The ongoing quest for a "world-class" downtown destination
The Chronicle's Alexis Grant plays up the City of Houston's latest effort to create a "world-class" downtown destination:
With a new wireless network, contemporary furniture and a cafe, the renovated downtown library could become a weekend destination for fun, relaxation and, of course, research.
That's the hope of John Middleton, who's coordinating the renovation of the Central Library's Jesse H. Jones Building, which is scheduled to start next month. It's planned to be completed by the end of 2007.
Why can't we just renovate the library with the goal of building the best darn library that we can reasonably afford?
Why must the inferiority complex of so many members of the downtown establishment always lead to these grandiose expectations (okay, I guess I built the answer into the question)? Why can't the renovation just be a renovation, and not the creation of a weekend destination for fun and relaxation?!
Of course, some members of the "world class" crowd aren't buying what is being sold:
Architectural writer Barrie Scardino said the city should build a new downtown library instead of revamping the old one.
"It's a good building, it's just not a good library for today's needs," Scardino said. "Why spend the money to make this building work when (building a new one) is probably inevitable anyway?"
Houston should have a library that rivals that of Seattle, Scardino said. Seattle's $165 million, 11-story glass-and-steel building is revered by architecture experts.
Middleton, however, said a new library likely won't be built in the next few years. A Seattle-like investment in the downtown library would not make sense in Houston, he said, because the city's sprawl prevents large numbers of people from using it. Most people use their local branch instead, he said.
"The difference in justifying a huge Central Library is we don't have a huge central population," he said. "When half of the population would have to drive 25 miles to get here or 30 or 40 miles or more, it's not the same dynamic."
In other words, even an architectural marvel like Seattle's "world-class" library wouldn't create a downtown destination in Houston, an admission that contradicts Grant's pronouncement at the beginning of the story.
I guess that's balance, Chron-style.
PREVIOUSLY: Downtown library to close for renovation.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/19/06 05:29 PM | Print | Comments (10)
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