Dallas' CityDesign Studio plan for West Dallas

So maybe that Calatrava designed bridge to nowhere (aka Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge) may not be a bridge to nowhere after all.

So who is CityDesign Studio and what do they have planned for the other side of the Trinity River where the bridge ends? From the CityDesign Studio website:

"The Dallas CityDesign Studio was formed in October of 2009 through a grant to the City from the Trinity Trust Foundation, funded by a generous gift from Deedie and Rusty Rose, to focus on neighborhoods and development along the Trinity."

CityDesign Studio recently had a presentation where they presented a proposal for the development of the area of West Dallas that adjoins the Trinity River and Calatrava bridge. The proposal includes pedestrian friendly streets and "mixed-use developments", in addition to development of public spaces (hope that means parks!). This presentation and proposal is interesting because it seeks to bring some much needed development to the area. It will interesting in the future to see how this shapes up and how that area will springboard off the development already there; i.e. the Belmont Hotel.

Read more about CityDesign Studio's proposal here.

Dallas Observer's Unfair Park blog has a review of the presentation meeting here.

Hear Joan Davidow's, former director and curator of the Dallas Contemporary, commentary for KERA 90.1 here.

Weekend Plans

1. Lots of art happenings going on this weekend: Grand re-opening of the Dallas Contemporary, the Dallas Art Fair, and Art in the District.

2. If art isn't your thing there is the Snuggie Pub Crawl on Saturday in Uptown. $30,000.00 millionaires in snuggies should make for some awesome people watching.

3. If you want less clothes this weekend, head on over to the Dallas Burlesque Festival at the Texas Theater.

4. Or just stay home and watch that football game instead.

Upcoming Events

1. Dallas' answer to Art Basel, the Dallas Art Fair is February 5-7, 2010 at the F.I.G. Galleries from as far away as London will be showing works during the weekend. Additionally, there will a be a satellite art fair - Art in the District at the Fairmont Hotel the same weekend.

2. The Dallas Contemporary will finally have their grand opening in their new location on Saturday, February 6, 2010. The opening exhibit will be James Gilbert's Warnings & Instructions.

3. Todd Camplin's MFA Thesis Show will also be on Saturday, February 6, 2010 at the 500X Gallery. We picked up one of his drawings at the D Art Slam last year.

4. The White Rock Home Tour will be April 24-25, 2010. Always lots of great MCM homes on this tour. Note: site is not updated yet with new dates. Or head down to Austin for Art City Austin the same weekend. Two of my favorite artists, Stephanie Strange and Michael O'Brien are usually at this show.