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
Trying to keep it real in Omaha. Grabbing the free wifi at Scooter's Coffeehouse at Village Pointe, Omaha NE's premiere urban destination. In the afternoon, during the week, the demographic is primarily seniors, and Omaha Woman, young to middle-aged woman who don't appear to have jobs, and come in to this quaint village to do some shopping. High-end shopping. Like Chico's. Everybody strolls in slow motion, as nobody is in a rush to get anywhere. Strolling also allows one to be noticed, display their bling, and stare down others with suspicion. They are Walter Benjamin's flaneur, for the 21st century. I suspect the activity picks up in the evening. There is evidence in the form of a posting at an information kiosk stating that minors are not allowed on the premises past 9pm, unless they are under the supervision of an adult. Any minors caught un-accompanied past 9pm will be escorted to one end of the development where they must be picked up by their parents. It's important to control image here. I can imagine packs of horny teenagers disrupting the Village Pointe night life - Funny Bone Comedy Club and Cheeseburger in Paradise. Maybe on skateboards. Skateboarding is a crime.
There is further evidence that control is slowly unraveling here. The new Apple Store, a quaint one-story affair, imposes it's unrelentless modern facade on the carefully crafted architectural 'language' of Village Pointe. The Village Pointe style, similiar to most Lifestyle Centers, is post-modern. A thoughtful blend of PoMo styles and componentry define the small-town feel of the development, mixed up just enough for it to appear as it evolved over time, at the hands of several different architects. The Apple Store obliterates that perception like a tumor, even though it is the only storefront that authentically abides by the mis-construed design vision. It is the only urban retailer on the Village Pointe tenant list, and is the only storefront that contributes to the eclecticism found in true urban centers. However, even the metal panels of the Apple facade are framed by a few feet of stone on either side, clearly an attempt by the Village Pointe design committee to contextualize the Apple tumor into the larger pallate. As a result the Apple box appears applied to a stone facade that 'should' be there instead. The message is clear that the Apple aesthetic doesn't belong here - that it is an anomaly - and it is only tolerated because it is an attractive tenant.
Despite all this, Village Pointe doesn't feel like a successful Lifestyle Center. Missing is an infusion of anything that hints of 'mixed-use', the common buzz-phrase / ingrediant for successful urban development, real or faux. Sophisticated Lifestyle Centers include commercial office space and even rental apartments and condos. Programmatic elements with some purpose. Even a corner deli would help, a place to purchase facial tissue, fruit, or refreshments. But it's clear there is a short-minded and limited idea about what this Lifestyle Center could be. At either end of the Main Street, the Code of Conduct is clearly posted. Anything that begins to approach a deviation from the activity of shopping is prohibited; the list ranges from disruptive language and clothing, to sitting the wrong way and standing idle. Regardless of the intense effort to portray and mimic the late 19th / early 20th century street scene, the frozen space of the late 20th century enclosed shopping mall (Victor Gruen) is still the intended model for this Lifestyle Center.
Village Pointe Lifestyle Center [Flickr Set]
