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Habitation in Nanjing
As Seen by an Architect and Planner through a Comparison of Two Projects in Six Years
Lu Xiaoning
Architect
Deputy Chief Director of the Acting Office of Nanjing Planning Committee
Nanjing Urban Planning Bureau, China
Introduction
I was employed in Nanjing Architecture Design and Research Office from 1985 to 1995. During this time, I designed a lot of plans and projects including housing and various kinds of public buildings. Since 1995, I have been working in Nanjing Urban Planning Bureau, an authority of the city government. I have seen, managed, supervised, chosen, evaluated and approved permits for a huge number of plans and building projects especially housing.
There were two projects in six years that I will consider in this paper. The first is a project I designed myself six years ago. The second is a new project which I reviewed just this year and chose from 5 design proposals by a professor at the Southeast University in Nanjing.
In this paper I will try to describe and analyse the experience in these two projects with respect to the strategies, actors and designs, in order to develop and propose better methods and solutions.
Problem Definition
Housing is a large problem especially in a developing country with such a huge population as China. It concerns lots of sectors that I do not expect to find all the solutions or even the best one. However, I am going to find a few insufficiencies and get some solutions for town and city families, just from the perspective of my experiences. The duty of an Architect and the Urban Planning Authority have a major role in housing, but they are not the most important authorities taking charge of housing in our city: they are the Building Authority and the Construction Committee.
Motivation for the Choice of Study
During these 5 years (1996–2000) a great reform happened in the frame of the housing policy of China, including new housing standards, new ways of acquiring housing, forms of ownership, etc. So, I think that to compare and analyse the experiences of these two projects may be interesting.
Method of Study
This report will summarize the projects but will focus on analysis, conclusions and recommendations. And after the whole eight weeks course, including lectures, discussions, excursions and reading literature, I think there may be a better understanding about what are the accomplishments and what are the insufficiencies and their solutions.
Background
Country – China
The People’s Republic of China is located in the east of Asia, on the west coast of the Pacific Ocean. It is about 9.6 million km² in area, the third largest in the world. Its population was 1.295 billion (in Nov. 2000, meanwhile 1.265 billion in the Continent), the first in the world, one-fifth the population on the Earth.
China has the highest mountain in the world – Qomolangma, 8848 m high, and one of the longest rivers – Yangtze, 6397 km long.
China has a 4000 year old history and highly developed culture during ancient times. The country was so powerful it was not interested in foreign or modern technology. The Western countries became developed and strong after the Capitalist Revolution and the Industrial Revolution. The country lost the Opium War in 1840 and became backward, weak, poor and the economic development slowed. Now it is a developing country.
Between January and April 2000, the GDP was 8,940.35 billion RMB (1 USD=8.3 RMB), or an 8.0% growth.
Regional – Nanjing
Nanjing is one of the four famous ancient capitals in China (the capital of Wo, Jin, The South Dynasty, S. Tang, Ming and the R. China, etc.). Today it is the provincial capital of Jiangsu, as well as an important central city in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. It is in the economic zone of the national productivity layout, the Yangtze Delta. “As a city close to rivers and lakes, Nanjing is a comprehensive industrial base, an important communication and transportation centre and one of the four scientific research and education centres in East China. It is also the second largest business centre next to Shanghai in East China. Located on 32°03′ north latitude and 118°47′ east longitude, Nanjing is not far from Anhui Province as well as Zhejiang Province, with the Yangtze River winding its way across the city eastwards to the sea. Nanjing is 300 km away from Shanghai, 1,200 km from Beijing. Nanjing ranked the 5th among the 50 Comprehensively Strong Cities. Total GDP in Nanjing in 1997 was RMB 76.2 billion.
By the end of 1997 Nanjing’s total population was 5.3 million, among which non-agricultural population was 2.7 million (51% of the total), agricultural 2.6 million (49%). The urban population was 1.85 million, the suburbs was 0.88 million and that in the five suburb counties was 2.57 million. There were 1.7 million households in the city. The birth rate was 8.01 (and the death rate was 5.85).
According to the classification of national economy industry, 0.77 million people were in the first industry (agriculture), 1.23 million in the second (manufacture) and 1.01 million in the third (service).
Figure 3: The general planning of Nanjing Urban District
1 [http://www.jlonline.com](http://www.jlonline.com)
To realize the goal sustainable development in the future, the Comprehensive Plan of Nanjing (1991–2010) is divided into three stages (short term, long term and distant view) and three spaces (municipality area, metropolis region and urban district).
The municipality area is the region within Nanjing’s administrative boundary with an area of 6516 km². The metropolitan region includes the urban district and surrounding towns with an area of 2753 km². It is a highly urbanized area with green space between towns and convenient transportation connecting towns. The urban district is the area within the circular bypass road and the south of Yangtze River with an area of 243 km², about 2 million people.
Figure 4: Some famous landscape and new architecture, during the date in the picture the 6th Congress of Chinese Businessmen over the whole World will convene in Nanjing
Figure 5: Longjiang Residence District
Project 1 Housing in Longjiang Residence District
The first project was designed in 1995, as a part of Longjiang Residence District, for officers of the provincial government. In that year they could get a house as welfare which higher than the standard enacted several years ago. But that standard was lower than today because the living level was also lower several years ago.
Project 2 Housing in Mendong Residence District
The second, designed and selected in 2001, is a plan for the redevelopment of an old city residence district. The houses will be sold on the open market, and there is a subvention for the people who lived here to help them to buy the new house, as the majority of them are lower-income people in our city. The standard is improved as well as the living level after twenty years of the Reform and Open Movement.
Strategies
In 1995 before the reform of the frame in housing policy in China, the salary did not include the money for buy a house on the market. There was not any housing market before 1985 for low-income or middle-income people in our country, since people could only get arranged housing provided by the employer as social welfare. Considering the slower growth of the national economy, and the rising of the needs of social welfare, it was too much to arrange housing in time. People had to wait and wait and accept the lower standard.
Followed the whole course of Frame Reform in China, improving of living level, the improving need of people’s habitation level, and the need of propelling the improving of GDP, the central government decided to reform the housing frame, as a decree as policy, or as a law – the Premier Office Act No.23 year 1998. All the arrangement of welfare housing would be stopped in 2000, to change the admeasurement/allocation in entity dwelling building into money in Salary. The housing market had grown for nearly twenty years, and had become adult, and would be the major source of housing.
Description
The Old Standard
The standard in that period, before the reform of the frame in housing, you can see in the table.
Table 1: Old standard of dwelling units
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Room</th>
<th>W.C</th>
<th>Kitchen</th>
<th>Dining</th>
<th>Bedroom</th>
<th>Others</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Area (m²)</td>
<td>2~3</td>
<td>3~5</td>
<td>6~7</td>
<td>7/person</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
The area of bedroom and dining room is different according to the family composition. The type of units of housing in that time is usually the following:
Table 2: The old type of dwelling units
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Type</th>
<th>Residents</th>
<th>Bedrooms</th>
<th>Bedroom Area (m²)</th>
<th>Useable Area (m²)</th>
<th>Unit Area (m²)</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Single</td>
<td>for a couple</td>
<td>one</td>
<td>14</td>
<td>25</td>
<td>35</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Small</td>
<td>couple + a child or single older person</td>
<td>one and a half</td>
<td>21</td>
<td>32</td>
<td>45</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Middle</td>
<td>two couples or one couple + two children</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Middle</td>
<td>couple + two adult children of different sex</td>
<td>one large, two small</td>
<td>28</td>
<td>40</td>
<td>55</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Large</td>
<td>two couples + a child or a single older person</td>
<td>two large, one small</td>
<td>35</td>
<td>50</td>
<td>65</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>X Large</td>
<td>large families</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
*The second couple is either on set of parents or a married child.*
At the end of 1980s, many architects and professors asked to change the unit type. This means that with the same area, to decrease the area of the bedroom, to increase the area of the dining room and turn it into a living room with the function of the dining room. Its area is about 10~15 m². They asked to increase the area of the standard of the kitchen room and W.C. And these ideas were fulfilled gradually.
An Important By-law in Nanjing –Act No.176
An important reform in Nanjing on the redevelopment was enacted in 2000. When a redevelopment project happened in an old residence district, the developer company used to pay the owner of the old house by giving him a new apartment unit. The area of which was according to the owner’s family composition, about 7m² per person in residence-area plus the kitchen room and W.C. The residence-area means the useable bedroom and dining room area. It was often issued 1~5 years later, as the money for the replacement housing was available after most of the house for market were sold. But now, the developer company should pay the owner of the old housing the money immediately, according to the area, locality, quality of construction and any extras such as telephone and cable TV connections.
The Reform of Frame in Housing in City and Town
To help understand the comparison, it is necessary to introduce the Reform of Frame in Housing in 1996~2000. Bearing the huge press of the old system of housing as a social welfare, the central government of China decided a great reform in the housing frame, to stop welfare housing before 2000 and put housing into the open market. The first idea came from the 15th Congress of China Communist Party who called for the set up of the City and Town Habitation Development Reserve and for speeding up the Housing System Reform. Since every region has difference conditions, the premier’s office instructed each province to develop a plan. The Jiangsu Provincial Government and the Nanjing City Government developed plans according to their local conditions by December 31, 1998. In the transition stage, they did the following.
1. Set up a housing development reserve. Increase the employee’s salary a part for purchasing housing. Amount of salary as the increment should be saved. As the same amount should be saved by the employer for his employee at the same time.
2. Set up a low-accrual loan for purchase housing. It can be returned in ten years.
3. Set up a subsidy for low-income people. If any family’s income is lower than the lowest standard, and the area of his house is less than the lowest standard. He can purchase one low price house, special built with a subsidy.
4 Have all the welfare housing with a low rent sold to the occupant at a rebate price, according to the user’s age, length of employment, duty of job, the quality and location of the house, age of the house, the family size, etc.
5 Set up and improve a second hand housing market.
6 Increase the produce of housing for market and improve the management of land and building market, consequently lowering the price.
7 Support the low rent housing for lowest-income family.
The summary programme of the housing system reform is the following. To change the welfare housing arrangement into money in salary by the following steps
Step 1. In 1998 encourage housing purchase by the way of
1 The subsidy of purchasing house deals with the length of employment. It is 0.6% for every year of employment before 1992.
2 The subsidy of purchasing house deal with the duty area standard, it was 16% in 1998.
3 A rebate if the total price of the house is paid at one time.
At the same time on the other side, increase the rent of housing.
Step 2. In 1999 abolish the rebate used in 1998, and increase the housing price step by step by decreasing the subsidy every year, while increasing the rent of house again one by one years on the other side.
Step 3. In 2000, to abolish the welfare housing arrangement in general. The majority will buy housing with money from their salary, the housing development reserve, loans for private housing and some subsidy. The rent will continue to increase to a reasonable level.
Table 3: Housing Provision Rule in Act No. 278 year 1998 in Nanjing
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Family income type</th>
<th>Degree (RMB)</th>
<th>Housing provision</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Lowest income</td>
<td><140/month person</td>
<td>Low rent housing</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Low or middle income</td>
<td>>140/-50,000/year family</td>
<td>Low price housing or ordinary housing</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>More income</td>
<td>>50,000/year family</td>
<td>Housing over standard</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Table 4: The Housing Area Standard for Duty Subsidy in Act No. 278 year 1998
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Degree of duty</th>
<th>Area with subsidy (m2)</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Staff and common officer</td>
<td>75</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>'ke' degree, department of country officer</td>
<td>90</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>'chu' degree, country degree officer</td>
<td>110</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>'ting and ju' degree, bureau in city or province officer</td>
<td>135</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Analysis
The first project was designed for provincial government officers. They can get a bigger housing with a higher standard. Their area of apartment units including not only all these in the old standard as table 1, but also a living room about 15-25m². But it is lower than the new standard for duty subsidy in Act No.278 year 1998.
The second project was designed in 2001. Before the assignment file, or the demand document of a design competition was issued, the Nanjing Urban Planning Bureau had made a Zoning Plan of this area in 2000, as a by-law, named Mendong District Controlling Plan in Nanjing.
After the reform of the housing policy, the standard and the unit types were changed by the market. The needs of buyers have become varied, from less than 50 m² for low-income family to over 200 m² for high-income family. And not only apartments but also villas are on sale.
About 20 years ago, people all were poor, with a low living standard and in simple, identical living modes. If there was a redevelopment to improve the building for social reasons, under the old system, people living there could get new housing that met the basic housing need at that time. The new house was better than the old one of most of people in all of quantity, quality, basic technical infrastructure and function. So people enjoyed the old order of redevelopment at that time.
