New Town: Ave Maria, Florida

Ave Maria, Florida, is the first 21st Century town created in the "middle of nowhere" with a Catholic oratory and university at its heart. The future 11,000 houses, townhouses and apartments will consume the 5000 acres (2000 hectares) "nowhere" of farms and wetlands and force the future residents to drive miles to work and the local cities. The final result will be 5 houses to the acre - very low density. But this blog is not about stupid planning decisions or even a 250 million dollar philanthropy that could have restored urban blight with same new university and housing. Visit the Aesthetic Grounds Picasa Albums to see more images of Ave Maria and a 2006 powerpoint presentation on Florida new urbanism explaining the repetitive format.

Ave Maria, Florida. Town Center and University

What I find interesting is the small cathedral (oratory) in the center of the plaza violating most new urbanist rules for a surburban village. At first the cathedral dominates your eye in contrast with the toy buildings surrounding it. The Catholicism is not an option - everything points toward it like piglets to a female hog. The goal is to feed from the spirit of God. This use of architecture and planning to reinforce the power of God is not seen anymore and rarely in the entire village history of America. Even a non-believer feels the purpose of the planners. In that way, the design works.

Yet another three story new urbanist pop-up village. Click here for Aesthetic Grounds photoessay of Florida new towns.

Cynically, we can see that the cathedral is an attraction to support shopping around its base and make an icon for a university and real estate development. But the founder Tom Monaghan, who has given massive amounts of his Domino Pizza fortune to Catholic causes, is a serious believer in which cynism is a thoughtless and easy reaction. Churches, temples, mozques, shrines, etc have been surrounded by commerce since the begining of urban religion. It is actually sururbanism that has isolated these religious buildings from shopping districts and pedestrian environments.

Monaghan is using New Urbanism for its deep implication that the shape of the village can build a community. Here we have a true test of its social value - something that the new urbanist leaders avoid in the official documents. But many Christian blogs and websites exist dedicated to understanding the relationship between faith and urban design - especially new urbanist principles. Here are some discussions:
Sacred Architecture,
Mirror of Justice.
Sidewalks in the Kingdom
A Theology of the Built Environment
University of Virginia Spring 2006 Conference on Lived Theology

As per the Aesthetic Grounds comparative method, I thought of the aggressive and pretty 1956 chapel of the US Air Force Academy in Colorado. I seem to associate modern planning composition with freedom of choice and symmetrical classical planning with control - but this is an 20th century critique that is ridiculous in the age of electronic control. Or is it?

Not listed as an inspiration, but compare with SOM's Air Force Acedemy Chapel, 1956

Oratory dominates the town like a medieval village.

Chapel punctuates the modern composition

Oratory in the dead center.

Chapel addresses the main court

The 2004 Oratory was designed to repeat Thorncrown Chapel by Fay Jones - at three times the size. Perhaps six hurricanes of 2004 & 2005 caused the design to change.

A completely ignored public art form are the artists of religion. The 200 year old, Talleres de Arte Granda has been hired for the interior of the oratory.

Talleres de Arte Granda of Madrid: Past work

Talleres de Arte Granda: Past Work