Original Conncourse Connections

[Midtowner]

Was recently told by a person who is fairly credible on the subject that the original Conncourse was built connecting governmental buildings and buildings of the old Oklahoma Industry Authority's members. Is there any truth to this?

[Just the facts]

That might have been true but it wasn't THE reason for the Conncourse. The seperation of transportation systems was brought to OKC by IM Pei (a follower of Le Corbusier).

1) Elevated freeway traffic
2) One way high capacity city streets
3) Pedestrians underground, in internal cooridors, and on skywalks.

All 3 made OKC what it was in 1992. 2 of 3 have since been corrected.

[Dubya61]

JTF: I know you probably have to spit to cleanse your mouth after you say I.M. Pei (or use a germicide to cleanse your fingers after you type it), and, I'm a true believer right there with you, but ...
Do you think that I.M. Pei (or Corbusier) at least believed in what he was doing as right? Or did he have a mushroom trip and dream up his future and believe it a little too much. It must have been quite heady to watch the city of Brasilia go up (or Rome's EUR) and then make this grand plan for OKC. Was there just too much acid back in the day? or were level-headed people going to shape the future ... and then something went wrong?
Please realize I'm not goading you. Just interested in your opinion.

[Just the facts]

Hey Dubya61,

I'm not ignoring your question about IM Pei and Corbusier (swish, garggle, rinse, spit, repeat) I am just trying to craft a proper response. If you have not done so read chapter 5 of The Geography of Nowhere because anything I can probably come up with would be a shadow of what Kunstler wrote in that chapter. Needless to say, I am not a fan of Pei, Corbusier, or modernism in general. I don't like the origins of modernism, what it stands for, or what it was/is trying to accomplish.

A lot of people see architecture and city planning as if it were in a vacuum, never giving any consideration to the underlying political and social currents all styles of development are built on. I imagine if many people knew the roots of modernism they probably would find out they didn't like it either. I am always puzzled why OKC has so many brutalism and international style structures but I guess back when they were built the power brokers in Oklahoma were much bluer than they are today.

You mentioned Brasilia which was the model modernist city, and it is a total failure on every level. In the documentary Urbanized they have section devoted to Brasilia and a quote that sums it up pretty well. To paraphrase, it looks great from the airplane but doesn’t function on the ground level at all. It is the poster child for 'unsustainability'.

Anyhow, this is a half-ass response so when I get some time I will expand on it.

[Steve]

Was recently told by a person who is fairly credible on the subject that the original Conncourse was built connecting governmental buildings and buildings of the old Oklahoma Industry Authority's members. Is there any truth to this?

Midtowner, the Sheraton was not an OIA member. Neither was Continental Federal Savings & Loan (which owned 101 Park).