Back in New York after a week and a half visiting friends and family in Nebraska (less time for Emily as she flew into Omaha direct from Shanghai). Omaha and Lincoln have changed since we left over five years ago - Omaha maybe for the better, Lincoln for the worse. Omaha won the culture war. Or bought it. Insert obligatory Conor Oberst reference here.
Of course I'm gauging the battle based on new downtown development and activity, where progress is most visible and easily measured. The suburbs of Nebraska's largest two cities still seem to be a mess, both lacking any coherent design vision transcending what would be expected of the middle landscape found in any city. The architecture in Omaha is better. Lincoln has no architecture. Nearly every visible surface of building in Lincoln has been covered with a turret, dormer, cornice, or wedge - Deconstruction's gift to the vocabulary of the architect.
Downtown Lincoln fares no better than it's outer rings. While a small handful of individuals have firmly planted their feet and strive to do good work, the status quo reigns supreme. The city lacks leadership. The College of Architecture is aloof and disengaged from what is happening at its doorstep, perhaps stuck in a matrix. Bricks and mortar. Beige and tan. All with the token turret, dormer, cornice and wedge. Sometimes built-up from EIFS. Entire blocks of downtown are stripped bare, replaced with surface parking lots until construction can begin on parking garages, movie theaters, or soon mundane towers (with parking garages). The level of design is so hideously bad you can't help but to walk through the downtown and mutter "bad, bad, bad" as if scolding a dog. The interiors in most buildings are worse, as they often smell as if they were inspired by a visit to Starbucks. 10 years ago. The most interesting development in Lincoln is the knee-jerk reaction many building owners have had to Lincoln's recent smoking ban. Several facades at the sidewalk level have been carved away - the void filled with outdoor patios for the smokers of Lincoln to congregate, rather than fill the sidewalks or curbs as they do in other cities. Downtown living is picking up - though modern conveniences such as grocery stores, laundry mats, or the corner deli don't exist. A new apartment development, Federal Place Apartments, sports red Husker flags at the corners of the buildings. Coffee houses are on every block.



Downtown Omaha on the other hand is in the midst of some chest thumping resurgence. New York style. The new Holland Performing Arts Center designed by Polsheck Partnership is the finest piece of architecture downtown has to offer. Condos are sprouting up and filling existing warehouse space just as quick as Williamsburg or Bushhwick. North of downtown, but not part of downtown, the frightening Quest Center provides a backdrop to a mixed use development anchored by a new headquarters for Saddle Creek Records, though it is hard to tell how welcome the pedestrian will feel in this ground-up development. The city of Omaha has thrown its creative might into the eastern fringe of the city bound by the Missouri river, while continuing to disregard its western edge which continues to march westward into the future.



image of Holland Performing Arts Center by Albert Vecerka/Esto, others by Geoff DeOld