As the result of the 20 years Reform and Open Movement, following the improvement in living standards in recent years, many people became richer and wanted better houses, above the standard set previously. And different people have
different incomes, different family conditions and different individuality just like the increased variation in life styles, the housing requirements are also different. According to the early changes in the housing market, the city government changed the rules for redevelopment last year. This is a significantly improved policy. It has people’s acceptance and has improved the activity of housing market.
Accomplishments and Weaknesses
The experience of the Reform of Housing Frame in Town and City, in fact, is the course of giving some estate from government finance, in state owned, to citizen, in private, and then unloading the heavy burden of providing and maintaining so much estate state owned that over the ability. In this course the housing market got active; the GDP was improved by the industry of housing construction; and the most considerable accomplishment is most of the families living in town and city solved the serious shortage of housing in a long time, especially in the large cities such as Shanghai, Nanjing etc. But on the other side, some of low-income family have not got the solution of housing shortage especially those working in a slack factory state owned. The states of the difficulty in habitation are in different degrees and the requirements of solution plan are different as well. The families to which the low price housing should be provided can be divided to four kinds, by distinguishing the low-income from the middle-income families and by distinguishing those with serious difficulty finding housing from those with sub-standard housing.
Actors
The roles of actors in housing are so various that we have to describe and analyse all sorts of the actors one by one.
Actor 1 – The Client
The clients of the first project are the officers or the staff of the provincial government office. They got welfare housing at a low rent, of a higher standard than most of the people. It is about from 65 to 95 m². Housing was allocated according to a system. They were offered a house according to the person’s duty or job, the family conditions, age and the length of employment, etc.
The clients of the second project are from the open housing market. If the owner of an old house in this district wants to buy a new house there, he can get a subsidy.
Actor 2 – The Project Manager
The project manager in the first project was the Jiangsu Province Administration Business Bureau, in charge of offering and arranging housing used by the provincial government officers and staff. It is a government authority. It has a branch office named Construction Office, as a project manager. It got the money for housing from a government budget, according to the need of their clients. It paid the architecture office, applied for the permit of city authorities concerned, paid the construction company, arranged the construction site, accepted the housing constructed and then allocated it.
The project manager in the second project is the Qinghuai District Urban and Town Construction Comprehensive Development Company, a business company belonging to the Government of Qinghuai District, one of the six urban districts in Nanjing. It operates not only under the orders of market but also under administrative directives from the District government.
Actor 3 – The Authorities
In Nanjing, there are many authorities concerned with housing, e.g.: Construction Committee, to approve the project document, to receive the fee from the developer for civil basic service investment, to issue the building permit, and to coordinate investments of service companies, like Power Support Bureau, Water Support Company, Gas Company, Telecommunication Bureau, etc.
Many developers are discontent against the fee. This fee came from the old development system people used to. As you know, before the Reform and Open movement, upon the Soviet socialism order, our government keep a low tax, low budget and a low GNP. At the beginning of opening the building market, there were not enough money to prepare the land for development, and the road and other civil
Habitation in Nanjing
basic service. The land was sold unready and with people living there. The city government had to set up the road, bridge, power, gas and water etc. As one of the major source of the investment, the fee issued.
Although this money have the city government construct lots of civil service project important, it increase the housing cost and price in Nanjing inconsequently. **Project Plan Committee**, to approve the project document concerning the financial and budget plan.
**Urban Planning Bureau**, to issue ‘two permits and one book’ of construction or development project according to the Urban Planning Law, by-law, and City Planning. The ‘one book’ is the Judgement of Location about Site of Construction and Development Project. One of the ‘two permits’ is the Permit by Urban Planning about Land use for Construction and Development Project. Another is the Permit by Urban Planning about Construction and Development Projects.
The duty of the bureau before issuing the permit, includes:
1. To issue the Demand Document of Planning Design.
2. To review the plan designed by the architecture office, and to check the approval of other authorities, such as the fire-brigade, power support, water purveyance, gas support, drainage management, telecommunication, education, etc. And then:
- If the plan does not meet the requirements of planning or other authorities, it should be modified according to the Review Judgement.
- If the plan is suitable, the Review Judgement is issued to accept the plan and design the construction drawings.
3. Review the drawing and check the certificate from Construction Committee that the fee is paid for civil basic service investment. If all right, the permit should be issued.
**Land Bureau**, to collect the land use fee, to record the right to land use of building in the project, then to issue the Land Use Ownership Certificate of each building.
**Building Bureau**, to record the ownership of building in the project, to issue the Ownership Certificate of each building, and then to oversee the Housing Market.
**Municipal Service Bureau**, to manage basic urban services, such as roads, river sides, power support, water purveyance, gas support, drainage management, etc.
**Actor 4 – The Builders**
Considering the 20 years Economical Construction Reform, more and more farmers are leaving their rural land. They enter the city for jobs and to make money. Most of them find work in construction, and most employees in most of the construction companies come from the countryside, except those who build the important and high-technology buildings. They work hard, earning a low salary, resulting in lower construction costs. Because of the over-population in rural areas, the companies consisting of farmers have to face great competition. Lots of them have to invest money themselves into a project in order to get the project, and the project management always pays the cost later.
The construction companies made up of farmers have an active role in the housing market. They lower the cost of housing, but at the same time there is a need to train these new workers, because of the low quality of their product.
**Actor 5 – The Designer**
The Designer including the urban planner and the architect, play an important actor in habitation. Planners used to be employed by governments and big companies. They designed not only in general planning of city but also in zoning planning and some constructive detail planning just before a project design.
In front of both two projects in this paper there are constructive detail planning, even more the zoning planning. For detail seeing the next chapter–Design
Design
Description of Project 1 - Housing in Longjiang Residence District
Longjiang Residence District is in the west of Qinghuai River—parts of the city river in Nanjing, and the opposite of the old city wall—famous in the world for his size (more than 32 km) and his age (in the early of Min Dynasty, about 700 hundred years old). It is in the lower land of Qinghuai Delta, about 80 Ha in area. In the middle of 1980’s, there were never whole site for residence district inside the city wall and the near suburban district with better conditions of groundwork following the development of Nanjing. So the city government had to choose this delta area as the new residence site under the large press of housing shortage in Nanjing, although this area was said not suitable for building and planned as an agricultural area before.
As the first project in the West of Qinghuai River, the city government had to invest for a new bridge, roads and other basic urban services. This choice changed the land use planning so that there was not enough urban planning reserve when I received the role of project design. My architecture office had to revise the design plan so much times before the beginning of construction in 1991. In this residence district, there are one district degree community service centre and three residence zones. And the total building areas are about 800,000 m². In the centre, there are some public buildings including commercial buildings, service buildings and cultural buildings, the gymnasium, the centre of the elderly and a park over 50,000 m². In these three residence zone there are two middle schools, three grammar schools and five kindergarten. One of the three residence zones in the southeast was used for building houses for officers working in provincial government, and the total area of these houses is about 200,000 m².
Now, I’m not interested in the urban planning in this district, but will focus on the housing state in there. As an example of that time let us see one house following:
These apartments were designed according to the requirements of the Jiangsu Province Administration Business Bureau. For the middle degree officers, named ‘Chu’ and ‘Ting’, the smaller is 65 m², the bigger is 95 m². Each family can get a small room in the semi-under ground floor about 10 m² for parking their bicycles and as storeroom. And two terraces both in south and north are prepared for each family.
Description of Project 2 - Housing in Mendong Residence District
Background of the Politics Requirement and the Context Venation of Culture and Nature
The Mendong district, is located in the southeast of the old Nanjing City, to the east of the famous door of Ming Dynasty City Wall—named Zhonghuamen now and Jubaomen in antiquity. Keeping a typical frame of the old city in Ming and Qing Dynasty, the indigene people of Nanjing have been living there hundreds of years. They speak the dialect of Nanjing, and are called ‘the old Nanjing’s men’
The area of the district from the North, the road Changle to the South, the Ming City Wall, and from the East, the road Jiangning which nearby the Ming City Wall, to the west, the Inner Qinghuai River are about 92 Ha, and 43 Ha should be redeveloped. 7600 families live there. It is one of the few traditional old city districts have not been redeveloped.
For its long history, in there the famous Qinghuai River, the Castle of Zhonghuamen—a urn wall for door of Ming city wall’s, and the wall itself, some old house buildings with traditional culture and some old streets in traditional style are full filled the venation of culture and nature. But for lots reasons, there were few change in half a century, it is behind the other areas in Nanjing. The function and construction are in recession. With a large population, a narrow streets and weak basic urban service, lots of the buildings are over the use time with some dangerous potentially. The problem between development and defence are more and more. The expectations of improving the condition of housing are stronger and stronger from people. As a politics requirement, the city government decide to renew or redevelop this region at once even though they have not enough money now to get a higher
Habitation in Nanjing
As the income of the majority of people living here is lower in our city, two subventions will give them when they buy the new house in this residence:
1. 500 RMB for every m² of the old house they lived.
2. 3000 RMB per family for waiting the new house.
The Mendong District Controlling Planning in Nanjing
To actualize the General Planning in Nanjing and the District Planning, and to balance the environment protect and the economical development and the social need, according to the requirement of city government, to direct the redevelopment better, the control planning like a zoning planning was issued in 2000.
This planning including three parts: the document, the picture and the annexe, are used as a by-law in Nanjing. In the plan, we decided to divide the district into four zones:
1. The zone of reappearing the traditional housing style, confining the height of building lower than 9m.
2. The zone of style harmony, confining the height of building lower than 15m.
3. The zone of redevelopment, confining the height of building lower than 33m.
4. And the zone of renew for the facade.
We also ruled the street style and wide, and the backward distance of building from the road. We decided that the land use should be rectified to increase the residence land and to decrease the industry land, and migrate out some population.
We emphasized the link between this region to the famous downtown-Fuzimiao (Confucian’s temple) both on the road and the river as well.
In the picture we zoned each plot of land for different use character and intension. The area of this planning is about 69.35 Ha. The major content are the following:
1. To restructure the land use in this region, to decrease the percentage of industry land, to intensify the function of residence, complete the community services.
2. To migrate out some population to improve the living situation.
3. To adjust the traffic net and improve the basic urban service to suitable the modern urban function and living support.
4. To intensify the planning control and the construction guidance of the open space along the Inner Qinghuai River and the green belt along the Ming Dynasty City Wall, in order to form a comfortable situation and landscape with context of history and culture.
5. To keep the feature of space form and placement conformation of the folk housing with a clear context.
ordinary floor plan
semi-under ground floor plan, a storeroom for each family
Figure 7 the floor plans, facades, and the sections of a housing in project 1.
Figure 8: The four zones with different height control: the umber, 9m; the yellow, 15m; the green, 33m; the blue, renew zone
Floor plan in 1 of the 'duoceng' project
floor plan in 2 of the 'duoceng' project
floor plan of high building
Habitation in Nanjing
Figure 9: some ordinary housing in project 2 designed under the rule of zoning planning
The Mendong Residence District Planning and Housing in It
Table 5 The total figure of the planning
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Category</th>
<th>Value</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Plots for redevelopment (zones of reppearing, harmony and redevelopment)</td>
<td>27.52Ha</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Area of building</td>
<td>417,927(M^2)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Area of housing building</td>
<td>401,316(M^2)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Building capacity Rate (Building area/Plots area)</td>
<td>1.52</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Building density (construction area/Plots area)</td>
<td>29.9%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Number of family</td>
<td>4143</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
The plot site plan was designed according to the zoning planning. I’m not going to cost too much size of letter for it. I’m just interested in the housing design:
1. Type of unit: according to the principle of design following life, zone the private space from the common in family clearly and be suitable to the function of family life. Discover the functional space potential, improve the situation quality indoor by placement fitment and basic services. In order to vary the style of architecture and suit the site shape, 22 kinds of apartment unit were designed there.
2. Housing groups: following the context of traditional folk housing, create some housing groups to get some sub-independent space quiet and comfortable.
