build a downtown campus, is spurring a host of new public/private projects that are transforming the city’s long-neglected center. The proximity of the Capitol Mall to the new development, along with the increasingly obvious decay and disfunction of its buildings and infrastructure, is rekindling the desire for a new and effective master planning strategy. The approaching 2012 state centennial provides additional incentive to revitalize the capitol as Arizona moves into the 21st century.
Contemporary Condition
Phoenix is now the fastest growing city in the United States; it is not only the largest city in Arizona, but also the largest capital city in the country. Symbolically, the Capitol Mall District represents the state and its aspirations; functionally, it accommodates the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government. Clearly it is ready for an inclusive revitalization and redevelopment that will position Phoenix as an exemplary 21st-century state capital.
Project Features
The Capitol Mall Centennial Plan is intended to achieve three significant goals: connectivity, accessibility, and efficiency. Unlike many historic governmental districts, which are isolated and uninviting, the Capitol Mall, as envisioned in the Centennial Plan, features a series of sustainable connective infrastructures that make public spaces and services more accessible, enhance efficiency and facilitate effective governance, and promote an identity for a world-class capitol district community.
The Centennial Plan builds upon the potential of the district’s existing places, which include the underused Pioneer Cemetery, Carnegie Library, University Park, and Capitol Elementary School playground. To strengthen the mutual connectivity of these assets, a series of north/south pedestrian corridors are identified (at 13th, 15th, and 17th Avenues). The plan calls for the corridors to be enhanced with landscaping and shade structures to encourage walking and energize street life. Existing surface parking lots are to be removed and replaced with parking structures; these structures are to be wrapped with edge buildings such as offices, stores, and housing. The roofs of the new parking structures will accommodate solar-collecting shade structures that link to pedestrian passageways.
The allowed building height (as determined by the floor area ratio) of the district is increased around the Carnegie Library to create a sense of pleasant enclosure around the library park—a “Central Park Effect”—and to enhance the view of the capitol dome along Washington Street, one of the city’s important thoroughfares. New mixed-use programs along Adams, another major street, mediate between the comparative density of the governmental complex and the single-family homes of the adjacent Woodland Historic District. The mixed-use facilities include three- and four-story buildings with ground-level retail and upper-floor residential.
The Capitol Campus includes the State Capitol, the Executive Tower, the House, Senate, and Judicial Buildings, and public open spaces such as Bolin Memorial Plaza. The Centennial Plan proposes to selectively reforest the open spaces with desert plants and vegetation to create an inviting place for public gatherings and to improve access to events and activities. The phased plan also calls for the expansion and renovation of the legislative and executive offices to make government operations more efficient and accessible.
The Centennial Plan employs a pragmatic approach that synthesizes the existing political, social, and economic contexts into a new vision for a 21st-century capital community.
|
