Connected by Design

The new Blaine Bank Building.

2010-07-31T08:02:00.000-07:00

Our first building is nearing completion. The picture below shows what used to be on this corner. Progress!

A bit of Blaine's beauty.

2010-01-24T21:06:00.001-08:00

For those who wondered if it would EVER happen...

2010-01-24T20:39:00.000-08:00

I understand our precious little City of Blaine, WA has weathered developers with big plans having inspired only unmet hopes and dreams. But we are not those developers. We said this time was different, that this time it would happen, and we meant it. And we do just whatever it is we say we will do.

Gary Tomasik (Blaine City Manager) said, "Never again will the stars align the way they have bringing all these players together to create this change."

The City of Blaine, Community Studio, and the Jacaranda Corporation (Ken and Brad Imus) are 100% committed to making the hopes, the dreams, and the plans real this time. We are creating a locally informed destination community. Stay in touch and watch what we do. I'll keep you posted. :-)

Great things are happening in Blaine, WA. The OSB to the far left in this photo is where the new Bank Building is now under construction.

2010-01-24T20:16:00.001-08:00

Strengthening the Assets

2009-10-02T08:24:00.001-07:00

At the end of August the City of Blaine, WA, made an unparalleled decision to eliminate water and sewer connection fees hoping to incentivize development. Their move was bold and brave. To further this incentive they eliminated impact fees. In taking these risks, they are forming a public-private partnership that stands to help them create the vision they have been working to build for twenty years.

As stewards of the land, how does a community strengthen internally to build its assets and resources with the hope of creating a beautiful, meaningful, and sustainable place? Further, how does a community invent itself to build public and private partnerships that meet this end?

Recently the NY Times published an article titled Reinventing America’s Cities: The Time is now. The author drew attention to the importance of building public and private partnerships, and balancing social and environmental concerns. Addressing the importance transportation plays in the role of connectivity for community he wrote, “last week the federal Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development announced the creation of an urban task force that would promote the development of sustainable communities linked to public transportation — a small but encouraging step in advancing a more integrated approach to urban growth.”

The article provided ideas for building sustainable, livable, and socially just cities and referenced Frank Gehry’s suggestion that concentrating more public transportation and cultural institutions along a thoroughfare, a city is able to find its center, both geographically and socially.

Blaine is both a geographical and a social center, a nexus. A nexus is a connection, a tie, a link. It connects a series or group and is defined as the core, or center. In biology it provides intracellular communication and adhesion. In its origin, nexus is defined as a binding, joining, or fastening. Dr. Gary Daynes (Westminster College, Salt Lake City, UT) offered a geographical nexus, as a pinch point, “a place in the life of a community where the currents rub up against each other and in so doing create something new…new friendships, views, agreements, a vision for the future, a commitment to the past...all built out of the old ideas."

Blaine sits at the heart of two nations, located in precise position to serve as a geographical and social nexus, connecting two countries and several destination communities. With this concept in mind, bridging the gap between Canada and the United States, Blaine stands now to create something exciting and new. Any developer working in and with Blaine has the opportunity to contribute to and benefit from this venture.

Organizing collaborative and effective public/private partnerships is essential. The City of Blaine has shown its commitment to this end. In executing the vision, placemaking elements that build people and community are critical. These elements (food, water, beauty, meaning, sustainability, connection, accessibility, design elements of interest) are basic, but are key to creating success and distinction.

A place well visioned and executed (such as Fairhaven) has the power to build resources, create partnerships, foster community, and strengthen the local economy when it provides for charm and connection. People are the assets. If an individual is supported and sustained, a family, community, and society is strengthened by extension. In making our places beautiful, meaningful, and sustainable, good design and creating collaborative partnerships is essential.

In Blaine, we aspire to create a place people love to be, informed by the people who live there, their history, their culture, their stories, and their hopes. People are the assets we hope to strengthen with our work. As developers with stewardship of the land we build on, we hope to work with Blaine to create a destination community that will thrive, flourish, and mark the map as a place made with excellence and teamwork.

Fairhaven, WA with flowers and people at the heart

2008-10-17T14:12:00.000-07:00

Community happens at the corners

2008-10-17T14:03:00.000-07:00

Especially with ice cream on the corner across the street

2008-10-17T13:50:00.001-07:00

A story begins.

2008-10-16T17:13:00.001-07:00

A blog is a good way to tell a story. And there's a story here. It's about connection. It won't be the sexiest story you've ever read, but it will be a good one. And I may throw in just enough appeal to keep you reading. You never know. So read on.

It started about 1833 and found it's way to my heart while I was in graduate school in 2006. But before I tell the 1833 story from 2006, I want to share what happened in the meantime.

In the fall of 2002 my kids and I moved to Bellhingham, WA and I began working in a little village called Fairhaven. It was there I met Ken Imus, the founding father of Fairhaven, and began building my name in the architecture and planning world. It was there I learned about the power of history to anchor people to place. And it was there I began to understand the power of the village to create community.

It was there I learned that "we see in the historic landscape a set of practices that make for good communities today--limited setbacks, dense development, urban infill, walkable communities, and mixed-use buildings". (Dr. Gary Daynes, Westminster College, SLC, Utah) And it was there I began to understand the importance of attachment and connection in place making and community building.

In Fairhaven I learned about blurred edges, corners, 'every side a front side', and pathways. More importantly, I learned how these elements and attention to detail can work together to make a place and build a community. Walkability and sustainability, such popular words these days, were real in Fairhaven. This was a place you could walk to whatever you needed. And this was a place people wanted to be. I did.

Working in Fairhaven I watched people stroll the streets holding ice cream cones. They wandered hand in hand with each other and their children. Dad's carried their little ones on their shoulders. People walked their dogs and rode their bikes. They smiled and said hello. Everyone seemed content in Fairhaven.

Maybe it was just that I was content and so the world seemed content in this place. Either way, a light went on in my mind. And my world was changed forever. These people were attached and connected to their place and to each other. This was a community. By design.

I learned basic place making from Ken Imus and Fairhaven. People all want the same things: food, water, shade from the sun, (more sun in WA), something to sit on, and each other. Throw in a few fun things to do, some great architecture, good books, interesting things to look at, and whala, you have a place people want to be.

Ken scoured the world for interesting things to look at and decorated his buildings with them. What I didn't understand was that Ken was creating attachment to his village. People fell in love with the charm of the place, the feel of Fairhaven. And actually verbalized it just that way.

They attached because there was something to attach to and they connected to each other because they could. And community happened.

As I tell this story, I'll share pictures along the way. What I hope is that by using Fairhaven as a model and my 1833 story from 2006, we will begin to understand what we have lost and how we can correct what went wrong. Ken Imus started with a ghost town, abandoned buildings, and vacant lots. And he made a beautiful, wonderful place that people love to be in together and can walk around in together. For whatever they need. Walkability and sustainability. Go figure.

Community is about connection. And community happens naturally when places are designed for people to connect to and be with each other.

I think if you give this story a chance, you'll find it appealing. What's better than a stroll with loved ones at sunset on a neighborhood street packed with shops and places to eat and little, white lights sparkling in the trees? Pretty sexy, right?