3. Style: varied in plan and facade for weakening the feeling of scale and varying the style.
4. Colour and material: the use of black roof and white wall, and some symbol of traditional style.
5. Detail, indoor and outdoor–courtyard design etc.
Table 6 Situation of apartment units in Mendong residence District Planning
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>No.</th>
<th>Area (M²)</th>
<th>Useable area (M²)</th>
<th>of useable (%)</th>
<th>Number of units</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>A</td>
<td>90.66</td>
<td>65.98</td>
<td>72.78</td>
<td>26</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>B</td>
<td>112.34</td>
<td>85.07</td>
<td>75.73</td>
<td>4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>C</td>
<td>Ca 123.04</td>
<td>Ca 94.66</td>
<td>76.39</td>
<td>14</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>D</td>
<td>Da 84.06</td>
<td>Da 64.64</td>
<td>76.90</td>
<td>62</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>E</td>
<td>Ea 64.74</td>
<td>Ea 60.57</td>
<td>71.48</td>
<td>38</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>F</td>
<td>Fa 114.61</td>
<td>Fa 87.59</td>
<td>76.22</td>
<td>2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>G</td>
<td>Ga 112.99</td>
<td>Ga 85.12</td>
<td>75.33</td>
<td>12</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>H</td>
<td>118.5</td>
<td>93.36</td>
<td>79.80</td>
<td>66</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>J</td>
<td>Ja 94.85</td>
<td>Ja 71.27</td>
<td>75.14</td>
<td>82</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>K</td>
<td>121.8</td>
<td>95.01</td>
<td>78.00</td>
<td>30</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>L</td>
<td>La 92.12</td>
<td>La 72.12</td>
<td>78.29</td>
<td>56</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>M</td>
<td>Ma 74.91</td>
<td>Ma 57.12</td>
<td>76.25</td>
<td>180</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>N</td>
<td>Na 91.85</td>
<td>Na 71.92</td>
<td>78.30</td>
<td>26</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>O</td>
<td>66.84</td>
<td>50.0</td>
<td>76.21</td>
<td>10</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>P</td>
<td>Qa 113.58</td>
<td>Qa 94.88</td>
<td>83.54</td>
<td>33</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Q</td>
<td>Qb 119.13</td>
<td>Qb 96.65</td>
<td>81.13</td>
<td>34</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>R</td>
<td>90.66</td>
<td>90.66</td>
<td>90.66</td>
<td>34</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>S</td>
<td>Sa 137.3</td>
<td>Sa 114.8</td>
<td>83.61</td>
<td>10</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Some ordinary housing are there. Two of them are suitable for the zone of style harmony, with four or five floors. The other is used in the zone of redevelopment, with eleven floors. The plan was designed according to the study of major needs in market. The areas of units varied followed:
Table 7: areas of units in Figure 9
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Plan</th>
<th>Variety of area (M²)</th>
<th>Used in the zone of</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>1 of ‘duoceng’</td>
<td>68, 74, 84, 92</td>
<td>style harmony</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2 of ‘duoceng’</td>
<td>86, 94, 118, 122</td>
<td>style harmony</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>High building</td>
<td>90, 98</td>
<td>redevelopment</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
* ‘duoceng’ means the apartment floors from 4 to 6 in Nanjing
Analysis
By the comparison of these projects, we can find:
The first, the areas of housing increased and the condition of live increased too.
Table 8: Comparison of housing situation
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Situation</th>
<th>Before redevelopment</th>
<th>Old standard</th>
<th>Project 1</th>
<th>Project 2</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Area of unit (M²)</td>
<td>35~65</td>
<td>65~95</td>
<td>68~122</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Num of toilet</td>
<td>In common</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>1 or 2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Room with window</td>
<td>B. K. and some D.</td>
<td>B. K. and some D. and W.C</td>
<td>B. K. and some L. and W.C</td>
<td>All the rooms except the second W.C</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Num of terrace</td>
<td>no</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>1 or 2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Tap Water</td>
<td>In common or family</td>
<td>Each family</td>
<td>Each family</td>
<td>Each family</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Power (220V)</td>
<td>5A or common</td>
<td>5A</td>
<td>10A</td>
<td>10 or the more</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>gas</td>
<td>no</td>
<td>Some</td>
<td>Each family</td>
<td>Each family</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Telephone interface</td>
<td>no</td>
<td>no</td>
<td>To the door of each family</td>
<td>To the door of each family</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
The second, we can find that the preparation of urban planning before a project design was more sufficient in project 2 than that in project 1.
And the third, the shortage of budget, and keeping the balance of social, economic and the environment, especially for those lowest-income people, are both existing in the two projects.
Conclusions and Recommendations
We have got so much success in housing. Known from the report from Nanjing Construction Committee, from 1996 to 2000, 1.55 million m² housing was built. The residence area personal increased from 8.1 m² in 1995, to 9.7 m² in 2000. And 85% people lived in unital housing till 2000. Mr. Xie, the chief of the Department of Estate in Construction Ministry, said just in Nanjing in 2001 that:
1 The investment in estate development is 500 billions (RMB) in 2000, and 330 inside is for housing, growth 28%
2 The house was sold for 295 billions (RMB), 35% growth, and 87.5% was sold to private personal purchase
3 Loan for housing purchase is 200 billions (RMB) in 2000, it is 74 billions (RMB) in 1999
4 The second-hand housing market is beginning and developed in Shanghai city
5 The standard of quality rose
6 The services after-sale developed, etc.
But there are some things that are not satisfactory, such as the programme of how to solve the house shortage of lowest-income people. It is because of the inertia of the old housing system and socialism principle. Even in the new rule of housing we cannot quantify the area of housing from buyer’s income, but fix with the social degree’s standard, although this standard is referred to the housing building cost in their regions.
Another one is to improve the work of budget in both the planning and the designs. Redevelopment in the old city is expensive with the preservation of the historical culture legacy and the environment requirement. If the government or someone could not put in enough money subsidy, the goal of environment should have to be decreased, and the worth of history be damaged to get the balance of money of developer. If we can bear the press of society to delay the redevelopment may be one way, in order to amass money enough. Otherwise we should have to decrease the order of environment. It is why the rule about the population in Mendong District plan had to over the by-law at last.
We must do the work better of balance the three kind of efficiency, such as the society, economy and the environment. We should find a way in the redevelopment in old city especially in that area there is lot of culture left. Means how to use the economical rule to run the redevelopment with environment protection. E.g. we can prepare some lands for development as a return to this company who is going to
Lu Xiaoning
redevelopment the old regions with a higher environment requirement like Mendong District.
Another work should be done is set and improve the second hand housing market. In this case we can increase the variety of the source of housing market. The owner of lower-standard house may sell out their house on the price of market, then with a little more money buy a bigger one to improve his habitation situation. By the way the old house which smaller or lower standard can be offered to the low-income people to buy or rent.
There are some successful experience in Shanghai city in this way. In 1991, when the reform of housing system was beginning in Shanghai, the problem of housing shortage is the most serious in all the cities in China. People in Shanghai used to say they have to live in the shell of shellfish. But now 2millions families, about 93%, have buyed the house for themselves. For example, Mr. Zheng built the old Felware housing he lived for many years by 13,000RMB in 1995 in the price with subsidy of reform of housing, and became a owner of estate. In 2000, Zheng sold this house second hand in the price of 190,000 RMB. Then he borrowed 100,000 RMB housing loan in 10 years, plus 100,000 RMB saved himself. The total cost was 390,000RMB for a new house about 106m² with living room, dining room and two bedrooms.
We should also distinguish the tax from fee regional and unnecessary, so as to decrease the cost and then the price of housing in Nanjing. Today, the price of house in Nanjing is one of these highest cities, followed Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. But the living level or standard are lower than these cities, not in the same level yet.
We will subdivide these families of housing shortage. At first we must solve the habitation problem of these people with serious difficulty both in income and in housing situation, before improve those only lower than the housing standard or middle-income people. We are going to build some low price housing in some suburban district with free tax and fee, about 1,300 RMB/m². Now the price on average in China is about 1,951 RMB/m². ‘the Rule to Offering House to Lowest Income People in Nanjing’ is going to issue in this year.
For the all of the habitation in Nanjing, there is a long march we should to go.
References
Nanjing Urban Planning Bureau
Architecture Department of Southeast University
Nanjing City Government
Jiangsu Province Government |
Knotation: Exploring and Documenting Choreographic Processes
Marianela Ciolfi Felice, Sarah Fdili Alaoui, Wendy E. Mackay
LRI, Univ. Paris-Sud, CNRS, Inria, Université Paris-Saclay
F-91400 Orsay, France
{mciolfi, saraloui, mackay}@lri.fr
ABSTRACT
Contemporary choreographers often interact directly with dancers when exploring their ideas, but lack adequate tools for capturing and documenting their work. Although our first study of choreographers and dancers revealed diverse strategies for recording choreographic fragments, we found that they all worked in terms of constraints, which they represented via spatial diagrams, as movement qualities or with their own personal notation system. This led to the design of Knotation, a mobile pen-based tool that lets choreographers sketch their own representations of choreographic ideas and render them interactive. In study two, Knotation served as a technology probe to support the contrasting practices of three professional choreographers. We revised Knotation based on their input, and ran a third structured observation study with six professional choreographers. Knotation easily supported both dance-then-record and record-then-dance strategies. Participants used and appropriated Knotation’s advanced features, including the combination of interactive timelines and floorplan diagrams, to represent and explore complex choreographic structures.
ACM Classification Keywords
H.5.2 [User Interfaces]: Evaluation/methodology, Prototyping, User-centered design
Author Keywords
Choreography; Creativity Support; Technology Probes; Sketch-based Interaction; Pen-based Interaction; Tablets
INTRODUCTION
When creating a dance piece, choreographers start from a particular stimulus, from which they develop a generative idea to explore [38]. From this point on, each path is unique, with nearly as many approaches as professional choreographers.
The choreographic creative process is both interactive and iterative: Schiporst et al. [38] describe how each choreographer “interacts with the idea, shaping it and being influenced by it, in a cyclic evolutionary process.”
Our previous study [12] of contemporary choreographers found that, even though each choreographer’s creative process is unique and changes over time, they all define choreographic objects, which represent their ideas at different levels of abstraction, and combine them with operations, such as reordering elements and establishing transitions. Choreographers explore these concepts in their minds and with the dancers’ bodies, but also generate artefacts, including inspiring images, annotated sketches, and video clips of dance fragments.
Choreographers lack a common method for representing dance. Instead, they rely primarily on their individual and collective memory to link their ideas and document their work. Formal systems such as Laban [30] or Benesh [4] notations are used mostly by big dance companies who can afford a full-time notator. Contemporary choreographers rarely use these systems, because they are designed to document finished work and are cumbersome to deploy, thus not suitable for early exploration phases. According to Heyward [25]: “Dance notation is arcane, and mostly inessential to the art of dance.” Choreographers often capture intermediate phases of their work with video. However, few incorporate interactive technology as a fundamental part of their creative process, even those who use motion capture or interactive sound and visuals as part of their work.
We are interested in designing interactive digital tools that support both idea exploration and early-stage documentation for choreographic composition. We first review related work and then report results of a day-long observational study of dancers and choreographers. We introduce Knotation v1 and present a study of three choreographers who used it as a technology probe [27]. We then describe Knotation v2 with our findings from a structured observation of six choreographers. We conclude with directions for future research.
RELATED WORK
A variety of tools have been created to support augmented sketching for design, education and general-purpose notetaking. In the context of choreography, researchers and practitioners have introduced new technologies to augment, annotate and archive choreographers’ final work.
Augmented sketching and note-taking
Among the extensive research in augmented sketching and note-taking, we focus on tools that let users add personal meaning to their sketches and notes, especially those that render sketches interactive, either through explicit actions by the user or by recognising objects from the user’s strokes.
Some tools focus on helping designers specify and refine their design ideas. SILK [31] lets designers sketch user interface elements with a pen or a mouse, for example, drawing a scroll bar that they can then interact with. Similarly, DENIM [32] is a pen-based system that supports early-stage web design. Web designers can sketch different interface components and transform them into working prototypes. DEMAIS [1] is a pen-based desktop tool that lets designers sketch interactive behaviour and generate interactive storyboards, which they can edit with a dedicated visual language. Gross and Do’s [23] pen-based system captures the vagueness and intended ambiguity in diagrams, in the context of creative design.
Moran et al.’s [33] pen-based techniques and Mynatt et al.’s Flatland [34] are among the earliest attempts to augment whiteboards, allowing office workers to organise notes and other information during meetings. Livenotes [28] was designed as a collaborative augmented note-taking tool for the classroom. A more recent example, InkAnchor [36], is a pen-based tool for informal note-taking with a mobile device. InkSeine [26] explored a pen-based approach for active note-taking, supporting searching and the incorporation of multimedia files.
We are particularly inspired by projects designed to support artistic practices such as contemporary music composition. For example, both Musink [42] and Paper Composer [21] let composers explore their ideas on interactive paper, using Anoto technology\(^1\). They can create personal musical symbols, notations and structures and link them directly to music composition software. Knotty Gestures [43] offers a minimalist technique for adding mathematical functions, audio and video recordings as well as other features to hand-drawn notes and sketches. Users simply draw a tiny circle or knot on any line, and select the desired function from a menu on an Anoto Livescribe pen. Although these and other related systems offer interesting possibilities, none are fully applicable to choreographic practice, which must capture movements of one or more dancers as they move through space over time, according to the underlying principles specified by the choreographer.
