Residential Architecture Exhibition at Crystal Bridges Museum

I have had the pleasure of being one of the first visitors to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, AR. It was astonishing both from a collections perspective and also the form of the building itself, designed by Moshe Safdie. It isn't located on a well worn path as it is over four hours from Kansas City, but certainly worth a visit if you can detour from another destination.

That said, this year, the museum is hosting an exhibition on residential architecture, asking exhibitors from five firms to examine the specific challenges and opportunities present in Northwest Arkansas and, in turn, develop a full-scale housing prototype that explores the potential of domestic architecture to address an array of local and global issues. Clearly NW Arkansas residential challenges and opportunities are not necessarily shared by all communities, but I have no doubt that many are in common widely across the U.S. You can read about the exhibition in The Architect's Newspaper or on the museum's website.

Why is this of interest to me? I have semi-regularly pontificated about the importance of architecture and design in prior posts and this is another opportunity to talk about how critical it is to emphasize the design of a site, structure, or district. Design related both form and function are linked inextricably and success requires both measures to be excellent. Design arguably has a significant impact on happiness and well-being as noted here, here, and here. A more direct tie-in to residential design was noted in Psychology Today in this piece. Buildings should last more than a generation so when a horrible or even mediocre one is developed, you'll be living with it in your presence for the rest of your life, most likely.

Yet rarely do residential or commercial builders venture too far down a path of excellent architectural or site design. The formulaic is safe, cheap, and mindless. While straying from that recipe holds none of those characteristics. I've many times talked about what Columbus, IN did related to community design and no need to revisit that in depth, but the question is ever present as to why more cities and towns do not at least once try to hold a design competition for a public or critical building.

Most places consider themselves special, unique, and worth preserving with existing character. But they don't put the effort into ensuring this or requiring new development to match their purported qualities. It makes sense to populate local master plans with the blueprints for how a town is going to ensure optimal development outcomes. Following that, local codes, ordinances, or bylaws need to be equally clear, detailed, and ambitious. After that, there are any number of initiatives that can seed the cloud of good civic design such as public building design competitions, exhibitions and challenges such as Crystal Bridges, public-private partnerships, scholarships and prizes, and a variety of incentives that can not only address architecture but can also apply to decarbonization or a broader measure of sustainability.

The effort to focus on excellence in design seems daunting but can actually be a lot of fun and quite rewarding. This is the way to make a lasting impact.