ABSTRACT
A proposal by property developers Cadillac-Fairview designed by the Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership in 1980 demonstrates the issues that arise in designing in cities when a building complex, architecturally interesting, but paying little respect to its context runs into political opposition. The proposal was for a multi-use
four-block scheme that combined four buildings (one on each block) into a single development (see Figure 6.2). The four buildings were to be linked with skybridges such as those in Minneapolis although Portland’s climate is considerably less harsh than that of Minneapolis. Unlike the skybridges in Minneapolis that must have glass walls (see Figure 10.22), the ones in this proposed complex were lined with shops that made them wide and opaque. Their function was to make the buildings a unified cluster, an island, largely independent of its surroundings.