Augmenting the choreographic process
Professional choreographers and researchers explored new technologies to achieve various goals, including generating movement material and interacting with existing movement vocabularies. (See Fdili Alaoui et al. [19] for an extensive overview of systems that support choreographic composition.) One of the most well known is LifeForms [38, 7], designed in 1990 for the choreographer Merce Cunningham. He could select various body postures to simulate dance movements that could be combined to create new dance sequences.
More recent tools include iDanceForms [8], which generates new movements using a camera still frame technique, and Scuddle [9], which uses genetic algorithms to trigger unfamiliar and thus novel movement choices. The Choreographic Language Agent [11] provides a programming environment for exploring mappings between geometric visualisations and movement in the studio. Instead of prompting dancers with specific movement directions, dancers must solve generated choreographic problems by creating new movements.
Some technology supports dancers during performances. Hatwick et al.’s [24] family of digital musical instruments are worn as prosthetic extensions to dancers’ bodies, influencing both their movements and the resulting music. Fdili Alaoui et al. [18], together with the dance company Emio Greco|PC, created an interactive installation that incorporated visualisations of movement qualities developed by the company during their Double Skin/Double Mind workshop. Each of these interactive technologies can serve as a stimulus during the creation phase or for the final performance. Although they offer users with new choreographic possibilities, each was designed to support a particular choreographic approach or idiosyncratic vocabulary. The challenge remains: How can we design tools that support a wide range of choreographic practices?
Annotating choreographic artefacts
Today, most choreographers rely on a combination of paper sketches and video to capture their choreographic decisions. The Creation-Tool [6] runs on a tablet PC and is intended for use during rehearsals. The choreographer can record video of dance sequences, and annotate them with voice and hand-written notes. The Choreographer’s Notebook [40] offers similar functionality with a collaborative web-based tool. Choreographers and dancers can annotate video outside of rehearsals, which lets them conserve scarce resources. They can also document their choreographic process and revisit earlier choreographic choices. Rekall [2] is an on-line platform for the performing arts, where users can gather a variety of artefacts about a production (e.g. video, pictures, audio), organise it, annotate it, and compare it with other productions. This not only allows artists to preserve their work, but also enables researchers to identify patterns across multiple productions. Although each of these systems lets choreographers and dancers assemble and annotate their sketches, images and videos, none offers choreographers a higher level representation of the choreographic objects they develop for each piece.
Archiving Choreography
A major challenge is how to capture a choreographer’s finished work, so it can be archived and performed even after the choreographer is gone. Multiple initiatives have been launched to preserve contemporary choreographic knowledge, including Motion Bank\(^2\), IMK\(^3\), and Siobhan Davies Dance’s Digital Archive [17]. The Synchronous Objects [35] project provides on-line interactive documentation of William Forsythe’s One flat thing, reproduced, including interactive visualisations that
\(^1\)The Anoto pen’s camera captures gestures on paper printed with a computer-readable, human-invisible dot pattern. (www.anoto.com)
\(^2\)www.motionbank.org
\(^3\)insidemovementknowledge.net
play with specific choreographic elements, such as counterpoint, that inspire choreographers to generate new material. Both Synchronous Objects and Forsythe’s DVD Improvisation Technologies [20] – which includes visualisations of Forsythe’s vocabulary and material – were created from annotations, with the goal of documenting and reflecting on choreographic structures, such as alignment and cues between dancers.
Emio GrecoPC’s DVD Capturing Intention [16] documents choreographic material from the company’s Double Skin/Double Mind workshop, using descriptions, Laban and Benesh notations, demonstrative video clips and sound material. Ribeiro et al. [37] used 3D data capture to document choreographer Joao Fiãdeiro’s choreography, and worked with him to derive a set of concepts that later guided improvisation sessions and influenced visualisations of his creative process.
These systems focus on documenting the final outcome of a particular choreographer’s work, and, sometimes, the idiosyncratic nature of the choreographer’s individual creative process. We seek a more general approach that supports diverse choreographers, with diverse approaches, during early exploration and later documentation of the creative process.
STUDY 1: CHOREOGRAPHIC IDEAS ON PAPER
Before designing new tools for choreographers, we need to better understand how they explore ideas without interactive technology. We ran an observational study with choreographers and dancers where they captured their ideas on paper.
Participants
We recruited a professional male choreographer with 34 years of experience as the lead choreographer and four of his regular collaborators, all women, including two choreographers, one dance professor, and one dancer.
Setup
We reserved the lead choreographer’s normal rehearsal theatre. He had just begun a newly commissioned work, which served as the foundation for the day’s activities. We discussed the process with him, and he was free to propose specific exercises and determine the roles of the other participants. He decided that each dancer would create her own choreographic fragment individually. Together, we chose a set of activities that fit into his established work practice, while also providing data we could compare across participants.
Procedure
Each session lasts approximately four hours, including a working lunch break. The composition activity involves composing a choreographic fragment. The lead choreographer (LC) decides when to stop (approximately one hour). Participants capture the dance fragment on paper using A3 paper, coloured pens, highlighters, stickers, and post-it notes. The transformation activity involves transforming the choreographic fragment (approximately one hour). Participants choose a set of operations to apply to the fragment. We provide possible operations inspired by the framework in [12], including: sequence, reorder, reuse, vary speed, rhythm, energy, or spatial patterns, define transitions, add detail, and abstract a choreographic object, but LC is free to suggest alternatives. When LC asks the
dancers to stop, each updates her annotations. Participants are debriefed at the end of the session, and asked for explanations of their annotations from both activities.
Data collection
We recorded video and audio of the session and took pictures and hand-written notes.
Data analysis
We analysed our notes, photographs, videos, and participants’ explanations of their annotations to identify which aspects of the choreographic fragments they captured and how they were represented. We looked for both common patterns and unique annotation practices.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The LC brought images as a creative stimulus and showed participants a set of eight words to inspire sculpture-like body postures, with the constraint of finding linear, fluid transitions between them. He asked each participant to create her own choreographic fragment. During the composition activity, each participant performed her choreographic fragment in turn, based on the LC’s directions. During the transformation activity, the LC asked participants to focus on repetition as a key operation for transforming their fragments. One participant joined the session late, when the others were about to annotate their fragments, so she captured hers without dancing it first. The LC remarked that writing the movement had an impact in the way she moved, “especially in the use of space and orientations”. Interestingly, the LC only took notes about the fragments while the participants were performing.
Choreographic objects
As in [12], we found that all participants represent their choreographic ideas by defining choreographic objects at different levels of abstraction and detail, which they illustrate with a combination of sketches, text, symbols, and diagrams. For example, some participants drew floorplans (diagrams that represent spatial trajectories, as seen from above), focusing on the displacement of the body with respect to the stage. They also sketched different body postures, which let them focus on the details of a particular moment of the fragment (Fig. 1).
Although LC created the higher-level choreographic object (here, the eight sculpture-like postures) the participants all
composed their own individual variations, at varying levels of detail. Their sketches each contained different subsets of choreographic elements. For example, only P2 (dancer) represented movement duration in her floorplan, and only P4 (choreographer and dancer) considered music and lights.
Personal sublanguages
One participant (P1, dance professor and dancer) had already created her own personal sublanguage, which she used to represent movement, including spins and shifts in weight or direction (Fig. 2). The other participants created their own ad-hoc sublanguages during the activity. All four participants created legends to explain their symbols.
Different representations of choreographic objects
All participants annotated movement qualities, i.e. the qualitative attributes and characteristics of movement [5]. For example, P1 and P2 mapped symbols to personally meaningful words: P1 described movements as “tight - contracted” whereas P2 used “uneven” or “dented”. Most participants (3/4) annotated “movement intentions”, with differing levels of detail and type of representation (symbols and words). All recorded transition speeds, but in idiosyncratic ways. For example, P4 used words related to speed (e.g. “very fast”); others assigned specific symbols. All but one participant (3/4) specified “levels”, i.e. the height a movement is performed with respect to the floor, and used symbols, text or both to specify rotation, body orientation, or gaze direction.
All participants created floorplan diagrams for the sculpture-like postures, with transitions among them. Each participant created different line styles to uniquely represent transitions. For example, P3 (choreographer and dancer) added complex symbols representing qualities and intentions for each transition (Fig. 1). Interestingly, although P2 drew lines to show transitions, she left trajectories “free”, but constrained movement qualities and “moments of transformation”. Her lines indicated movement duration, rather than a concrete spatial trajectory. Diverse techniques for representing postures in floorplans included: numbers (P1, P3), coloured-dot stickers (P2), and crosses (P4). Participants also found diverse ways to draw and annotate postures: P2 specified body part positions with symbols indicating the main movement quality, P3 wrote keywords, and P4 sketched minimalist postures inline with text descriptions.
Participants often created multiple representations of the same choreographic object. P1’s posture sketches included a symbol for the main quality, with arrows to indicate gaze direction and the intended movement of each arm and foot. Yet her diagram marked only arm and foot positions, or sometimes a single arm for a particular posture, because she wanted to emphasise that “it was extended”. She produced multiple views of the same object, from different perspectives (above versus front), and at different levels of detail (position of the whole body versus arms and feet).
Diversity in annotating operations
Participants found different ways to capture repetition: P1 placed an asterisk next to each repeated part, with a more detailed view below (Fig. 2). P2 either wrote a number to specify the number of times or a symbol to indicate randomness. P3 listed movement sequences, including the number of repetitions (Fig. 1), and P4 created a new diagram that incorporated her modifications of the first fragment, making explicit the changes from her original choreographic objects.
Rules behind the movement
Most participants annotated the rules that constrain and describe the movement in their fragments, rather than the movement itself. In fact, P2 referred to her legend as a “panel of possibilities” from which “it is possible to choose”.
Summary
We observed considerable variability in how participants represent choreographic objects and operations, even given the same initial constraints (eight words to inspire eight postures, with linear transitions between them). Participants also varied greatly in their choice of which aspects to capture for each fragment. Even so, several common features emerged: All participants specified movement speed and movement qualities; all drew spatial diagrams (floorplans); and all sketched rules and constraints with respect to the movements, using a combination of sketches, personal sublanguages, diagrams, and text.
DESIGNING KNOTATION V1
In previous research [12], we argue that choreographers’ tools should support free sketching, integrated images and video, and multiple representations and views of choreographic objects. Choreographers should be able to draw the overall structure of a piece, and transition easily between abstraction and detail. The results of Study 1 suggest that choreographers want to express choreographic concepts in terms of both space and time, and to represent movement in terms of constraints, through combinations of drawings, text and numbers.
Meaning should emerge during the choreographic process: Choreographers must be able to modify the meaning of particular choreographic objects, delay decisions, and freely explore different combinations. Rather than forcing choreographers to follow a particular approach or interrupting their creative flow, our goal is to help them create and interact with their own representations. This follows Shneiderman’s design principles
We introduce Knotation, which builds on the minimalist approach of Knotty Gestures [43] to add interactive functionality to the choreographer’s sketches. However, instead of interactive paper, Knotation runs on Apple’s iPad Pro™, which can be easily brought into the dance studio. Choreographers can incorporate live pictures and video, as well as pre-recorded material. They can sketch, link and interact with their own choreographic structures and notations with the Apple Pencil™. The goal is to provide an open-ended, easy-to-use system that supports the early phases of choreographic exploration and documentation.
**Figure 3. Knotation v1:** Knot attached to a zigzag trajectory. Tapping the knot reveals three attributes: quality, energy and speed. Here, the knot defines a ‘percussive’ quality, with a slider to indicate speed.
Everything the user draws with the pen is considered a choreographic object. Users can add functionality to these sketches by placing the pen on the surface and dwelling, which produces a small dot or knot. Knots can be created in the flow of writing or drawing, at the beginning, middle or end of any pen stroke. Users can add interactive features by tapping a knot and selecting the desired function. Knots are first-class objects that can be moved, cloned, edited, or deleted.
Knots can have multiple attributes (speed, energy, unison, and quality), whose values are set via a controller (a number, a slider, or text). Fig. 3 shows a knot where the user assigned a text controller to the quality attribute and typed “percussive”, and added a slider controller to the speed attribute. To reduce visual clutter, the attributes assigned to a knot only appear when the user interacts with it.
The user can link a knot to any image or video file in the photo library. For example, a choreographer might want to sketch a floorplan and attach a rehearsal video of the corresponding section of the piece. The user adds a knot to the border of the floorplan, and links it to the video file. The user can then play the video by tapping on the knot; a second tap causes the video frame to disappear. The user can reposition both videos and images by dragging-and-dropping with the finger, and adjust the size with a pinch gesture.
