What if the Pei Plan had actually been built and finished?

[traxx]

What would your thoughts on it be? Looking at renderings, it seems that it was going to be a bunch of superblocks with a 1970s futuristic aesthetic to it. It sucks that so much was torn down in preparation of the construction of the Pei Plan, but I think we're lucky that the Plan wasn't see through to fruition. If it had been, do you think we would be updating it now or tearing parts of it down to build new or more classic style structures? Would it have revitalized downtown like they thought it would or would we have been left with an empty, odd looking downtown?

[Just the facts]

If the Pei Plan had come to fruition I shudder to think how deep the hole would have been. If we survived at all we would be a lot like Barsilia or Canberra, without the benefit of being a national capitol. In short - it would suck. But heck, we aren't too far removed from those places now.

[bombermwc]

Well we would have had a full Galleria Mall downtown instead of the Devon Tower. There would have been a second Crystal Bridge at the gardens. There would have been a few more towers (I think most were hotels). There definitely would have been more demolition going on. So who's to say how much of the low-rise family would have been tossed. I still cringe at the loss of the Biltmore!!!!

But you can't really talk about this without considering what might have happened without the savings and loan crisis and the oil bust. Those two factors together played a HUGED part in keeping the development push from kicking in. A lot of the private development that was planned as part of the clearing, never came to fruition because of the crashes. That 35 floor Hilton Hotel is a good example. I think the most significant piece that we can call a success was the Myriad. It's been a good (not great) asset for the city and we really didn't have anything like it before that. It wasn't all that it should have been, but we at least were able to help it out with MAPs.

It's a good story of "what COULD have been if....". Although I doubt anyone would argue today, that the Pei plan was something we would repeat, if given the opportunity to go back in time. I think there were some aspects that were good, but the rampant demolition was NOT one of them.

[Just the facts]

Myriad Gardens isn't a Pei Plan success. It cost $40 million to fix it. As with every plaza, park, or open space created by Pei around the world, it became a homeless hangout. Well, except for Boston City Hall plaza, it is so abismal the homeless don't even hangout there.

[Edgar]

a futuristic white elephant

[mugofbeer]

Myriad Gardens isn't a Pei Plan success. It cost $40 million to fix it. As with every plaza, park, or open space created by Pei around the world, it became a homeless hangout. Well, except for Boston City Hall plaza, it is so abismal the homeless don't even hangout there.

Mr. Happy strikes again! The Myriad Gardens served fine for what it was built for. Times changes and due to changes around the gardens, it was time for a remodel. I like the new version but in my perfect world, it would tie in with the Bricktown canals

[bombermwc]

Myriad Gardens isn't a Pei Plan success. It cost $40 million to fix it. As with every plaza, park, or open space created by Pei around the world, it became a homeless hangout. Well, except for Boston City Hall plaza, it is so abismal the homeless don't even hangout there.

It cost 40 million to add on to it to give OKC something we didn't have before, without needing to buy up more land to do it. I'd say that's a pretty big win. And it's given OKC a place in the convention world that we didn't have before. And definitely served as a stepping stone to our new CC. Remember, before the Myriad, all we had were the buildings at the fair grounds, including the arena.

[Just the facts]

I think you misunderstood what I said Bombermwc. I.M. Pei is no Olmsted.

www.olmsted.org

[TU 'cane]

OKC would have been one of those "places to see before you die" for it's 1970s space era futuristic masterplan. Across the city there would be signs of what used to be here in this place before this giant monstrosity came about.

It's a shame so much was torn down. But, it's probably for the best that it never came through. OKC now has more usable space for better projects and allows for more growth than what would have been in place.

All speculation of course, as we'll never know.

[Rover]

OKC would have been one of those "places to see before you die" for it's 1970s space era futuristic masterplan.

So, it would have looked sort of like ORU?

[TU 'cane]

So, it would have looked sort of like ORU?

I was trying to think of an example to relate to when I posted that and that is a perfect one.
Not to slam ORU or anything, it's definitely unique and a "pleasant surprise" to most people's eyes (as in the campus architecture just isn't something you see every day), but yes, it screams old school envisioning of the future.