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Note to Woodall Rodgers Park Blog: Get to Blogging!

This weekend Woodall Rodgers will again be closed to demolish another bridge. We can watch this activity from our 21st-floor windows, high atop St. Paul Place. It’s been interesting. So this morning I checked in on Common Ground, the blog for the Woodall Park, to see what was what. Maybe some pics. I don’t know. But something.

We’re all struggling to do more with less. It’s hard to keep blog populated with good content when there are other matters demanding your attention. But the last post on Common Ground, as of 9:54 this morning, was from October 25, announcing that Woodall Rodgers had just reopened. Let’s go, people. Ask Fingers of Fury to help out, if necessary. I’m sure he could throw you a few words.

WSJ Does a Double Whammy on AT&T PAC

D Magazine contributor Willard Spiegelman sure gets around. Today, he can be found in the Journal, where he critiques the architecture and setting of new performing arts center. While Willard looks at the outside, Journal opera critic Hollie Waleson focuses on what’s happening inside.

One nice benefit of having the nation’s major critics in town for the PAC opening is that Dallas opera music director Graeme Jenkins and his orchestra are finally getting the due they deserve after toiling for years in the sound-eating Music Hall. From Waleson’s review:

The most exciting musical experience came from the orchestra, expertly led by Mr. Jenkins. It filled the hall with a rich, full-bodied sound, whipped up the furious opening storm and projected melting, pianissimo tenderness in “Già nella notte.” The glittering antiphonal trumpets that heralded the arrival of the Venetian ambassador in Act III rang out brilliantly, and the plaintive woodwind opening passages of Act IV breathed out into the hall with warmth, definition and character.

Crow Collection Gets Its Patio On

Curious about the construction I’ve seen outside the Crow Collection of Asian art, on the corner of Flora and Harwood, I asked the museum’s director, Amy Hofland, what’s going on. Says Hofland:

It’s called Snuff Bottle Court (because of the snuff bottle installation) and will have a wisteria arbor (SHADE!); tables, chairs, wifi; an installation of Hokusai’s Great Wave in plant material on the back wall; lighting and very cool ambiance. We’re inviting Teiichi (Tei An) to come down for events (Late Nights with the DMA, Members’ Previews, etc. and on occasional lunch hours) to serve Japanese hand food and tea. Launches at the Late Night (we call it Zen in the City) on November 20.

Hofland says the space is for programmed events, but they are testing the market to see if maybe the space could work as a regular lunch spot. I say huzzah to that. I walk Flora Street every day to and from work. Now that the Arts District is (mostly) built, it’s time for the next step: street-level spaces that cater to daily life. And while I’m at it, I’m tired of looking at the back of the Belo Mansion, too. (P.S. The Crow has inspired me. My new bar is called Snuff Film Alley.)

An Extremely Late, Almost Comically So, Review of Cowboys Stadium

I had already been to the new Cowboys Stadium once, but that was for a U2 show. I wanted to see how it performed during a Cowboys game. So I went yesterday. Here are some observations:

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Time Takes Pretty Pics of the PAC

An alert FBvian points us to this photo gallery of the AT&T Performing Arts Center on Time’s site. (Side note: I’m a pretty fast typer. But it kills me to type “AT&T Performing Arts Center.” See? Right there. I just died. My ghost is now typing this post. So from now on, this thing will be called the PAC on this blog. It has been decreed.)

New York Times Reviews Wyly and Winspear

We were remiss in not mentioning Nicholai Ourroussoff’s interesting and detailed critique today, so here it is. Bottom line:

The no-nonsense approach of these buildings — one cautiously experimental, the other more backward looking — should fit nicely in our new era of cautious restraint, even if they were designed when the excesses were still not over.

Cautious restraint? The description may be accurate, but did you ever think those words would be applied to Dallas?

