Died today at 102. He definitely made his mark and influenced the world of modernist architecture.

Died today at 102. He definitely made his mark and influenced the world of modernist architecture.

yes, both positively and negatively... but my critique of his architecture aside... 102, that's a long full life. i hope i get that much time on this earth.

Should we have a statue dedicated to him to memorialize all of the great work he did in OKC?

Should we have a statue dedicated to him to memorialize all of the great work he did in OKC?

Nah, they'd just tear it down in a decade or so to put up a parking lot...

Nah, they'd just tear it down in a decade or so to put up a parking lot...

they also would have to destroy our most historic building and put it there in the first place

Should we have a statue dedicated to him to memorialize all of the great work he did in OKC?

While I think you’re joking, it’s not a bad idea. He played an important (though unfortunate) role in OKc’s history. A statue and even maybe a little scale model of his plan for the city might be cool in a park somewhere. A little “might have been” plan for the city.

While I think you’re joking, it’s not a bad idea. He played an important (though unfortunate) role in OKc’s history. A statue and even maybe a little scale model of his plan for the city might be cool in a park somewhere. A little “might have been” plan for the city.

actually a statue with a miniature of the Pei plan, i would actually support

While I think you’re joking, it’s not a bad idea. He played an important (though unfortunate) role in OKc’s history. A statue and even maybe a little scale model of his plan for the city might be cool in a park somewhere. A little “might have been” plan for the city.

I was going to mention that I thought I had heard that his plan was actually decent and would've been a good thing, but we stopped halfway through, did the demo, but didn't build anything to his plan/specs afterwards. It would've blunted the impact of my joke, though. :p I need to bone up on what actually happened now that I've gotten more interested in how things develop around here since I've been back.

I recall an original model is in OKC somewhere. Maybe the Museum of Art located at State Fair Park?

I recall an original model is in OKC somewhere. Maybe the Museum of Art located at State Fair Park?

I think it is located in one of the buildings on Film Row.

Should we have a statue dedicated to him to memorialize all of the great work he did in OKC?

I say it should go on the Stage Center site.

Model is located in the Hart building, second floor. Well worth a visit!!

Here is a video of what was, in the mid 60s, and what would be, with the Pei Plan:

https://www.citylab.com/design/2019/05/revisiting-im-pei-plan-oklahoma-city-urban-renewal-architecture/589666/

A couple of pics of the model of the Pei Plan:

15299

Another pic:

15300

So much of downtown was emptying out and moving to the burbs, so the Urban Renewal Authority could buy the property and tear down the buildings. I think about the only significant things built back are the Myriad Convention Center (in a different configuration), the Myriad Gardens Tube and what was the Liberty Bank building.

^^galleria, two grotesque parking structures, E.K. Gaylord, Robinson widening are some more projects I can think of that happened and including the projects you listed are depicted in the Pei Plan

Eerily, there's a fountain in the model where the Murrah Building would stand 13 years after this model was built.

^^^wow...

Galleria did not get built, IIRC. Kerr-McGee headquarters and CenturyCenter is all I remember right now.

I watched the full video and the script includes every concept being sold for a modern downtown right now. I honestly think that if we hadn't dozed so much then, we would never have been able to build to MAPS 1 and beyond. The desolation period was really "only" 15-20 years between Myriad, Myriad Gardens etc. and MAPS. That period was mostly filled with the failure of the Galleria developer/development, the "Oil Bust" and the "Savings & Loan Crisis".

Damn! I gotta admit I forgot the "New" Mummers Theater, which became Stage Center. My sainted father (whose job made him a tool of "The Man", yet he was a very libertarian thinker) always hated Stage Center for it's lack of functionality.

^^oops that's what I meant, Century Center, not the Galleria