Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 13, 2007)
TO THE EDITOR Congress and president must be persuaded, educated and convinced that there is more value in a live, breathing tree than in a dead one. I further propose that the federal govern- ment invest revenues to counties with federal lands within their borders at a comparative rate to past payments at their maximum for the perpetual stewardship of this great re- source as a form of carbon credits rather than by timber receipts for cutting, and that coun- ties who receive these investment funds be charged with applying them to historical uses, i.e. schools, public safety and roads and bridges. Additional funds must be secured to train workers and carry out this important work. Where might the money come from? The Forest Service and BLM built all the roads and other infrastructures for large timber companies at taxpayer expense over the last half century so that they could make a profit. Redirect the funds from road building to restoring the forests. Our Oregon delegation, with support from our local officials, could craft a proposal that they could sell to the nation and on Capitol Hill. We and future generations need the trees! Denny Guehler Eugene HIDDEN SCARS Last week (8/30) you had an incredible ar- ticle by James Johnston on the coastal range logging situation. I do not see any response in the current issue (9/6) and am surprised. Perhaps it is too soon. My home is in Yachats, and I drive often to Eugene through the coastal range and pass the visible clearcut landscape. I have also flown over in a small plane and witnessed the hidden scarred landscape. It is devastating, and we must take steps to protect what is left. I hope the lack of response was only due to timing and that people will read that article and write letters, make phone calls and send emails. It is more important than most people realize. Thank you for doing such a fine job of re- porting. Rheychol Paris Yachats BY SCOTT WYLIE Design Interplay Historical buildings can be worked into redevelopment Within a commonly accepted framework — one that produces lucidity and not anarchy — we can manipulate the nuances of scale and style, of texture and color and of character and individuality, juxtaposing them in order to create collective benefits. In fact the environment thus resolves itself into not conformity but the interplay of This and That. — Gordon Cullen, The Concise Townscape, 1959, p. 12. F ar too much, the West Broadway historic preservation discussion is shaping up to be an either/or tug of war. Too black and white, either re- store/reconstruct entirely or completely wipe it away. In talking about the ShawMed and Taco Time buildings — amongst many other buildings, per- haps — neither alternative does responsible justice to our community. To me, when it comes to built environments, the fragment, the segment, the trace is often much more fascinating than is the whole. In the incom- plete palpable there is mystery and something is left to the imagination. Maybe the Taco Time building was the first brick commercial building in Eugene. Wouldn’t keeping and incorporating some of the brick walls be a natural thing to do? Wouldn’t incorporating some of the rusticated stone facade, hammered stone lintels over doors and windows, or some of the stone belt courses give us everyday and vivid insights into building pat- terns of 1898? I find it interesting that this building is an exact contempo- rary of the vanished old Lane County Courthouse and is in the era of old City Hall — and that pyramidal tower-topping roofs culminated all three buildings. Not in the category of preserving, but perhaps a contemporary interpretation of the pyramidal roof could appear, once more, on the street corner, enlivening the architecture with a hint of a Eugene building design pattern. Indeed, inclusion of any one, two or more of the original building elements could greatly animate any new matrix. The ShawMed building is potentially even more interesting to me because not only do we have fragments of Spanish Baroque/Moorish design, but we have an exceptionally well-executed and completely intact interior by Will Martin, Portland architect, when he designed the building remodel into the Norm Thompson store in the mid 1980s. The interior is an unusually complete and magnificent revisiting of Neo-Classical architecture of England of about 1800. Work based on deep de- sign understanding and beyond creditable execution warrants preservation. And that this structure was the original Farmer’s Market carries enormous weight in community value. And, with its incredible intricacy, the exterior featuring of detail done in 1929 would be amazing architectural color brought to light, tantalizingly so in fragmentation. 8 SEPTEMBER 13, 2007 Buildings are going to be restored because their state of bygone days is well- preserved. Others are going to be built from scratch. I think our community life downtown should also have the enrichment of buildings which are not either/or but are both/and. These are a vital part of the “collective benefit” of which Gordon Cullen speaks at the beginning of this piece. That benefit is townscape. That ought to be our townscape downtown, too! The visuals I include here are good illustrations of fragmentary incorporation of old places into new, and vice versa. This is a hallmark of the architecture of Carlo Scarpa, whose work has enormously inspired me since I first visited Italy in 1970. The picture showing the equestrian statue balanced on the concrete precipice is of Castelvecchio, Verona. This a Medieval castle left largely intact and married with new elements to create a Medieval art museum. This illustrates the composi- tional success of fragmentary preservation in concert with new architecture. This illustration may relate closely to the nature of architectural incorporation of por- Castelvecchio, Verona Venice University tions of the 1898 brick Taco Time building (p .82, Carlo Scarpa, Taschen, 1993). The prostrate doorway is at the entrance to the Architectural Faculty of Venice University. This displays unusual transformation/transposition of a Classical door- way into a planter and reflecting pool that is an optical illusion. It illustrates a strategy for transporting interesting architectural detail into new contexts. Extant fragments of the 1929 market (ShawMed) could be reinstituted as an interpreta- tion of the original market exterior or used as architectural “anecdotes” used ex- tensively in the new development. In addition, or alternately, castings could be made of details and their uses multiplied (p. 168, Carlo Scarpa, Taschen, 1993). Scott Wylie, M.A., is a Springfield artist and designer. His website is wylieaerie.home.att.net
