Just a quarter of a century ago, Phoenix stood as desert town; lost in the shadow of vegas & merely a motel-stop-off for route 66 cruisers on their way to California. The compelling blossoming of this city was a collaborative mission between a broad scope of professionals, with a unite vision of Phoenix becoming one of America's top 10 urbanities by 2012. Already by 2010, Phoenix has become the fifth largest city in America home to 5million people. A successful combination of intelligent city planning, public spaces and transport, along with relevant and sustainable infrastructure, Phoenix is the worlds first 20 minute city. All this in a hostile desert that has limited rainfall and an average tempreture of 40 degrees its Architecture is engaging, unique, demonstrates quality and is highly sustainably.
With so much jargon and endless statistical obsession with cities; in simple terms here's why I think Phoenix should compell anyone interested in live, precedent inspiration for the 21st Century city.
The 20 minute City
For a city nearley as populated as central London, and about four times the size; using public transport with a guarantee of getting to ones destination within 20 minutes is an astonoshing bragging right. I grew up in a town which undergone mass post war development with most of its medival street patterns sunk underneath so-called progressive infrastructure and town planning. It has a metropolitan population of 200,000 inhabitants. 20 minute culture here, along with endless towns and cities in England is what it is. A fantastic thing from America.
Looking back to broadacre and the benefits of the grid.
Even looking at a map of the old town from 1885 it looks like it was designed on 20th century US invention: The City Grid. Not true at the first instance. Settelers developed farming infrastructure of which is based on a grid. Centrally placed were the nessities - the church, the bank and the classic cowboy saloon etc. As Phoenix grew in size naturally the farming infrastructre migrated out. What's interesting here is that its original street pattern is a grid, and not the organic, yet sometimes wonderful random revelations of the medival or unplanned urban topology.
Phoenix - 1885
Phoenix 2010
Wil Bruder, one of the most underrated Architects from across the pond, was in the team for developing the city plan. From viewing the aerial, one can observe the inexaustable expansion of the inner city and organic migration pattern of farming infrastrucutre heading West driven by urban expansion and fertile land towards the West, still retaining its orignal form - the square field grid from pre-industrial America.
Bruder made reference and inspiration from Frank Lloyd Wright's visionary proposal 'Broadacre City'. This was a plan for America, essentially dividing the country into a gridded low-denisty system with each square the size of an acre. Each family would have there own acre where they would occupy there own land and grow there own food. Visionary infrastructure, Flying Architectures, cultural and beauricratic cores linked these grids together and as such a new America. Stripped down, essentially, how Phoenix operates is a product of broadacres inspiration.
Broadacre City
Dwelling
The ingredients of essentially a new-town or city, on a large, low dense grid allows the pioneering of contemporary housing and dwelling forms. Bruder's works are all over the city. His fascination with unorthadox processes, good materiality conscience and the juxtaposition of a relevant contemporary architecture with his native Arizonian vernacular make them a true success.
Uptown Phoenix triplex's
Suburban Phoenix terraced housing
Rural, edge of city
Exemplary sustainable and contemporary public Architecture
Finally, trumpet blowing has to given to both the quality and sustainable approach to public architecture. The best example of this being Phoenix library, one of the most sustainable buildings in America in the hostlie environment that is the mid West desert. It isn't hairy, or dressed in BREEAMesque tick box features. Or at least they are not in any way purely visible; its the true architecture that does the talking. Conceputally a reference to the surrounding rocks in the desert that imaculately demomstrates good architecture.
For more on this, check this class short lecture by Will Bruder out. And on his work on desert living.
Cheers, -t x
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