Modern urban planning sought ways to make life easier. Often, it involved wholesale demolition of large swaths of a city in the service of big “renewal” projects. In many cases the planning didn’t include public input, and the projects were one-use, whether retail, business, or culture.
When modernism came to Pittsburgh, the city really ran with it. The Alcoa Building and U.S. Steel Tower both went up during that time, reshaping the city’s skyline with novel materials (aluminum panels and exposed steel beams, respectively). A Civic Arena built during the time looked like a sleek spaceship — one with a retractable roof — landed in the city.
“I joke that this was sort of Pittsburgh’s Dubai moment,” said Rami el Samahy, an architect with the company over,under and an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University, in Pittsburgh.
Listen to and read the full version of this reportat Keystone Crossroads' website. Keystone Crossroads is a new statewide public media initiative reporting on the challenges facing Pennsylvania's cities. WPSU is a participating station.
