Jeff Stikemann/Courtesy Amenta Emma
One Park Road in West Hartford, Conn., designed by Amenta Emma Architects will update and add to a convent, chapel, and administrative buildings.
5. Incorporate dynamic visual rhythm. Almost 60 years ago, urban activist Jane Jacobs authored The Death and Life of Great American Cities and shared that cities come to life because of their dense, mixed-use surroundings. But such varied development has never sprung up overnight. That was certainly true of the original post-World War I suburbs in the 1920s, says architect and neighborhood planner, Steve Mouzon, co-founder with wife, Wanda, of Mouzon Design in Miami Beach, Fla. But in contrast, many new surbans lack the same vibrant authenticity because of their almost-instant growth.
One way to achieve authenticity is for municipalities to require that more than one firm develop buildings in an area. “Many hands over time create a more interesting design,” says Mouzon, a fan of the Incremental Development Alliance, a nonprofit virtual organization that advocates helping entrepreneurs and civic leaders to strengthen neighborhoods through small-scale real estate projects. Another is to incorporate existing buildings that can be repurposed rather than razed to add patina. Amenta Emma Architects’ multifamily project in West Hartford will transform a 1913 convent with large windows and high ceilings, a 1941 administrative building, and a 1962 chapel into a complex with desired amenities such as a pet spa and golf simulator room.