**Knotation v1** provides the floorplans identified in Study 1, where users define movement through space using trajectories, and also introduces timelines to let them define temporal sequences. Users define floorplans and timelines by attaching the corresponding type of knot to any type of line, including curves, circles and diagonal lines.
Users can also create portals that provide a link from the original choreographic object to a more detailed or more abstracted view of it. The user adds a portal knot and taps it to create a new canvas. The user can return to the original object by tapping on the portal knot that appears automatically at the top of the new canvas. Unlike other knots, cloning a portal does not generate a copy, but instead provides alternate access to the same object.
In summary, Knotation v1 should let choreographers:
- compose the space, time and structure of a piece by sketching floorplans with trajectories and timelines;
- create multiple views at different levels of abstraction and link them via portals; and
- represent movement constraints via attributes and controllers.
**STUDY 2: KNOTATION V1 AS A TECHNOLOGY PROBE**
Study 1 examined how contemporary choreographers and dancers define their choreographic ideas on paper. We introduced Knotation v1 as a technology probe [27] with three choreographers, which let us observe how they express these ideas and make them interactive. Study 2 extends our understanding by focusing on the capture of inspiring practices and cases of appropriation, as well as triggering and discussing ideas with participants.
**Participants**
We recruited three professional choreographers (two men, one woman), with four to 34 years of experience. All use one or more of the following to record their work: paper, video, word processing, and graphical editing tools. One participant was the lead choreographer from Study 1. One researcher is also a trained dancer/choreographer and served as a volunteer dancer.
**Hardware and Software**
Knotation v1, described above, runs on a 12.9” iPad Pro™ running iOS 10.2, with an Apple Pencil™ input. Knotation v1 is implemented in Swift 3 and uses Apple’s AVKit and AVFoundation frameworks to manage video (in particular, the AVPlayer controller object). It relies on default gesture recognisers to handle user input from fingers or the pen, to recognise tap, pan, pinch, and long-press gestures. We use two ad-hoc gesture recognisers: one for panning with the pen, which generates drawn strokes and one for long-pressing (which creates a knot).
**Setup**
We ran each session in a local dance studio, which had chairs, a bench and a table. Participants could use the tablet in any position, including standing up, on the floor, or on a table.
**Procedure**
Each session lasts approximately two hours. Participants receive a live, 2.5-minute scripted demonstration of Knotation v1’s basic functionality. Next, they play with the tool until they feel comfortable, up to 5 minutes. The researchers answer any questions regarding the available functionality. Activity 1 involves composition of a short choreographic fragment for
We identified two contrasting strategies among participants. We placed a camera on a tripod behind each participant to focus either on concrete movements or on the rules that involved transformation of the composed fragment for about 30 minutes. Participants may define transitions, reorder parts, structure the fragment, etc. The session concludes with a 15-minute debriefing session, followed by a 10-minute interview.
Data collection
We placed a camera on a tripod behind each participant to record video and audio of each session, and also took pictures, close-up videos, and written notes.
Data analysis
During the debriefing, we asked participants to explain each choreographic object. We analysed our notes, pictures, and videos, in order to find common patterns across participants, capture inspiring practices and identify examples of appropriation that might trigger new design ideas.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Contrasting user strategies: Movement versus constraints
We identified two contrasting strategies among participants who focused either on concrete movements or on the rules that define them. P3 documented the particular movements he had composed, through video and textual notes. By contrast, P1 only documented and transmitted the constraints the dancers had to meet in order to perform the fragment. P2 did both: He manipulated video knots from the choreographic fragments he recorded, and played with attributes to capture the rules behind them.
During the composition activity, P1 asked four research team members to serve as volunteer dancers. She explained her main choreographic object: Two dancers form a “wall” by moving sideways along a diagonal, while the other two close their eyes and move, with the “follower” trying to mirror the movements of the “leader”. She then filmed the dancers performing the fragment. Finally she used Knotation v1 to create an alignment relationship between the two “wall” dancers (Fig. 4). She drew a diagonal line with arrows to indicate the possible directions of the movement, but did not define the concrete trajectories that the dancers had to follow. She also drew a “plane” of dots at both sides of the diagonal, to indicate the area in which the other two dancers were allowed to move.
User strategies vary according to the type of piece
One participant adopted two distinct strategies for recording ideas, according to the type of piece. At the beginning of the session, P3 worked on a fragment of a contemporary dance piece he was revising. He used Knotation v1 to create an “index” or overview of the piece, which consisted of a vertical list of textual elements corresponding to each part of the choreography. He marked several phrases to help him remember the details. He created one knot per item and per transition and then filmed several elements which he linked to the knots. He considered defining his “index” as a timeline, but decided against it, remarking that it was more of an “ordering” than a timeline.
When he began annotating a tango fragment, P3 changed his approach, switching to his own formal notation and video knots to annotate the phrases. His system [41] represents each tango step as a symbol. Both partners use the same score: The leader reads the string of symbols from left to right, and the follower stands in front and reads them from right to left.
Using Knotation for improvisation and transmission
P3 appropriated Knotation v1 in a creative way: He asked the dancer, who had never danced tango, to perform several phrases with him, holding the iPad between them. He then wrote a symbol for each step, which they read in silence as they performed, improvising the choreographic fragment.
Appropriating portals to define relationships
Instead of using portals to record additional detail about a choreographic object, P1 cloned them to establish a relationship between two dancers and indicate that they had to perform the same movement.
Triggering interaction ideas
Once their choreographic ideas became interactive, participants sought additional ways of interacting with them. For example, P3 suggested that, when attaching a video knot to a trajectory, the user could trace the trajectory with the pen to advance or rewind the video, which would link two views of the same choreographic object, one in 2D and the other in 3D. He also wanted to create his own toolbox of reusable instruments. For example, a triangular “focus tool” could be rotated to point in the desired direction.
Revealing the meaning of a knot
The knots in Knotation hid the details of their associated functionality to avoid cluttering the screen. However, participants wanted the opposite: to reveal their meaning. P1 wanted the knot to appear as an icon indicating its content, e.g. a video icon for a video knot. P2 and P3 wanted different colours for different types of knots, for easy identification.
4Kirsh [29] defines marking in dance as “executing a dance phrase in a simplified, schematic or abstracted form”.
Figure 4. Study 2: Representing constraints with Knotation v1 (P1).
We focused on turning floorplans and timelines into first-class tools. We observed diverse exploration and documentation strategies within this figure are considered. Knotnotation v1 made her "reflect on what is possible." He also added that "the tool could definitely help" him during his creative process, for example to create a "stable grid" to organise his work because otherwise he is "chaotic".
**Summary**
We observed diverse exploration and documentation strategies that captured only movement, only constraints, or a combination. Knotnotation v1 successfully supported this diversity across participants and when a single choreographer used different approaches for different dance genres. Once they were able to express their choreographic ideas in Knotnotation v1, they sought additional ways to interact with them. They appropriated the available functions, and proposed specific new features. Interestingly, participants wanted knots to reveal their characteristics, rather than just encapsulate functionality, which suggests they saw knots as a way to add personal meaning to their sketches.
Study 2 offered three types of results:
- **Empirical**: the introduction of the concept of typed knots to define floorplans and timelines encouraged participants to explore additional possibilities for expressing movement, constraints or both;
- **Design**: in addition to suggesting specific features such as colour and knot icons, participants sought to embed interactive constraints within their choreographic objects; and
- **Technical**: we identified bugs (which lead to an autosave feature), technical challenges (e.g. optimising stroke rendering) and ways to simplify common operations (e.g. deleting objects).
**ITERATING THE DESIGN: KNOTINATION V2**
The results of Study 2 influenced the design of Knotnotation v2. We focused on turning floorplans and timelines into first-class interactive objects, and permitting users to move or duplicate any object on the screen. We also added a number of features specifically requested by study participants.
Creating an interactive floorplan begins by drawing a closed area (within a certain tolerance) and attaching a floorplan knot. The border turns orange, indicating that the figure is now interpreted as an enclosed two-dimensional space. Any strokes within this figure are considered trajectories, which are also rendered in orange. Tapping on the floorplan knot animates each trajectory in the direction in which it was drawn.
Users can modify the speed of the trajectories by attaching a speed knot to the floorplan’s border, and either entering a numeric speed value or adjusting a slider. Alternatively, users can apply a duration knot to specify the duration of the trajectories. Knotnotation v2 calculates the speed of each trajectory in the floorplan such that they all finish at the same time. Since both speed and duration cannot be active at the same time in a given floorplan, only the attribute of the last attached knot is enabled; the others are greyed out.
Users can move floorplans, including any trajectories and knots, by dragging the border with their finger. Users can incorporate a set of strokes into a floorplan by dropping the floorplan over the strokes, which causes Knotnotation v2 to interpret them as trajectories. To extract the properties of a floorplan, users can drag the border, with attached knots, with two fingers. The associated trajectories are detached from the floorplan and become normal strokes, rendered in black. Users can create a reusable floorplan template by cloning its border. Knotnotation v2 clones its attached knots but not the interior trajectories.
Creating an interactive timeline consists of drawing a stroke of any shape and attaching a timeline knot, which turns the stroke violet. Users can then add any type of knot to the timeline. Tapping on the timeline knot displays the video knots in the order specified by the direction in which the timeline was drawn. The timeline plays the videos either at normal speed or at a speed determined by a speed knot.
Users can reorder, edit, clone, attach, detach or delete knots, even as the timeline plays. Users can create a new timeline by drawing a stroke over an existing set of knots and attaching a timeline knot to the stroke. As with floorplans, users can move timelines and their attached knots by dragging the timeline stroke.
Users can create reusable timeline templates by cloning the stroke. Users can then add new knots to the blank timeline, reusing its shape and speed. Fig. 5(a) illustrates how a single video knot can be attached to multiple timelines, which, for example, lets users explore different combinations of fragments in different orders.
Users can also combine floorplans and timelines into a single choreographic object, as shown in Fig. 5(b). Note that users are not limited to floorplans and timelines: Choreographers can create their own choreographic objects, with different characteristics. Knotnotation v2 supports both finger and pen interaction: The pen draws persistent strokes, whereas the fingers move sketched objects and access associated menus, via a long press. This avoids the need for a cumbersome, moded interaction. For reasons of precision, the pen can also drag knots and invoke their menus.
The following enhancements are directly based on participants’ feedback from Study 2:
- **coloured knots**, according to type;
- **icons** representing video and image knots;
- **dancer** knots, with optional names;
- **tags** for labelling knots;
• *relationship attributes* for specifying relative movement, with two examples: *mirroring*: when two groups of dancers mirror each others’ movements, and *unison*: when several dancers perform a movement simultaneously; and
• *version history* to revert to previous states [39].
**STUDY 3: KNOTATION V2 STRUCTURED OBSERVATION**
*Knotation v2* is designed to provide choreographers with a lightweight technique for quickly sketching choreographic ideas, capturing video examples, exploring constraints, and recording the result in a form that can be transmitted to dancers. We use structured observation [22], a quasi-experimental design [15] method that emphasises observing users as they perform realistic tasks in real-world settings, and making qualitative comparisons of the results. This supports ecological validity while allowing us to identify novel user behaviour and generate testable hypotheses.
**Participants**
We recruited six professional contemporary choreographers (5 women, 1 man), with a range of three to 47 (median 16) years of experience. P1 brought a fellow choreographer (P1C) and they worked as a team for each activity. One researcher is a trained dancer/choreographer who acted as a volunteer dancer. In their choreographic practice, all participants sketch on paper and use video to record themselves or dance rehearsals (although the latter is rare for P1). P3 and P5 also edit their videos. They all left their iPads on the floor or occasionally on their laps, picking them up only when they stood to capture a dance movement. During the *transmission* activity, participants gathered around the iPad on the floor to explain their compositions to each other. They pointed to their floorplans and timelines, played videos, gestured over the iPad, and occasionally marked specific movements. Next, we present two kinds of findings: insights about participants’ choreographic approaches, and insights about the use of *Knotation v2*.
**Data collection**
We placed a camera on a tripod in the corner of the studio to record each session. We also took close-up videos, photographs and hand-written notes, and logged the participants’ interaction with *Knotation v2*. We anonymised the data and refer to participants as P1-P6, and P1C.
**Data analysis**
We used thematic analysis [14] to code and categorise our notes, pictures, and videos. We also compared participants’ practices within and across activities.
