Proposed new Johnson & Wales academic building for Route 195 land. (pbn.com)

The intersection of Pine and Chestnut context of proposed JWU building. (Photo by David Brussat)

First reported this week in the Providence Business News, Johnson & Wales University has proposed the first new building to arise on land near downtown Providence freed by the relocation of Route 195. Predictably, it will be a sort of mish-mash – or pastiche, to use a word modernists like – designed by Edward Rowse Architects, of Providence, and Architectural Resources, of Cambridge.

Worse architecture can be imagined, of course, but the proposal would step away from JWU’s effort in recent decades to extend its campus in ways that reknit the city’s fabric of historic architecture. “One hundred years ago,” said Chancellor John Bowen, “Johnson & Wales established its roots in Providence. In recent years we’ve led the way in transforming the city’s landscape.”

So why change now?

In the 1970s and ’80s the school’s program of restoring its historic buildings in downtown established the idea that downtown need not be abandoned. In the 1990s, the school built a new academic quadrangle of traditional brick architecture that fit into downtown like a friendly old glove. (Andres Duany’s firm DPZ drew up the master plan for the quad and a more general expansion.)

The new building’s proposed design represents a break away from that commendable program of preserving and reknitting the city’s historic fabric.

It is hardly surprising that the building, which will house engineering and biotech programs, embraces the reigning cliché of what buildings that house such programs should look like. Rather than committing to a design that builds on the city’s leading asset of beauty, the administration has chosen to think of its new building as an advertisement for the conventional look of what will be taught inside of it.

In short, the JWU administration has chosen the safe path rather than one that not only would strengthen the allure of the Route 195 redevelopment strip on behalf of the city and the state, but would re-establish JWU’s credentials as a bold institution.

The situation is not irreversible. The design could be easily recalibrated by its architects to reflect the traditional built environment that it will inhabit. A deft addition of columns on the first floor and cornices on the roof of the massing now proposed, plus a more elegant treatment of the fenestration with mullions instead of plate glass, would transform the design into one that would meld a modernist shape with traditional features and materials. The main aesthetic problem with the current design – its top-heaviness – could be easily resolved.

So doing, Johnson & Wales could lead the way by embracing a more natural architecture that respects its downtown context. Instead of merely being first out of the box to redevelop the Route 195 land, JWU could lead the way philosophically as well. That sounds like a good idea, but it must surmount resistance from reigning orthodoxy. Good luck!