Mixing It Up: Jazz, Hip-hop and Urban Real Estate

New Changning, Shanghai, China. Image © Gensler

American cities, by their nature, have a way of encouraging shockingly different, even dissonant, elements to comingle and spawn dynamic new forms. Jazz and hip-hop—two quintessentially urban and American genres of music—are predicated on such fusions. Jazz (which was born in what was, for many years, our most diverse southern city, New Orleans) blends African polyrhythms and scales with European chord progression concepts. Hip-hop (which sprang from our most diverse northern city, New York) weaves together snatches of pre-existing recorded material from funk, soul, rock, electronic music and jazz. Such unforeseen mash-ups are the life-blood of American cities.

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The New Home of the Dallas Cowboys Opens Its Doors

Image © Gensler

This past weekend was a big one for the NFL and Texas high school football. It marked the unveiling of The Star, the new home of the Dallas Cowboys World Headquarters, Ford Center and The Omni Frisco Hotel, a 16-story hotel which will be the tallest building in Frisco at the time of its completion. The Star, which is located just 30 minutes north of Dallas city limits, is a culmination of a partnership between the Dallas Cowboys, the City of Frisco and Frisco Independent School District.

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Authentic Synergized Design in the Live Work Play Environment

Live, Work, Play developments will dictate the future of urban and suburban planning. Image © Gensler

Current development practices have taken a marked turn away from putting all the proverbial “eggs in one basket” and are now focused on diversification and “placemaking.” Though the word is a bit overused in today’s master planning lexicon, placemaking describes the positive results that can arise from an authentic Live, Work, Play oriented project.

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Talking Mixed-Use with J.F. Finn, III

Gensler is designing The Hub on Causeway, a dynamic mixed-use development of approximately 2,000,000 square feet that will occupy the site of the original Boston Garden. Image © Gensler

J.F. Finn is a designer with 30 plus years of experience in complex mixed-use projects. He led the design of MGM Resorts’ $8.4 billion CityCenter Las Vegas development, the largest privately-funded project in the United States, and is now playing an integral role in Gensler’s work at the site of the original Boston Garden. Boston’s answer to Madison Square Garden in the 1920s, “The Garden” was the epicenter of Boston’s basketball and hockey history.

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