**RESULTS AND DISCUSSION**
Most participants (5/6) shot video of their movements with the iPad; two participants (P3 and P4) also imported images. They all left their iPads on the floor or occasionally on their laps, picking them up only when they stood to capture a dance movement. During the *transmission* activity, participants gathered around the iPad on the floor to explain their compositions to each other. They pointed to their floorplans and timelines, played videos, gestured over the iPad, and occasionally marked specific movements. Next, we present two kinds of findings: insights about participants’ choreographic approaches, and insights about the use of *Knotation v2*.
**Diverse choreographic approaches**
*Dance-then-record versus Record-then-dance*
All participants successfully created a novel idea for their choreographic fragment, using personal composition strategies. For example, P1 started with two concepts – “the sane” and “the crazy” – and collaborated with P1C to write notes and sketch symbols with *Knotation v2*, as well as shoot six “elements”. Together, they experimented with changing the order and number of repetitions on a timeline.
We identified common approaches across participants (see Table 1). Two participants (P2, P4) used a “dance-then-record” approach, dancing first and then capturing the result with *Knotation v2* at the end. For example, P4 immediately started dancing and testing a variety of movements. After several minutes, she asked a researcher to record her as she danced each movement. She used *Knotation v2* only at the end to capture her fragment.
P3 used the opposite approach – “record-then-dance”. She sat on the floor thinking for several minutes, while using Knotation v2 to plan different combinations of trajectories and movements. She then asked the volunteer dancer to perform a set of “keyframes”, which she recorded with Knotation v2. The other participants (3/6) went back and forth between dancing and using Knotation v2.
After watching the Drumming Live video during the transformation activity, all participants used the same approach they had adopted for the composition activity. However, all spent considerably more time interacting with Knotation v2, to check their earlier content and explore various novel transformations.
Expressing different degrees of formality
Multiple participants said they explicitly chose a particular level of formality and detail to represent their choreographic objects. P4 said she was purposely imprecise when annotating her fragment and appreciated how Knotation v2 offered her various degrees of informality: “For me, since I love informal things, it works, but it also works for something more formal, more precise.” P1C also noted that it permits “being informal”, thus “stays open to interpretation”.
Integrating time and space with linked choreographic objects
One participant (P5) created a complex structure with floorplans and timelines to compose time and space. She drew one floorplan and timeline per dancer (see Fig. 6), with “properties” (e.g. unison relationships) that are read vertically as in a “rhythmic score”. This served as a “tool similar to the timeline”, “easily visible”, that reveals “what should happen at a given moment for each dancer” (P5). She created tagged knots and attributes for each timeline that indicated the scope of specific constraints over time (e.g. the direction of the dancer’s gaze). She also cloned portals to define “shared scores” for dancers at the proper locations on their timelines. In addition, she drew a curve over each timeline to represent the levels with respect to the floor. P5 thus created her own sophisticated structure for decomposing and combining the three spatial dimensions and time on a 2D surface.
Appropriating errors to discover interesting patterns
Some participants used errors to spark new ideas. P1 and P1C inadvertently linked several knots to the same video, which then led them to discover “interesting patterns” (P1C). P1C said that visualising the same element multiple times suggested new possibilities for interesting rhythms and dynamics, as well novel “extensions” to the element. P1C commented: “You don’t find that in the videos you shoot!”
Using Knotation v2
A quantitative analysis of the logs (see Table 1) reveals that P3, who used the record-then-dance approach, performed more than double the actions and created over three times as many knots as P2 and P4, the two dance-then-record participants. This correlation suggests a testable hypothesis: The record-then-dance approach is a cognitive-first strategy that favours a technology-mediated exploration of choreographic ideas, while the dance-then-record approach is a dance-first strategy where the technology supports documentation.
Assessing choices by interacting with choreographic objects
P3 and P4 emphasised the importance of expressing a range of interconnected ideas before making choreographic choices. We found that participants interacted with their choreographic objects, for example by playing or repositioning timelines and floorplans or refining their attributes, to consider alternatives. P1C described how she and P1 used timelines “to see the available choices” and suggested using Knotation v2 as a way of “validating things before testing them” in the studio. P5 liked to “see what were all the possibilities, because when you’re trying to write [a piece] on paper, you can’t pass from paper to video, or paper to duration”.
Table 1. Study 3: Number of actions and use of key features, grouped by choreographic approach.
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>approach</th>
<th>id</th>
<th>actions</th>
<th>knots</th>
<th>attributes</th>
<th>TL</th>
<th>play TL</th>
<th>FP</th>
<th>play FP</th>
<th>portals</th>
<th>images</th>
<th>videos</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>record-then-dance</td>
<td>p3</td>
<td>1531</td>
<td>94</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>7</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>4</td>
<td>7</td>
<td>7</td>
<td>25</td>
<td>9</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>mixed</td>
<td>p5</td>
<td>1142</td>
<td>77</td>
<td>21</td>
<td>7</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>9</td>
<td>53</td>
<td>7</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td>p1</td>
<td>426</td>
<td>24</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>4</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>12</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>9</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td>p6</td>
<td>1294</td>
<td>41</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>9</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>50</td>
<td>3</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>dance-then-record</td>
<td>p2</td>
<td>735</td>
<td>26</td>
<td>8</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>6</td>
<td>3</td>
<td>25</td>
<td>3</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td>p4</td>
<td>676</td>
<td>29</td>
<td>7</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>4</td>
<td>38</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>5</td>
<td>3</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Most participants (5/6) imported and played video. Interestingly, P5 played one video once, and experimented instead with attributes, controllers, floorplans and timelines, which let her focus on defining higher-level structures.
All participants created at least one timeline (mean: 4.3), although the dance-then-record participants only created one or two. Surprisingly, most participants (4/6) did not play their timelines, even though they added and removed knots from them multiple times. This suggests that they used timelines as a grouping mechanism, obviating the need to play videos in their final order. This is similar to how designers used the Stickylines [13] alignment and distribution instruments to group objects while structuring graphical layouts.
All participants created at least one floorplan (mean: 5.2) and interacted with floorplans considerably more frequently than with timelines (mean: 30.8). In particular, P5 interacted repeatedly with knots to establish speed and duration. Participants created from two to seven portals each. Although P3 and P5 created slightly more, we found no differences across strategies with respect to use of portals.
Appropriating floorplans and timelines
Participants found several creative new uses for floorplans and timelines. For example, P1 and P1C overlapped clips to make them appear as a single seamless video in the timeline. P2 drew short trajectories near, but just outside the border of a floorplan, to avoid animation and indicate that the dancer began and ended the sequence off stage. P3 used floorplans to define “keyframes” – diagrams showing each dancer’s location at a given moment as seen from above – and represented dancers with knots and transitions with lines. P6 went further, combining the concepts of floorplans and timelines: She drew a spiral-shaped timeline where the shape represented a spatial trajectory. She also redefined the meaning of trajectories within her floorplan. For example, she wrote five words with a corresponding set of symbols, one for each of five floorplans. These symbols represented trajectories “but not in a horizontal floorplan space” (P6).
Participants’ feedback
Participants highlighted how well Knotation v2 supported diverse choreographic processes. In particular, P3 noted that even though she and P4 used extremely different approaches, Knotation v2 supported them both. P4 emphasised that “it does not impose a method”, which she liked very much.
Participants liked Knotation v2’s ability to gather diverse material about a project. P1C said it was: “really interesting to be able to gather imagery easily, that is instantly playable, with your hypothesis of time and space”, and finds Knotation v2 “a file easy to rework, to be brought up again”. P1 liked that “instead of having fifteen thousand notes, you have it here all assembled”. P3 explained that, for her, there is a “time of creation” and a “time of technology”, and that “a tool like this allows you to join those times”. Interestingly, P4 suggested a new name (“Knotation”) to highlight its ability to collect knowledge about a piece. By contrast, P1 felt that having “so many possibilities” constantly “triggered new ideas” before he could process his previous ideas, so he “got entangled”.
Participants suggested a number of possible features, such as grouping timelines and floorplans. They also noted several limitations. P2 mentioned she wanted “to keep everything visible” but the screen size was an issue, although she noted “I have the same problem with the computer”. P3 wanted to use portals to visualise the tree-like structure of a piece, which we leave for future work.
Summary
Knotation v2 successfully supported participants with diverse choreographic approaches, including dance-then-record, record-then-dance or a combination of the two, without imposing a particular process. Participants could assign personal meanings to both their input and the system’s feedback, and change their minds over time. They could also choose their desired level of formality, from informal sketches to formal notations. The structured observation approach generated a testable hypothesis: A record-then-dance approach most enhances exploration of choreographic ideas, while a dance-then-record approach favours documentation.
Participants combined timelines and floorplans to represent their choreographic objects, including both simple and complex temporal and spatial structures. Interestingly, they appropriated their errors to explore novel choreographic patterns. Study 3 demonstrates the potential of Knotation v2 as a mobile tool for exploring and documenting choreographic ideas in a studio setting, and offers new insights into the choreographic creative process.
CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK
Our goal is to design interactive digital tools that support exploration and documentation of choreographic ideas, without enforcing a particular creative process. We began by observing a professional choreographer and several dancers, which highlighted both the diversity in how they represent choreographic fragments, as well as the need for capturing and annotating movement constraints. We designed Knotation, a mobile pen-based tool that offers a lightweight method for sketching choreographic ideas with embedded images and video. Users can sketch their own personal representations of the dance, and add various forms of interaction to further explore their ideas.
Using Knotation v1 as a technology probe revealed contrasting strategies for capturing movement, constraints, or both. Knotation v2 explicitly supports interactive timelines and floorplans, as well as incorporates participants’ suggestions. We then demonstrated how Knotation v2 successfully supported opposite choreographic approaches (dance-then-record and record-then-dance), and allowed users a wide range of expression, at varying levels of formality. In future, we plan to explore the collaborative potential of Knotation. Other promising directions include extending support for personal sublanguages; letting users create their own instrument palettes [3]; and assessing results with the Creativity Support Index [10].
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was partially supported by European Research Council (ERC) grant n° 321135 CREATIV: Creating Co-Adaptive Human-Computer Partnerships.
REFERENCES
|
2010
From Ark to Art: The 20-year Journey of the Civic, Cleveland Heights, Ohio, from Jewish Temple to Multi-purpose Community Facility
John J. Boyle III
Cleveland State University, J.BOYLEiii@csuohio.edu
Follow this and additional works at: http://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/clevmembs
Part of the Architectural History and Criticism Commons, Cultural Resource Management and Policy Analysis Commons, and the Historic Preservation and Conservation Commons
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Recommended Citation
Boyle, John J. III, "From Ark to Art: The 20-year Journey of the Civic, Cleveland Heights, Ohio, from Jewish Temple to Multi-purpose Community Facility" (2010). Cleveland Memory. 4.
http://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/clevmembs/4
This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Books at EngagedScholarship@CSU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Cleveland Memory by an authorized administrator of EngagedScholarship@CSU. For more information, please contact library.es@csuohio.edu.
This digital edition was prepared by MSI. Academic Endeavors, the imprint of the Michael Schwartz Library at Cleveland State University.
Prepared by: John J. Boyle, III
December 2000
From Ark to Art: The 20-Year Journey of the Civic, Cleveland Heights, Ohio, from Jewish Temple to Multi-Purpose Community Facility
FROM ARK TO ART:
THE 20-YEAR JOURNEY OF THE CIVIC, CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, OHIO, FROM JEWISH TEMPLE TO MULTI-PURPOSE COMMUNITY FACILITY
John J. Boyle, III
Sacred Landmarks Initiative
December 2000
Sacred Landmarks Monograph Series
edited by Susan Petrone
The Urban Center
The Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs
Cleveland State University
# Table of Contents
**Preface** .................................................................................................................. 1
**Executive Summary** ................................................................................................. 3
**Context & Precedents** ............................................................................................... 4
**Background and History** .......................................................................................... 6
- Temple Associates ...................................................................................................... 8
- Civic Preservation Project .......................................................................................... 9
**The Civic Foundation, Inc.** ....................................................................................... 11
- Analysis of Potential Users ..................................................................................... 11
- Architectural Study of Costs of Renovation .......................................................... 12
- Fund Raising Plan .................................................................................................... 13
- Ownership Assumed by Foundation ....................................................................... 14
- Bank Loan Negotiations .......................................................................................... 15
**The Quest for Capital Funds** .................................................................................... 18
- Community Development Block Grants ................................................................ 18
- Other Federal Funding Sources .............................................................................. 19
- State of Ohio Funds ................................................................................................ 20
- Private Investment & Funding ................................................................................ 21
**Solving the Property Tax Problem** .......................................................................... 25
**The Civic Today** ......................................................................................................... 27
- Lessons Learned ..................................................................................................... 28
**The Sacred Landmarks Initiative** ............................................................................. 31
**References** .................................................................................................................. 32
**About the Author** ........................................................................................................ 33
**The Civic in Photographs** .......................................................................................... 34
DEDICATION TO MARLENE KLANFER
In January 2000, Marlene Klanfer retired as Executive Director of the Civic Foundation. For all but a few months of the 20-year existence of the Civic, Marlene Klanfer was the guiding light that brought this dream to a reality. The role of Executive Director included everything from wading through flooded basements to begging creditors to "give us one more month." Marlene's dedication to the Civic included working for many years at a salary that didn't even do justice to the concept of "below market," to paying bills out of her own pocket when there was no other way to keep the building open. The building could not have survived without her.
