{"id":777,"date":"2010-03-23T20:14:15","date_gmt":"2010-03-23T20:14:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/?p=777"},"modified":"2026-03-23T12:32:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T16:32:21","slug":"the-road-to-hell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/2010\/03\/the-road-to-hell\/","title":{"rendered":"The Road to Hell…"},"content":{"rendered":"

…is paved with brick, “special” light poles, custom garbage cans,\u00a0 and light pole banners. You don’t need to be a keen-eyed tracker to read the signs–planners have been here.<\/p>\n

But are special materials necessary to create a good design or great architecture? Frank Gehry made his name with chain link and corrugated steel. Without a designer\u2019s hand these are the materials of a shantytown. The Case Study Houses\u00a0<\/a>are icons of modernism, but they were originally built with off-the-shelf materials, intended to be accessible to the average Joe and Josephine.<\/p>\n

The request or requirement for special materials is well-intentioned, but not necessary. With artistry, asphalt and concrete become unique reflections of place.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Neither the ducklings nor the pedestrians in the Boston Public Garden mind asphalt paths<\/p><\/div>\n

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Fabulous concrete along Miami Beach at 76th Street<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0Are special materials really important to getting the streets we want?<\/p>\n

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Is this…<\/p><\/div>\n

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so much better than this?<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u00a0It’s still all about this place:<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

…is paved with brick, “special” light poles, custom garbage cans,\u00a0 and light pole banners. You don’t need to be a keen-eyed tracker to read the signs–planners have been here.<\/p>\n

But are special materials necessary to create a good design or great architecture? Frank Gehry made his name with chain link and corrugated steel. Without a designer\u2019s hand these are the materials of a shantytown. The Case Study Houses\u00a0are icons of modernism, but they were originally built with off-the-shelf materials, intended to be accessible to the average Joe and Josephine.<\/p>\n

The request or requirement for special materials is well-intentioned, but not necessary. With artistry, asphalt and concrete become unique reflections of place.\u00a0<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0Are special materials really important … Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[78,79,6],"class_list":["post-777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-design","tag-bricks","tag-sidewalks","tag-urban-design"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11131,"href":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777\/revisions\/11131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}