Architect Explains Why There’s a Hole in the Wyly

One Arts Plaza has that big white square on the side, and the Hunt Oil Tower bulges out like a, well, like a giant H. So I guess it makes sense that downtown’s new Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre has a big rectangular hole at the top on its west side (at far left in this pic). At first I thought they just hadn’t finished the building yet. But I’ve learned since that it’s actually an important architectural feature. On the big media tour this morning, I asked the architect Rem Koolhaas–a tall, gaunt Dutchman who kept checking his cellphone–about the thinking behind the big hole. “You have to have some things where your interest can dwell for awhile,” he explained. Then he went back to checking his phone.

Scenes From the New Office (One in a Series)

You know who else besides Wick has a corner office (well, cubicle in this case)? Our creative director, Todd Johnson. He’s a high-maintenance guy. Demanded to have a view of Reunion Tower. Don’t know why.

Scenes From the New Office (One in a Series)

Here’s Wick, looking natty in his new office (and impatient with my photo shoot). You’ll notice that he still has some decorating to do. The large mounted fish has yet to find its spot on a wall. You’ll also notice that Wick no longer has a door (that glass panel on the right is all that separates him from the hall). This raises the question of what he’ll slam now when he’s angry.

LA Times Finds Nothing New To Say, Prints Review of Arts District Anyway, Gets It Wrong

Christopher Hawthorne is a fine architectural critic, so it was nice the bankrupt LA Times scratched up the money for him to look over Dallas’s new AT&T Peformings Arts Center.  That he found nothing to add to what has been already been said (by John King here or by Peter Simek here) does not necessarily betray any lack of imaginative critical acumen. His lack of success didn’t keep him, however, for searching for something, anything, to say:

This month’s issue of D Magazine, which is almost entirely dedicated to coverage of the new performing arts center and the larger arts district of which it is a part, is full of sentences like this one about the developer Trammell Crow: “Crow was the first developer to buy into the proposed arts district, and the 90,000 square feet he purchased in the summer of 1978 for about $20 a square foot was worth $125 a square foot within three years.”

Actually, I can’t find another sentence like that in the entire issue, so it is not “full of sentences” like this at all. And by the way, that one sentence appeared in this article we reprinted from 1982 to give readers a  perspective on the 25-year struggle to build the arts district . I’m glad Christopher was even able to find it, much less pluck it out. But it’s a long flight home, I suppose, and he did have column inches to fill.

Jerry Jones Wins Medal for Death Star

You can read the full release here. The gist:

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is the inaugural recipient of the “Spirit of Place” medal to be awarded by the Texas A&M University College of Architecture for “significant contributions to the built environment” in recognition of the design and construction of Cowboys Stadium.

But what about that couple caught kunkling in the handicapped bathroom stall? No award for them?

An Alternate Cover of D Magazine for Star Trek Fans

By now, surely, you have seen the cover of the October episode of the “print product.” I’ll tell you this was a tough one for us. We went through several iterations of the cover before we settled on the one that you’ve seen on the newsstand. Here’s a version that we almost went with (and that I kinda still wish we had). Here’s to you, 7 of 9. (And for those who are confused, here was my inspiration.)

D Magazine Logo Bedazzles Downtown Dallas, Ctd.

Here’s a better picture of the logo test we ran yesterday on the new building. Thanks to Gustav Schmiege for the snap. One problem with the test logo: when you put a “D” in a square, it makes the square look like a vertical rectangle. That’s why our logo is wider than it is tall, to make it look like a square. Anyway, as I understand it, the test logo was 24 feet tall. After yesterday’s experiment, they’ve determined that it can only be 20 feet tall. We’ll miss those 4 feet.

A Tardy Recap of the Bridging the Trinity Party

I know, I know. I’m way late with this. But on Friday there was this party on the Continental Bridge. If you want a real, honest to goodness recap of the night’s proceedings, I suggest you read John P. Meyer’s well-written account. Thing is, I took photos. They’re only iPhone shots. Nothing special. But I feel compelled to share them, if for no other reason than sharing them allows me to delete them from my phone. So a few observations and pics after the jump.

