Committee on Design

Aesthetic Zoning & Architecture

What is the AIA's position or your own position on the current trend in public  aesthetic zoning regulations promulagated by "planners" and being incorporated in more and more municipal zoning ordinances?
Do you have example(s)  of any such codes, guidlines or ordinances  which you find reasonable as a professional?
Do you feel they are in conflict with the way your state has defined the practice & licensure of architects or the "grant of policing power to local goverments"

Our North Carolina Community of 50k has developed a comprehensive plan and is now developing a Unified Development Ordinance "in accordance with and based on that Comp.  Plan" to replace our current zoning ordinace.  The North Carolina "chain" of authority relative to aesthetic zoning is familiar and it appears, at least to me, this is a very "gray" area. The case law is relatively clear that "aesthetics" are valid with respect to Signage, Hog Farms and Junk Yards however it  appears that case law  specifically  related to "aesthetic zoning" and "buildings" is yet to be established.

As a supporter of "smart growth" with a keen interest in and understanding of the impact of zoning, your input, insights and opinions relative "aesthetic zoning" and our profession will all be appreciated.



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John Hood AIA
Principal Architect
Hood/Herring Architecture, PLLP
Wilson NC
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The cart is again before the horse with aesthetic zoning, in my opinion, John. Zoning ordinances are loaded with detailed requirements that are not producing desired results. The answer has been to add more. The hope is that appearance can compensate for a failure to understand intensity. To make matters worse, these design requirements can only be discovered by reading the entire ordinance, including all definitions. (See "The Disorganized Zoning Ordinance" and "Introduction to Intensity" on my web site: www.wmhosack@blogspot.com">www.wmhosack@blogspot.com. You can also find them at www.thebuiltdomain.net which is an edited and better looking version of my Google site. There are many more that may be of interest as well.)

I think you see the architectural design potential of zoning. You may also see the potential of building codes, but both are too cumbersome to use effectively, and zoning is too arbitrary to avoid random results. Both have the legal power to support design recommendations, however; and both can improve design decisions in the public interest when they, themselves, are improved. This is the future potential of architectural influence, but it will only expand when design decisions prove they can make a difference in our quality of life. This difference begins with intensity and ends with appearance.

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Walter Hosack
Author
Walter M. Hosack
Dublin OH
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Aesthetic Zoning is going to become a wonderful subject for much debate, as is any subjective product or procedure.

To allow one group of probably untrained individuals to determine the standards by which aesthetics are "regulated" is dangerous, and with probably very boring results. "Individual" is the term I used in the previous sentence, and the "taste" of all individuals should be respected. But it will never be the same.

I have learned a lot from becoming more of an artist than I ever did when becoming an architect. Everyones' eyes and other receptors perceive things differently on an individual basis. I'm fortunate that my art is accepted by many, but I love to hear the concerns and critique from others who are "not that happy with it." Sometimes I am moved to use those critiques constructively and other times I let them pass - based on differing individual opinions. But it creates a lot of personal growth.

Aesthetic Zoning is going to need to regulate individual differing opinions, and I look forward to understanding how that will be done!   
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George Jennings AIA
G Booker 3
Tappahannock VA
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-03-2012 10:42
From: Walter Hosack
Subject: Aesthetic Zoning

The cart is again before the horse with aesthetic zoning, in my opinion, John. Zoning ordinances are loaded with detailed requirements that are not producing desired results. The answer has been to add more. The hope is that appearance can compensate for a failure to understand intensity. To make matters worse, these design requirements can only be discovered by reading the entire ordinance, including all definitions. (See "The Disorganized Zoning Ordinance" and "Introduction to Intensity" on my web site: www.wmhosack@blogspot.com">www.wmhosack@blogspot.com. You can also find them at www.thebuiltdomain.net which is an edited and better looking version of my Google site. There are many more that may be of interest as well.)

I think you see the architectural design potential of zoning. You may also see the potential of building codes, but both are too cumbersome to use effectively, and zoning is too arbitrary to avoid random results. Both have the legal power to support design recommendations, however; and both can improve design decisions in the public interest when they, themselves, are improved. This is the future potential of architectural influence, but it will only expand when design decisions prove they can make a difference in our quality of life. This difference begins with intensity and ends with appearance.

-------------------------------------------
Walter Hosack
Author
Walter M. Hosack
Dublin OH
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