A group of professional architects and students offered a long
list of ideas Sunday afternoon that they believe could revitalize
the Mission City.
A group of professional architects and students offered a long list of ideas Sunday afternoon that they believe could revitalize the Mission City.
Their ideas included implementing flexible design guidelines, improving the town’s sidewalks and signs and using existing buildings more creatively.
“What we saw in town was a lot of underutilized city assets,” said architect Allen Robinson.
The presentation ended a weekend-long “design charette” organized by the Monterey Bay chapter of the American Institute of Architects. The architects, along with fifth-year architecture and planning students from California Polytechnic Institute, San Luis Obispo, met with residents and business owners Friday to discuss locals’ hopes and concerns.
On Saturday, the architects split into three groups to brainstorm specific ideas. Many presenters said they were impressed by San Juan Bautista’s charm and historic atmosphere.
“There’s so much in this town that other towns don’t have,” said architect Richard Rhodes. “The students kept saying, ‘Don’t throw out what you’ve got.'”
But San Juan Bautista’s signs could do a better job of presenting that history, said student Rade Radakovich. Signs commemorating historic buildings are inconsistent, Radakovich said, and there aren’t clear directions to the mission from the main entrance to town.
“San Juan is a story,” he said. “That’s a very important thing that is difficult to discern right now.”
Architect Jeanne Byrne said that when it comes to incorporating new and remodeled buildings into the historic city, officials need to be flexible. New architecture should be true to the town’s spirit, but it shouldn’t be a “fake” replica of a structure built more than 100 years ago, she said.
“Today is history, too,” said student Steven Colberg, a phrase repeated throughout the presentation.
The locals in attendance seemed to be impressed by what they saw and heard – but not without reservations.
“I don’t think when I finished at Cal Poly I would have been capable of doing that,” Jolene Cosio said.
But she added that it was a “big turn-off” when the architects said the mission and the state historic park aren’t working with the city.
“Those of us who have been here a long time know that the church and the state park are the reason we’re here,” Cosio said.
The architects plan to compile their ideas into a booklet to be available to the public. City Manager Jan McClintock has said those ideas, along with the city’s existing historic design guidelines and a yet-to-be-prepared economic development plan, could help the city receive state and federal funding.
Robinson, who spearheaded the event, closed by saying that San Juan Bautista can be seen in one of two ways. Locals can see the Mission City as an “elderly relative,” and therefore just give up and wait for death, or they can take hope and look at it as a sick child, one who needs locals’ help to heal.
