TA24-J F-Pages - Flipbook - Page 12
Of Note
One thing that surprised the design team was
learning that the highway has been accepted as
part of life by the community. The group expressed
a desire for the building to remain modest in height,
yet visible from the highway to draw in visitors. The
community and museum board noted several other
priorities for the new building. It should have a
“wow” factor, but 昀椀rst and foremost, it should connect and anchor the community, not displace them.
The building should be environmentally friendly,
have outdoor spaces, and be open and inviting,
with ample opportunities for educational murals
and art. Alligood says this latter goal sparked the
idea of creating folding surfaces, each an opportunity to display and commemorate important community stories and history. Indeed, the conceptual
design unveiled by BIG features a series of folded
roof planes located around a central undulating
facade, which mirrors the nova star — representing
new beginnings — on the Juneteenth 昀氀ag. It is the
project’s major architectural move and, symbolism
aside, seems to accomplish several of the stated
goals at once. The unique shape forms a horizontal
billboard that is sure to capture the attention of
cars speeding along the highway, while also maintaining a scale appropriate to its context. The sunburst form is paired with exterior glass facades that
allow for transparency through the building and
deep roof overhangs creating a series of welcoming
front porches facing the neighborhood.
The building design is in its early stages and
bound to evolve along with the design process. The
concept design has served its intended purpose of
capturing the public’s attention and bringing to
life — at least through computer-aided renderings
— a tangible vision for the museum’s future. The
importance of the project is not lost on Alligood,
who notes: “To work on a project that is focused
on community and focused on a part of American
history that is also personal to me and my ancestry
makes working on this project something that is
spiritually uplifting, deeply moving, and profound.”
It is hoped that new Juneteenth Museum will spark
a similar experience for its visitors and users, serving as more than a static relic of the past. If successful, the museum will also enable transformative
change for a long ignored and under-resourced
community.
Dennehy Architects in Dallas.
10 Texas Architect
1/2 2024
by Lizzie MacWillie, AIA
Like the title of the famous children’s books says:
Everybody poops. So why is it so hard to find a
place to go? There are surprisingly few public
facilities in Dallas where people can take care of
this basic biological function. This lack of access
to public restrooms isn’t just an inconvenience; it is
an issue of equity. For caretakers, for people with
chronic illnesses, for people who are pregnant or
menstruating, for people who are unhoused, it’s a
matter of dignity, of basic hygiene, and of comfort.
In the United States, there is a long history over
the 昀椀ght for public restrooms. At one time, pay toilets were fairly common, but the practice of charging
(which disproportionately impacted people who used
Designed by Shipley Architects, the Carpenter Park pavilion houses restrooms and other park-related programs.
PHOTOS BY ROBERT TSAI
Audrey Maxwell, AIA, is a principal at Malone Maxwell
Dallas Faces Challenges
Around Access to
Public Restrooms
bathroom stalls and not urinals) was challenged by
activists. The ensuing decommissioning of public
pay toilets in the 1970s and ’80s was intended to be
followed by free facilities for all, but due to factors
like the hollowing of downtowns across America, the
gutting of major cities’ budgets, and fearmongering
and paranoia about crime and disease, the desired
public facilities never materialized.
Decades later, some cities have realized that
going to the bathroom is a need that can’t just
be ignored, so they have developed programs
to install freestanding toilet structures in public
locations: In Portland, the Portland Loo is a barebones approach designed to take abuse. In the
fall of 2022, the New York City Council passed
the “bathroom bill,” which is intended to identify
locations across the city for new public restrooms
to be built. Before the pandemic, San Francisco
held a competition to design a new freestanding
public restroom prototype for the city. In many
cases, these new programs are intended to replace
existing freestanding facilities that are in various
stages of disrepair.
In Dallas, where there isn’t a program for freestanding public restrooms, parks and other public
facilities are the main source for publicly available
restrooms. However, in the Trust for Public Land’s
2023 City Parks Facts, Dallas was listed 104th out
of 105 cities in terms of the provision of restrooms in public parks. According to their study,
there are 20 permanent freestanding restrooms
and 142 semipermanent restrooms, for a total of