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D Magazine Logo Bedazzles Downtown Dallas

The “print product” and deadlines associated therewith kept me from attending a test this morning downtown of our logo hanging on our new building, St. Paul Place. But an alert FBvian sends in this picture, taken moments ago. I think the test logo is made of canvas. The real thing will be Naugahyde.

Party Over the Trinity on Friday

This Friday evening, the Trinity Trust Foundation is throwing what it’s calling a “bridge fair” on the Continental Bridge to celebrate the progress being made on the Marget Hunt Hill Bridge (full release after the jump). Santiago Calatrava will be in attendance. The band Boys Named Sue will play, and the foundation promises other “delectable delights.” Tickets cost $150, a price point established, I believe, to keep Jim Schutze from attending. D Magazine is a media sponsor, so I’ll be there. Look for me wherever the delectable delights are located.

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Cowboys Stadium World’s Greatest Erector Set

Two days after losing the first regular-season game at their new home, the Dallas Cowboys have dismantled the field. Jerry Jones, who skipped yesterday’s presentation with the Super Bowl XLV Host Committee, was the keynote speaker at today’s North Texas Commission membership luncheon at Cowboys Stadium.

As he got under way, he explained the presence of the big crane, as well as the welders who sent sparks flying from catwalks high above what is usually the field. He said there were about 300 workers in the building finishing up the 5% of construction that remains to be completed.

Obviously, Cowboys Stadium is  a complicated project. He reminded us that the much-discussed digital screens above the field cost more to build than the entirety of Texas Stadium.

Jerome Weeks Reads Our October Issue So You Don’t Have To

Tip o’ the hat to Jerome Weeks for his (largely complimentary) breakdown of our October issue over on KERA’s Art&Seek blog.

Big Red “D” to Grace Downtown Today — Briefly

As you, of course, know, we’re moving downtown October 12 into the St. Paul Place building on Ross Avenue. I’m looking forward to the new view we’ll have, seen here (image taken by Gustav Schmiege). I say this with all due respect to the SampleHouse & CandleShop, which occupies most of the view we have now.

In any case, our moving plans call for the erection of a big “D” sign high atop the St. Paul Place building. We’ve done some computer modeling to determine the ideal size of the sign, and today we’re taking the next step: throwing up a plywood model so we can see what it’ll look like in the real world. If you work downtown, keep your eyes peeled from about 11:30 to 1. That’s when we plan to have the thing up. Also, just to be safe, you might want to keep your distance. Rumor has it that Spider Monkey is trying to get involved with the project.

Update: I was just informed that our signage party has been canceled. It’s too windy. Apparently the building engineers are worried about a 20-by-20-foot plywood scythe harvesting pedestrians in downtown Dallas. To which I say: with that overly cautious attitude, we’d have never made it to the moon. Chickens.

When Ross Perot Questioned I.M. Pei

Dallas’ much-praised Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center turns 20 years old next month, and one of the people behind its success is EDS founder Ross Perot, who ponied up $10 million to build the place. During an event at NorthPark Center last night to announce a Sept. 12 gala marking the Meyerson anniversary, the diminutive billionaire recalled an early exchange he had with I.M. Pei, the symphony hall’s world-renowned architect. Perot noticed that some of the center’s ceiling tiles were cut at different angles, and he asked Pei why. The architect replied it was because he wanted the ceiling tiles to match the floor tiles exactly. “Who would ever notice that?” Perot asked. Replied Pei: “I will!” To which Perot said: “Well, you are I.M. Pei–and I am ‘I Will Pay.’ “

Confessed and Convicted Killer Apparently Wants To Be An Architect, Ctd.

A solid-plan-having FBvian has this solid plan:

Here’s an idea. Instead of making license plates, he could design the new convention center hotel. Just think of how much the city would save by farming the whole project to prison labor!

CC: Jack Matthews.

Jeff Whittington to Show His Dark Side?

