Klaus Philipsen is the founder of Archplan Inc., Philipsen Architects, and a member of the American Institute of Architects Baltimore Chapter?s Urban Design Committee. Philipsen is the co-author of an April plan to redevelop the 1st Mariner Arena site.
What did your plan advocate?
A mixed-use and smaller scale redevelopment with a reopened and extended Liberty Street and Redwood Street. With mixed use we imagined there would be office and retail and housing. Housing by the nature of it has 24/7 use, it?s the most successful development piece on the west side.
So what happened?
Obviously our thoughts didn?t get traction with the selection committee. We wish itwould have gone the other way. However, we will work with the city in the next round of the selection process in trying to accomplish the goals we set ? like mixed use, and [transit] interconnectivity, which will be more difficult with an even larger arena at that location.
Is that still possible?
We would certainly lose the street connectivity, however the prospect of first-floor retail and the accommodation of transit is possible.
Why did your group want to get involved in the arena discussion?
We wanted to start discussion on the other end [than where the new arena should be located]. We wanted to address the question of what would be the best for the west side and the current site, which is a different set of questions.
What the proponents think is, [a new arena] will bring people into the west side. But we think we can bring people to the west side with a different use. We all have the same goal.