The publishers wish to acknowledge The Cleveland Press Collection of the Cleveland State University Library for providing the historical photos of the Civic used in this monograph. They would also like to acknowledge the graphic design contributions of Regina Talbott.
Temple, synagogues, churches, mosques, and other religious structures are more than just buildings. For their communities, they come to be symbols of a faith, a history, and a people. More than physical places, they embody a heritage and a culture. Unfortunately, many religious structures are at risk. A combination of age and sometimes inadequate or deferred maintenance has caused some to deteriorate. Records may be poorly maintained, lost, or destroyed by those unaware of their significance. Changing demographic patterns may leave an institution with a congregation whose resources are not sufficient to maintain the building and/or its programs. The numerous threats to the existence of these buildings often results in their destruction. While this is a common fate of little-used or disused buildings, other alternatives are sometimes possible.
The continued existence of any building largely depends on its capacity to continue to be useful, either in its originally intended purpose, or in some important new way. In this respect, houses of worship are like any other buildings. Unlike many buildings designed for secular use, however, they present special problems to people wishing to preserve them. For example, the unique configuration of space essential for the successful enactment of liturgy may be an impediment to its conversion to serve other useful functions. In addition, out of a sense of propriety for its "other worldliness," some people are reluctant to see a sacred space used for secular purposes, sometimes even preferring to see it torn down.
One of the least controversial and most successful ways for a redundant sacred building to continue to be used is to be passed on to a congregation of a different faith. Other notable uses that may optimize the spatial configuration of some houses of worship include adaptive reuse as a museum, place of assembly (e.g., use as a theater), and a variety of secular uses completely unrelated to the original purpose of the building (e.g., conversion to restaurants, nightclubs, condominiums, and apartments).
This monograph focuses on the adaptive reuse of a former temple into a multi-purpose facility known as the Civic. The Civic is a large and imposing Byzantine-style building located in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Originally the temple for the Conservative Jewish congregation B’nai Jeshurun, it was known informally as the Temple on the Heights. The temple was dedicated in 1926, 60 years after the congregation was organized and began its existence in quarters.
elsewhere in Cleveland. By the 1950s, the congregation had grown to about 2,000 families and was one of the largest Conservative congregations in the country. Nevertheless, continued movement of the Jewish community toward the eastern part of the county led to a decline in Temple membership in the 1960s and 1970s. A gift of 30 acres of land in Pepper Pike, Ohio, a suburb several miles to the east, resulted in the congregation’s choosing that site for the building of its new temple, which was dedicated in 1980.
The new building in Pepper Pike left the old one available for some type of adaptive reuse, and the former Temple on the Heights is now one of the few examples in northeastern Ohio of a sacred structure leading a new life in the secular world.
This monograph describes in detail the (thus far) successful efforts to preserve this beautiful and important landmark building. This first-hand account of the challenges and opportunities involved in the efforts to save the building in a creative and useful way is not only an important story in itself, but also provides a useful overview and guideline to others who are considering or are engaged in related projects to preserve landmark buildings.
The former Temple was preserved because community-minded business people were interested finding a new way for it to continue serving the City of Cleveland Heights. While the return on investment is not impressive in strictly financial terms, the Civic’s continuing architectural and historical presence, as well as its continuing service to the community, is an important dividend for the investors. A message that is implicit in their dedicated efforts is that a cultured society does not demolish its sacred landmarks and artworks; it sees them as treasures and preserves them.
Michael J. Tevesz, Director
Sacred Landmarks Initiative
The Levin College Urban Center
October 17, 2000
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Civic is a former Jewish temple located in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, an inner-ring suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. The building was close to being abandoned and possibly torn down after its former congregation built a new facility farther out in the suburbs. This study describes how a former temple came to serve the community in a new and different way in the secular world. This study will chronicle the Civic as a historical building; describe the efforts to remake it into a multi-purpose building that is a community asset; and serve as a model to other communities interested in adapting houses of worship to secular purposes. While there are differences between states in terms of the details of this kind of preservation work, such as tax codes and other government regulations, the basic tools are the same everywhere. People responsible for the stewardship of older buildings that must be extensively retrofitted, as the Civic was, find it almost impossible to generate enough revenue to both sustain the operations of the building and to provide the capital necessary to perform the retrofit.
There are only two resources that can be accessed to fund a project such as saving the Civic - government and the private giving community. The people who saved the Civic were fortunate to find themselves in a city with people concerned about saving historical buildings and willing to use some of their political and monetary capital to help. They were also fortunate to live in a community with a wealth of private charitable foundations that also shared the city’s goals of saving the best of its historical architecture.
CONTEXT & PRECEDENTS
Throughout North America and Europe there are many examples of houses of worship being adapted to another use in order to save the building; these efforts have met with varying degrees of success. For example, in New Orleans, the former St. Alphonsus Catholic Church has been taken over by a nonprofit corporation and made into a cultural center in memory of the former Irish immigrants who founded the parish. In Sandwich, Massachusetts, Corpus Christi Catholic Church has become an upscale bed and breakfast and gourmet restaurant. In Prague, the Czech Republic, the Klausen Synagogue has become the State Jewish Museum and the Pinkas Synagogue has become a memorial to Czech Jews who died in concentration camps during World War II.
Several synagogues in the United States also have been saved by reuse. In San Francisco, the Bush Street Synagogue was taken over by the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency and sold to private investors to provide a home for the Holocaust Center. The investors attempted to raise six million dollars for the project, but as of mid-2000 have not yet succeeded. In Los Angeles, the Breed Street Shul closed in 1993. Various groups have attempted to restore it to a Jewish Historical Museum, so far without success. In Bloomington, Indiana the former Moses Montifiore Synagogue housed three Christian congregations after the Jewish congregation left. A private citizen has now bought it and uses the basement as his private residence. The former sanctuary space is being converted to a small concert and meeting hall. In Boston, the Vilna Shul on Beacon Hill was saved in the late 1980s from becoming a site for a parking garage. In 1995, a nonprofit organization took over the building to establish the Vilna Center for Jewish Heritage. With help from Historic Boston, it has now reopened as a cultural center.
In Cleveland, Ohio, there are many examples of new congregations taking over temples and churches when the original congregations relocated. There also are other examples such as the former Christian Science church on Euclid Avenue that became the home, for a time, of the Cleveland Playhouse.
There are few examples of such a project as complex as the Civic. One project with many similarities is the former Monastere du Bon-Pasteur (Good Shepherd Convent) in Montreal,
Quebec. The building was rehabilitated as a joint project of Societe Immobiliere du Patrimoine Architectural de Montreal (SIMPA), a joint Montreal-Province of Quebec enterprise and the Societe d'Habitation du Quebec (SHQ) (the Quebec government-housing agency). The project includes low-income elderly housing (the former vocational school), middle-income cooperative housing, shared spaces such as a public hall (the former chapel), a daycare center (the former rectory), and 22 luxury condominiums in the former stables. The project was almost totally government financed, with the sale of the condominiums providing a large part of the payback. The authors of an article about this project note that "the project demonstrates how the difficult technical, architectural, financial, legal, and social problems of reusing historic buildings can be overcome through innovation and partnership."
The Bon-Pasteur rehabilitation was completed in 1986. The above quote became prophetic as the board of The Civic, unaware of this project and its complexities, began its 20-year journey without the help of millions of dollars of city and provincial funds, and without a breath-taking location overlooking the St. Lawrence River.
BACKGROUND AND HISTORY
The Civic, located at 3630 Mayfield Road, Cleveland Heights, Ohio, is an 111,000-square-foot building built in 1924 (see figures 1 and 2). Its journey from a thriving Jewish temple to a multi-purpose building housing several arts, cultural, and community organizations as well as worshiping congregations, banquets, and community meetings, is the subject of this monograph.
The Heights Temple was built in 1924 to house the Congregation B'nai Jeshurun, which was formed about 1867 and was originally located in the E. 9th Street and Eagle Avenue neighborhood of Cleveland. This area is now the location of Jacobs Field, home of the Cleveland Indians. The original congregation was Hungarian and formed when 25 members broke off from two other more Orthodox congregations, Anshe Chased and Tifereth Israel. One of those congregations, Anshe Chased, sold their temple on Eagle Avenue to B'nai Jeshurun. The congregation continued to grow and in 1905 built their own temple at E. 55th Street and Scovill Avenue. This building still stands and is currently the home of Shiloh Baptist Church.
In 1920, the congregation again decided to move, following the movement of the Jewish community to Cleveland Heights, where almost a third of the Cleveland area Jewish community was then located. At about the same time, the congregation Tifereth Israel also decided to move to a new location in the University Circle area of Cleveland. Both congregations hired noted Boston architect Charles Greco to design their new buildings. Greco designed both buildings in a Moorish/Byzantine style. The Tifereth Israel's building is now known simply as "the Temple" and is a landmark building located at E. 105th Street and Ansel Road.
The Cleveland Heights temple, now known as "the Civic," was built at a cost of about $800,000. The original building consisted of a 2,000-seat sanctuary (now the Great Hall and the current home of the New Spirit Revival Center); a 1,200 seat auditorium to the east of the sanctuary called Spira Hall (now the Assembly, which is used for weddings, parties, and civic events); a dining hall below Spira Hall (now the Gallery, used for exhibits like the "Dinner Party" by Judy Chicago, and the annual Civic Art Show); and four bowling alleys below the Great Hall (now the Center Hall, which is used for a variety of purposes including Jazzercise classes). There were also 31 classrooms east and south of the Assembly on three floors (now the East Wing and
used for offices).
The Civic was described by the architects who did a planning study of the building as follows:
"The exterior [of the building] is of red brick, Indiana limestone, polychrome terra-cotta, and colored marble. The dome of the Temple is primarily brick banded with stone and topped off with a Byzantine roof of red tile. The Temple is approached by broad stairs off of Mayfield Road and is entered through one of five wood doors, which alternate, between stone columns. The columns, with Byzantine capitals, support small arches, above which are marble slabs bearing the Ten Commandments. The entrance lobby flanking Mayfield Road has retained its original polychromed marble-veneered walls, marble floor and its vaulted ceiling. Decorative bands of Menorah and Lulaf leaves ornament the lobby. Located at each end are octagonal shaped stairs, which conduct one from the entrance hall to the balcony/second floor level. The inside of the Great Hall [sanctuary] is flooded with light from arched windows which ring the dome and pierce the upper side walls and (north) balcony wall."^7
In 1956 a wing was added to the east side of the structure. This wing included new classrooms (now the West Wing), a rabbi’s study (now the offices of The Civic), and the Gottfried Chapel (now Ensemble Theatre). In 1959 the congregation renovated Spira Hall (the Assembly) at a cost of $750,000. The new addition and the 1959 remodeling departed from the original architecture and utilized designs common in commercial buildings of that era.
In 1979 the congregation left the Cleveland Heights facility and built a new building several miles to the east in Pepper Pike, Ohio. They put the building up for sale. Realtors aggressively marketed the building to the City of Cleveland Heights, which at that time was looking for alternatives for their own 50-year-old city hall building, which they had outgrown. Ultimately the city concluded that the rehab costs far exceeded the alternative costs of constructing a new building.
In 1981 the building was purchased for $580,000 by a limited partnership formed by three prominent members of the community, Joseph Shafran, Robert Soltz, and William Risman. These three general partners called the partnership Temple Associates. In addition there were 22 limited partners, later increased to 46. Temple Associates raised a total of $340,000 from the original limited partners; the three general partners loaned Temple Associates $250,000. In addition the partnership took out an $180,000, 10-year mortgage.
In the first year of operation, the building produced $70,000 in annual rents. By 1990, the annual rental income had risen to $330,000. However, the expenses of maintaining a building of this size and age plus mortgage payments and capital repairs never permitted the building to even approach a break-even point. In its first year of operation (1981), the partnership lost $208,000 and by 1993 the total accumulated debt to the partners was almost $1,715,000 plus a $597,000 balance on a bank loan with National City Bank, which was secured by the personal guarantees of the three general partners.
