Business Lexington
The following is offered by Lexington architect and ProgressLex founding member Graham Pohl in response to an open letter to the community, published in the May 28 edition of , by Gary Joy, developer of the CVS Pharmacy and store slated for construction on the corner of East Main and Vine in downtown Lexington. ProgressLex will be presenting a 1,300 signature petition at noon Tuesday in front of the Government Center in hopes of sending the CVS developers back to the drawing board.
Lexington, KY - Gary Joy is the developer who will be building the controversial CVS store in downtown Lexington. The store design has been attacked for its failure to adequately respond to the urban site, a location identified by the Downtown Master Plan as being particularly important because of its function as a gateway to Lexington's urban core.
CVS and the city of Lexington (the planning office in particular) are to be commended for efforts to improve the design of the proposed pharmacy. As developer Gary Joy stated in his open letter to Business Lexington, bringing a drugstore back to downtown Lexington is a very good thing, as a pharmacy is a fundamental need for downtown dwellers and workers.
Mr. Joy's letter said that they have no intention of placing a "suburban" designed store at this location, and that they have "proactively offered design elements to support this urban location." While their intent is appreciated, the proposed "design elements" are, for the most part, decorative enhancements, not substantial changes. The building still falls far short of the sort of urban architecture used for pharmacies in other cities - cities where design guidelines force a higher level of design consideration. One need only compare photos of such developments with drawings of the building planned for Lexington to see that other cities are benefitting from vastly superior pieces of architecture.
While the enhancements to the building proposed by Mr. Joy makes it better than what was initially planned, it is still essentially a suburban prototype. One can not take a boiler-plate building designed for a typical suburban location and turn it into a building suitable for an urban location by adding "design elements." What is needed is a complete rethinking of the design issues, with a sensitive eye to the urban context.
In an earlier Herald Leader interview, Mr. Joy implied that it is unfair to ask him to second guess the meaning of good urban design. His position is entirely understandable: no one should not be expected to spend money if it seems to be for an ill-defined quest. But good design is not as mysterious as Mr. Joy suggests. In reality, if CVS demanded that this project should receive the attentions of the appropriate design team, Lexington (and CVS) would benefit from a well designed building that would be more suitable for the site. There are plenty of architects who can execute good urban design - apparently they are either not on Gary Joy's current team, or they have not been empowered to pursue the right outcome. Hopefully CVS will seek a still higher level of design for this facility.
While the improvements to the building indicate some level of success, this dilemma has provided us with an important lesson: if we want owners and developers to step up their efforts when they are designing buildings for our city, we can't expect them to do it on their own. We have to develop strong, specific, mandatory design guidelines, so that Lexington will no longer be the victim of mediocre - or worse - developments.
Graham Pohl AIA, LEED AP, is a principal of POHL ROSA POHL architecture+design of Lexington. http://www.pohlrosapohl.com (859) 268-1720