The Beauty and the B-East

This post has been thought for a while, but couldn't easily make up my mind on all my ideas. It was supposed to be only on East Liberty Pittsburgh, and about "complexity". Finally, I solved this "complicate" knot of thoughts I had in my mind, and in my camera. 

I have always been fascinated by complexity (see also the post on Downtown PGH). To me, complexity has a neutral value: it is nor positive or negative. Without entering the etymology/semiotic of the term (which I love to do), I will just point out a quick distinction between complex and complicate:

• Something is complex when it is really difficult to understand and challenging to forecast in the outcomes. Life is complex, love is complex, and so on. Something is complex because it is a system of variables.

• Something is complicated when it is tricky, but solvable. Usually, complicated issues are anyway following rules, or you can guess the solution by applying a theory, which can be difficult. Something is complicated by external factors, that you can somehow track.

Pittsburgh is complex, in my opinion, because it is a system of complicated neighborhoods. Each neighborhood has its own rules, laws and "tricks" that make possible to live in. Some neighborhoods are more successful than others, but people are living everywhere anyway in Pittsburgh, and are very attached to their neighborhoods.

This week I went to East Liberty, seeking for something complicate -which I found. The point that blocked my posting was that I was focusing too much only on East Liberty (that could be enough effort, for sure) without keeping the whole city in mind. I was looking too close.

map from http://www.pittsburghcityliving.com/

I took some photos there, but couldn't get yet the rules of such a complicate place. I still need to understand the rules there, and find a way to understand its role in relation to Pittsburgh.
Nevertheless, I had the impression that East Liberty is really in a transition; some neighborhoods are "positively complicated", with variety of functions, and perceived as more desirable than others. Others, are still "negatively complicated", with still too many rules determined by hate, fear, desperation.

For what I can see, even some "negatively complicated" neighborhoods, in Pittsburgh, have been recently increased the number of facilitators.
Facilitators are helping the neighborhoods in shifting from being "negatively complicated" to be "positively complicated" (because variety and diversity are always at the base of any healthy economy and masterplan). They are people that decide to invest on areas that are not quite ready but that desperately need someone doing the first step there. People that go to live in buildings that they will fix little by little, according to money and time, making them unique and characteristic. People that, just by putting out a bench, or some tables, create a little spot to rest and have a chat even in a not welcoming place.

I keep seeing more facilitators in East Liberty, even if this positive increment is daily challenged by very delicate economical (and political) factors. I would like to capture that positive behavior that could save East Liberty, as saved other areas in Pittsburgh during the past decades.

I couldn't take all the photos I wanted, but enough to start setting down, if not the rules of the game, at least the table. I will keep exploring this area. It has a special character and beauty that deserve to be preserved, despite the "beasts" that could make this path more difficult.

When I see projects like the East Liberty pedestrian bridge, I do believe there is a possibility also for the other parts of East Liberty, even those further from Shadyside (which are the most complex).

First attempt, then.

Exploring Downtown Pittsburgh

Every time I go Downtown Pittsburgh, I try to understand it. The only thing I know is that I love it, for sure. No matter if the viability is a bit funky, or if the streets could result confusing - very far from the typical orthogonal grid of other American cities.

For more than one year that I tried to improve my knowledge of the area, to better understand its essence.

Yesterday I was there again, under a "bloody" sun, that really makes difficult walking around, trying to take good shots. But I was there, indeed, and you can consider the followings as "visive notes" of my visit.

Downtown Pittsburgh is a 3D-puzzle, where -almost- all the pieces are already in place. The point is, the pieces seem not to come from the same box! And this makes Pittsburgh precious, because there is very little chance, to see in an American city, such a variety. Other cities have old tall buildings as well, but they are very often vacant or ready to be tore down to make space for the new ones. More often, they are seriously abandoned (see Detroit).   

Pittsburgh, instead, was able to build new constructions, with different architectural styles according to the era, and preserve a lot of the old ones. Some of the historic buildings are still empty also because the upgrading of old mechanical systems would be an enough considerable expense.

Associations like the PHLF (see website) are encouraging the purchase and careful restoration of old buildings. Downtown Pittsburgh is full of small/medium size building that could be renewed more easily than tall (and old) buildings, hopefully with beneficial help from the County, or from Pennsylvania State.

Nevertheless, the situation in Downtown Pittsburgh is pretty interesting to me.

I love the complexity of a project like the Woodstreet Galleries building (picture above) hosts a subway station and three floors of art galleries, all under the same roof. Plus, let me express once more my appreciation for those Galleries, that have always great installations. 

What I love more of that building is the side facing Liberty Avenue, where a glazed cantilever creates protection for the people waiting for the buses. That cantilever is modern, with pattern representing leaves. Just to mitigate the effect of the true ones, falling down in Fall. 

Downtown Pittsburgh is not perfect, of course, and you can still find a lot of scars from the past. The above building has no (more) windows, on a facade that rises from... EQT plaza! That indeed looks for a monumental character. Almost "Rockfellerian", if I might say so (see detail below).

But Downtown Pittsburgh is also about colors, many of them. The creation of the Pittsburgh Cabaret Theater (2004) together with the renewal of the O'Reilly Theater gave the chance to add a pleasant accent to Penn Avenue.

Thus, what I really enjoy of Downtown Pittsburgh is exactly this gigantic puzzle, that can creates interesting short-circuits to be caught by my camera. Below, a shot that puts together the Heinz Hall, the Fairmont Hotel, and a parking lot on 6th Ave. 

other shots of this big 3d-puzzle, 

flattened by the camera, but still tridimensional in the meaning:

a big mix of old, new; full, empty; public and private.

The Fairmont Hotel, with its cut in the middle.

There are still empty lots, some just cleared by renewals. Right now, the area between Market Square and the site of the future Tower at PNC Plaza is having big works. Old buildings were destroyed, to leave space for something new. It is always tough, for me as an Italian, to see pieces of the past being lost forever. I also understand the challenges of a obsolete architectural heritage.

The only thing I can do, for now, is trying to find something interesting in this process, something to think about. Documenting temporary new perspectives from Downtown. 

Such the above one, with the Oxford Center appearing from a grey wall.

I am going to end this article with a simple shot of a project that I am very curious to se finally built.

It is the Tower at PNC Plaza, that will be an important green tall building, following the best rules of eco-friendly architecture.

Taking another shot of a temporary point of view: CHECK. 

Or CLICK.