The Dallas chapter of the American Institute of Architects and the Dallas Architectural Foundation are having a gala on September 26 that you may wish to attend. The title of the gala includes an exclamation point. And it’s for a good cause. You’ll find more details after the jump.

Anyway, that’s not important. What’s important is that the emcee of said exclamation-point-accented gala is none other that Jeff Whittington, producer of KERA’s Think program and host of the show called Everything You Ever Wanted to Know But Were Afraid to Ask Glenn Mitchell [note: fact check that]. Those who know Jeff — and I count myself as a lucky member of that group — know that there are really two Jeffs. There is the Jeff known as “Public Radio Jeff,” and then there is the Jeff commonly referred to as “Locker-Room Jeff.” Public Radio Jeff is mild-mannered, polite, and sonorous. Locker-Room Jeff, however, is foul-mouthed, rude, and shrill. Okay, I’m lying about the shrill part. Even when he’s working blue, his voice still sounds like drawn butter.

But so the big question, to my mind, is which Jeff has been hired to emcee the AIA gig? For $10,000, you can underwrite the evening’s festivities at the Platinum level. Worth every penny.

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Dallas Convention Hotel Fails As Urban Design

This morning, Scott Cantrell in the News cast a critical eye at the already-dated- looking  new convention hotel. Scott’s critcisms are mostly architectural, and I don’t think there are many professionals who would disagree with the point he makes.

 But his point is not big enough. Yes, the facade of this building may be a problem, but the setting is a disaster.

Here we go again, plunking down big, multi-story buildings without giving the slightest thought to how humans interact, without regard to human scale, and without any concern for visual pleasure. Our own City Hall is our most famous example, a large, tilting pile sitting alone in its plaza, as isolated as a leper at an orgy. The Convention Center is even worse, a gigantic curse of concrete strung along for whole city blocks.

Imagine standing outside this planned hotel on those wide  swaths of concrete in July (hello, Mary Kay conventioneers! Are the glass and concrete making you hotter than you already were?). The deserted feel, if not the architecture, would be eerily similar to Victory Park on a Sunday afternoon.

 Developer Matthews Southwest says it intends to fill in all the now-empty space with mixed-use buildings over time. Good luck with that. It seems Victory has taught them and the city’s planners nothing. So let me try to make this plain as day. There is no time. Make a site unfriendly to humans, and no humans will come.  If you have to start big, as a convention hotel necessarily has to do, make sure the smaller, more intimate, more human-friendly buildings are there at the start to give your hotel some cover and context. Otherwise, we’re going to end up with another beached Dallas behemoth.

Victory Park Buildings Revert To Partner

The buildings’ ownership was formally transferred today from Hillwood to US Treuhand, a German investment group that held $185 million in debt. Hillwood will continue to manage, so I see this as nothing more than a financial restructuring in a difficult period. Note also that I said the buildings. I assume the land still belongs to the original partnership. For my take on how to make Victory work, go here.

UPDATE: The original headline read “Lender” where it now reads “Partner.” I regret the error.

People Who Hate Dallas, First in a Series: David Yearsley

David Yearsley, a Cornell University professor, is the latest in a long line of people who hate our city without ever really coming here to see if they actually hate it (and, by extension, us) or if they just think they do. Fortunately, someone gave him a forum:

Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to hear a performance of Così fan tutte next year in the Dallas Opera’s inaugural season in their new house. But I can think of few worse things than making my way through the encircling blight to this Jerusalem of the Arts shining on the benighted concrete prairie.

His entire argument is built on press releases, a few clicks of Google Street View, and plenty of tired old saws (i.e. “big-haired ladies and their Stetson-topped men snooze more easily through Lohengrin after having driven in for the evening in their patriotic gas hogs”). In other words, a giant, steaming pile of B.S. There are legitimate points to make and arguments to have, but he’s too stuck up to bother with any of that.

Please never visit, sir.

(H/T: Unfair Park)