The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 59, No. 6, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 7, 1971 Page: 6 of 8
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Urban Design advanced curriculum now offered at Rice
by H. DAVID DANGLO
Houston is the laboratory.
Rice University is the experi-
mentor and specimens include
the architect and the real estate
developer. The goal of O. Jack
Mitchell's graduate study pro-
gram in Urban Design here at
Rice is to work out the age-old
differences of the archetypal ar-
chitect and the developer. Last
May the graduation of Rice's
first ten Masters of Architec-
ture in Urban Design has
launched a new era of coop-
eration between the two.
An article concerning the pro-
gram this summer in the Hous-
ton Chronicle misquoted Mitch-
ell in that it seemed to imply
that the developer was coming
over to the viewpoint of the
architect.
"In fact, it's exactly the op-
posite," stated Mitchell in an
interview. "The developer has
become more interested in on-
going values rather than just
making off with the buck. The
architect has found this new
attitude quite desirable and has
become more interested in ac-
tual city design." He went oil
to say that the architect "very
well should start looking at the
private developer when they
can go into a city and buy thir-
ty-two city blocks of land with-
out public assistance (e.g.
Texas Eastern in Houston)."
The new dynamic attitude of
the developer combined with the
architect's recent interest in the
developer's job is exemplified by
several new developments here
in Houston. Plaza del Oro, the
Shell complex and the Galleria
complex are prime examples of
this. However, it is Houston's
potential as seen through the
"yes of the urban designer that
makes the city a veritable para-
dise.
People are constantly raving
or complaining about the lack
of planning that resulted in the
city of Houston. Zoning, one of
the more obvious aspects of
big city planning, is non-ex-
istent in Houston, which is the
only major city in the United
States with no zoning laws.
"The British town planners,"
said Mitchell, "who pay metic-
ulous attention to planning
down to the planting of the last
flower, come to Houston when
they want to see an example of
'underpinning'."
There are plenty of oppor-
tunities in the Houston area
for redevelopment, as there are
in virtually all cities, but there
are also tremendous opportuni-
ties for new development, which
is not so common among to-
day's metropolises. The new
Urban Designer, who links the
architectural concerns of de-
signing individual buildings or
complexes wTith those two di-
mensional concerns of the city
planner for land use and trans-
portation, is taking advantage
of these opportunities.
Potential areas for new de-
velopment include the Westhei-
mer strip, which has leaned
westward with both commerce
and residential development
mostly during the last ten
years; the Baytown region
where a new steel plant has
been built; and 15,000 acres
near the Intercontinental Air-
port where an entirely new com-
munity of several thousand peo-
ple is being planned.
Obviously developers are lean-
ing toward much larger areas
of land, and it seems that the
architect must turn his nose
away from the institutional
buildings and toward building
on these larger areas. "Our
program in Urban Design is an
attempt on the part of archi-
tectural students to understand
and work with the dynamic at-
titudes of developers," stated
Mitchell. Mitchell's theory is
that the urban designer must
know much more than architec-
ture, that he should delve into
si\ch fields as sociology and eco-
nomics because he works in
both the private and public
sectors.
"Architecture has been con-
cerned with cities for a long
time but only in the past fif-
teen years has it extended
specifically into urban develop-
ment," he says.
Dr. Carlyle Becker, a visitor
to the department from San
Francisco, has been instru-
mental in applying the Urban
Design course to Houston's
problem areas. The landscape
architect has been doing an in-
depth study of the Houston ship
channel and projected develop-
ment there.
"Many of our ideas about de-
velopment along the channel
are environmental ideas, based
on how the environment is de-
teriorating," says Becker. "We
have to work with the bad side
effects since they are unavoid-
able."
Looking at nature as a closed
system, the channel in particu-
lar, can be done at several lev-
els. The "ecosystem" view deals
with all phenomena at every
level, including an overview of
the ship channel and Buffalo
Bayou. The "global" view takes
in the economic phenomenon of
the Houston area. Taking in all
the tributaries of Galveston Bay
is the "larger landscape" view.
The "immediate region" in-
cludes the watershed draining
into Buffalo Bayou and the im-
pact of activities in the channel.
Becker concluded, "We are.de-
veloping a series of plans rep-
resenting goals; out of the ser-
ies of interlocking Utopian
plans we will develop policies
for linking today's problems
with tomorrow's solutions."
Mitchell's faculty of ten ex-
perts in Urban Design, besides
Becker who returns to Cali-
fornia in October, are Robert
J. Hartsfield, director of plan-
ning for George Mitchell and
Associates, Tom Lord, Director
of housing research for the In-
stitute of Urban Studies, John
Mixon of Bates College of Law
and Earle V. Britton of the
Rice School of Architecture
(formerly at University of
Houston). Also included in this
"mini-university" are, from
Rice, Dr. Ralph W. Conant, Pro-
fessor Urban Studies, William
T. Cannady, associate professor
of Architecture, Charles E. Mc-
Lure, associate professor of
economics, and Philip A. -Hend-
ren, formerly of the school of
architecture at University of
Texas. Rounding out the group
is Steve Montgomery, head of
the leasing section of The
Home Company.
Rice administrative person-
nel who assisted in the program
are Dr. Carey Croneis, Ander-
son Todd and William W. Cau-
dill.
the rice thresher, october 7, 1971—page 6
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Freed, DeBow. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 59, No. 6, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 7, 1971, newspaper, October 7, 1971; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245113/m1/6/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.