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The yellowed, poured-concrete 1,614-seat theater--with its sharp, asymmetric angles, hidden walkways, and in-your-face functionalism--was for decades Baltimore's only professional theater and is credited with reigniting Baltimore's cultural scene in the late 1960s and early '70s. But the theater has been empty now for three years, since the Hippodrome Theatre became home to Baltimore's touring Broadway productions. A few ground-level shops and offices and a subway entrance are all that remain of what once was a cornerstone of Baltimore's downtown revival. On the outside of the theater, facing Charles Street, hangs a large banner announcing the advent of a new developer: David S. Brown Enterprises Ltd.
David S. Brown doesn't have definite plans for the structure. But when it became clear that the developer was considering converting the Mechanic into a "big box" store with a 10-story residential project, the city's Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP) recommended the theater for historical landmark status. On Aug. 14, the commission holds a public hearing at the city Department of Planning. If the recommendation is approved by the commission, and later by the Planning Board and City Council, the Mechanic will be granted landmark status. After that, any developer who wants to change the building structurally will have to adhere to the guidelines of that landmark designation, which mandates that changes respect the Mechanic's architectural integrity.
The Prefab Fad - Prefabrication is everywhere in American home-building. But that doesn't mean your next house is going to be a stylish, Modernist box. (Slate)
Architects have been fascinated by prefabrication for a long time. I once saw a school in Costa Rica that had been designed by Gustave Eiffel in the late 19th century. The two-story metal building had been entirely fabricated in France, shipped to San Jose, and assembled in place. The cast-iron and pressed-metal structure was Classical in style, with decorative pilasters—and hundreds of bolt heads. (The Eiffel company still makes prefab buildings, bridges, and offshore drilling rigs.) The first house I ever designed, a summer cottage for my parents in Vermont, was a prefab, made out of interlocking tongue-and-groove cedar logs. The Pan-Abode Company precut the logs and, together with all the lumber for the floor and roof, shipped them from British Columbia in a boxcar. It took a friend and me two weeks to put it all together. It was like playing with oversized Lincoln Logs. Solid western red cedar is a durable material, as evidenced by this current photo, taken almost 35 years after the house was built.t
The design of Re-Reads Bookstore was donated by Alpine Tx. architect Tom Greenwood. Linked are his comments on the project.
our future: earthships