During the 13 years that the partnership owned the building, they kept the building afloat as best they could at enormous personal sacrifice to themselves and the limited partners. The vision that they had for the Civic formed the basis for the current uses of the building. In 1984 they applied for and received a listing on the National Register of Historical Places. They also began looking for tenants who would fulfill the goal of turning the building into a local home for arts and civic organizations and civic events. Renting out 110,000 square feet was not easy and Temple Associates tried a variety of approaches. Because of the inexpensive rents, several local nonprofit corporations took up residence at The Civic. The two kosher kitchens were rented to kosher caterers. The Assembly was used for weddings, meetings, and even bingo. The Gottfried Chapel became the home of the Phoenix Theatre Ensemble and later Ensemble Theatre. The largest space, the Great Hall, was almost never used, partly because of its size and partly because of its rather shabby condition. In addition, it was extremely expensive to heat this space, as well as the rest of the building.
As early as 1983, it was beginning to become clear to the owners that the for-profit structure of the partnership was preventing the building from tapping into government and
foundation funds that, for most enterprises like the Civic, formed the backbone of their financial support. In 1983 the partners formed the Kaleidoscope, a 509(a)(2) foundation. The original idea was for the foundation to lease the large spaces from the partnership and then re-lease these spaces to nonprofit performance organizations, thus making the area eligible for tax-exempt grants and donations. While the general idea had merit, the legal complexities of the structure proved to be unworkable and the idea was dropped in 1985.
The next idea pursued was to create a business incubator in the building. These were popular at the time and the State of Ohio was funding several others in the area. The City of Cleveland Heights assisted the Civic in pursuing this idea, but the layout of the Civic proved to be unworkable to accommodate the needs of an incubator, so that idea was also abandoned.
**Civic Preservation Project**
In 1990, the then-Executive Director of the Civic, Marlene Klanfer, produced a document called "Concept Paper - Civic Preservation Project." The purpose of the project was "to secure the capital improvement funds and ownership structure needed to permit the Civic to meet its full potential as a resource for enhancing the quality of community life in Cleveland Heights."
The experience of Temple Associates over their 10 years of ownership proved that the building did fulfill a significant role in the community. The spaces are well suited for the current uses and the building had the added advantage of owning an adjacent 300-car parking lot. The problem was the condition of the building. The owners estimated that income could be increased at least 40 percent to $550,000 per year if significant improvements could be made to upgrade the structure to current standards. While this income level could not sustain any capital improvement payback, it would support the current operating needs of the building. The Concept Paper identified $3,000,000 in capital needs that were required to renovate the major areas, repair the leaking roof, and upgrade the antiquated plumbing, heating, and electrical systems.
The paper concluded that Temple Associates, as a for-profit partnership, was not the appropriate vehicle for preserving the building as a community asset. Temple Associates, in this paper, agreed to donate its partnership equity to a new not-for-profit entity debt free. The paper concluded by stating that "preserving the current building, while developing it as a focus for community activities, is the use that will contribute the most. Demolition and conversion to commercial uses, the most likely alternative, would not be a comparable contribution."
In retrospect, it is unfortunate that the Concept Paper was not written 10 years earlier when the building was originally taken over by the partnership. The building had declined even more during the partnership’s period of ownership because there was never sufficient revenue to operate the building or make any significant capital improvements. This caused even further deterioration of the building systems. The owners faced the "catch 22" dilemma of not being able to maximize the rental of the building because of its condition, and not being able to improve the building because of the lack of sufficient revenue.
THE CIVIC FOUNDATION, INC.
In late 1990, Temple Associates had their attorney draw up Articles of Incorporation to file with the State of Ohio as a nonprofit corporation. This was approved by the state in early 1991. The new corporation then filed with the Internal Revenue Service for designation as a 501(c)(3) organization. This request was also approved in 1991. These approvals permitted the Civic Foundation to apply for planning grants to three major Cleveland area foundations - The Cleveland Foundation, the George Gund Foundation, and the Jewish Community Federation.
In December 1991, the Cleveland Foundation approved a $42,000 grant to be used in support of a cost-benefit analysis of the Civic's role in Cleveland Heights. In March 1992, the Gund Foundation approved an additional $42,000 to assess the building's renovation needs, to identify potential financing sources, and to develop a program for the building's use. The Jewish Community Federation also acted favorably, granting $15,000 for the Civic redevelopment project in March 1992. With almost $100,000 in grants, the Board of the Civic Foundation decided to embark on the following three-pronged approach: (1) commission an analysis of potential users of the building and their facilities needs; (2) fund an architectural study of the costs of carrying out the results of the needs analysis; and (3) hire a fund-raising consultant to figure out how to fund the recommended renovation.
ANALYSIS OF POTENTIAL USERS
In the spring of 1992, the Civic Foundation contracted with a local fund-raising consultant, Edie Blum, to begin the analysis project. She in turn added to her group Jane Kirkham, who, as President of the Playhouse Square Foundation, had played a major role in saving and renovating three historic theaters in downtown Cleveland. Jane embarked on a program of interviewing as many potential users of the Civic as she could identify. Ultimately approximately 40 were interviewed. Her conclusions were that "The Civic's natural user
market for the larger spaces consists of smaller, emerging, fledgling or community organizations for whom the sophistication/size of the facility and rental costs of a Playhouse Square Center, downtown hotels, the Cleveland Convention Center, and comparable facilities are both unnecessary and beyond their financial reach. Nowhere in this region do such organizations have a defined center of gravity for their activities.
Almost two-thirds of the organizations interviewed expressed an interest in using shared facilities at the Civic. From an architectural standpoint, the report recommended that the large spaces should all be arranged for flexible use. The Assembly could become a 250-400 seat venue for dance and theater with a stage that could also be used "in the round." The Gallery could be used for cabaret-style theater and for exhibit space. The Center Hall would be subdivided into rehearsal spaces, and the Ensemble Theatre space would become a "black box" for up to 150 people for local theater use. The largest space, the Great Hall, would have its raked floor flattened so it could be used either for performances of up to 1,000 people, or for large conferences or banquets. In addition, Jane Kirkham recommended several joint uses such as a common box office to serve all of the potential users.
The report concluded with a section on potential sources of funds, noting that the major portion would have to come out of public funds, but with the real possibility of substantial foundation and corporate support from those that were now funding and supporting the various cultural groups that would take up residence at the Civic. Finally, the report reinforced the necessity of the building ownership being turned over to the nonprofit corporation in order for any of the funding options to become possible.
**ARCHITECTURAL STUDY OF COSTS OF RENOVATION**
In May 1993, the Civic Foundation contracted with vanDijk, Pace, Westlake & Partners, a major Cleveland architectural firm with an extensive background in renovation and adaptive reuse of historical buildings. The $28,300 contract, which would be paid out of the grants received from the George Gund Foundation and The Cleveland Foundation, included two components: 1) basic improvements, which were those necessary to bring the property into
compliance with regulatory requirements and to increase operating, maintenance, and efficiency; and 2) improvements to the Great Hall, Ensemble Theatre, and the Assembly to meet a wide range of performance and assembly needs, as identified in the Kirkham study of potential users.
The study was to begin June 1, 1993 and take approximately two months. Paul Westlake, a partner in the firm, was named by the vanDijk firm to coordinate the project.
On September 8, 1993, vanDijk presented a draft of their report to the Civic Foundation Board of Trustees. The plan called for a nine-step phase-in of the improvements over 24 to 60 months. The stages involved, first, stabilizing the building and stopping further decay, then, second, correcting infrastructure problems and addressing Americans with Disabilities Act violations. The third stage called for improving the building's image and access. Steps four and five involved reconfiguring the Great Hall as a ballroom and banquet facility/music hall and refurbishing its lobby, as well as upgrading the lighting and sound systems; and upgrading of the Assembly, Gallery, and Center halls. Stages six through eight dealt with the tenant spaces, the building office, and site improvements. The final step was improvements to the Ensemble Theatre space.
The total price for all nine steps was $10.8 million if the improvements were completed in 24 months. The 60-month price was $12.7 million. As ambitious a fund raising program as the Foundation might have envisioned, it never contemplated that $10 million could be raised. The plan, however, laid out in each phase those items critical to the overall stability of the building. By pulling out components from each phase and setting priorities, the staff and the Board of the Civic were able to put together a series of smaller steps that could be bid out as funds became available.
**FUND RAISING PLAN**
As part of the Future Use Analysis Report, Edie Blum, the fund-raising consultant, added a section on potential sources of income. Her preliminary conclusions were that most of the capital funds for renovation and improvements would have to come from the public sector. The report pointed out that the weak economy in 1992 and the scale of the project...
made it unlikely that the majority of the funds could be raised privately. It also suggested that the Civic Foundation hire a planning consultant to look into all of the potential sources of public sector funding. While the report suggested that most of the funding would have to come from the public sector, it did not rule out the fact that considerable funds might be raised in the private sector. There were several categories of potential donors, including local foundations, corporate supporters of current or potential tenants, and individuals who either had a stake in one of the tenant organizations or who had close ties to the former congregation or to the Cleveland Heights community. The report also suggested that a consultant be hired to research available private funds.
OWNERSHIP ASSUMED BY FOUNDATION
In fall 1992, Temple Associates began the process of turning the ownership of the property over to the Foundation. The major hurdle to overcome was the tax ramifications to the partners resulting from the donation of the property to the Foundation. The original plan developed by the accounting firm of Deloitte & Touche was to donate the property debt-free to the nonprofit charitable Foundation. To accomplish this, the partners would have to contribute an additional $772,000 in equity to the partnership in order to pay off debts. If this were done, the property would have an appraised value of $1,060,000, which would be the total amount of the charitable contribution of the 46 partners. This donation would result in approximately $328,000 in reduced taxes for the partners at the tax rates then in effect. The net out-of-pocket loss to the partners would have been about $461,000, or about $10,000 apiece. If the equity donation was not made and the building was donated with the debts, then the partners would still be faced with a taxable gain of over $831,000 with a resulting cumulative tax bill of $258,000. The difference for the 46 partners of donating versus not donating the additional equity was $5,000 per partner. The partnership agreement required unanimous approval of the partners. Over the next two years the general partners worked to get unanimous approval. Unfortunately, the economy at this time was not very good and most of the investors, who for the most part were developers and property owners, were faced with
losses on their other investments. The potential capital gains did not benefit them nor did the prospect of a tax write-off from the donation.
In July 1994, Deloitte & Touche prepared another document for the partners outlining the new implications of donating the property without paying off the debts, but with the forgiveness of over $1.6 million of debt to the general partners and the partnership. This plan, which resulted in a total tax liability to the partners of $356,000, did not require unanimous approval. The transfer was approved by the majority of the partners and the transfer took place on December 31, 1994.
On January 1, 1995, the Civic Foundation, Inc. took over a $1,060,000 building with a debt of $1,090,000 that included unpaid real estate taxes of $142,000 plus interest, a bank loan of $585,000 that had a balloon payment of $576,000 due April 1, 1995, and $364,000 of accounts payable.
**Bank Loan Negotiations**
National City Bank of Cleveland agreed to change the name on the note it held from the former owners, Temple Associates, to The Civic Foundation, Inc. A more difficult challenge to the Foundation was the balloon payment of almost $600,000 due on April 1, 1995. Prior to meeting with the bank representatives, the Civic Board requested that its architects estimate the cost of tearing down The Civic. The Board's thinking was that the bank, in the event of a foreclosure, would be interested in demolishing the building and selling the land for redevelopment. The demolition cost was $550,000, so the bank would be faced with a loss of more than one million dollars in lost income and expenses for a three-acre plot of potentially developable land. At $333,000 per acre, the land would be extremely overpriced for the neighborhood. (Vacant commercial land in the neighborhood was selling for approximately $50,000 per acre.)
The first meeting with the bank officials was held in March 1995. The bankers were willing to discuss a 12 to 18 month extension. The Board felt that it wanted a permanent solution to the loan issue rather than have to face the annual balloon payment issue. National
City Bank - due to bank mergers, the third bank to hold the note - was reluctant to continue the loan, believing it to be a non-performing loan that should never have been granted in the first place. Faced with the demolition costs and the backup of the three guarantors, the bank officials eventually relented. Since the cash flow of the Civic didn't allow it to pay a regular monthly principal and interest payment out of its funds, the proposal to the three guarantors was that they would each make a tax deductible donation monthly to The Civic Foundation, depending on the cash needs of that month. Since the bank had full recourse to the guarantors for the loan balance, this arrangement was satisfactory to the investors, who had few alternatives. The bank agreed to a one-year extension to April 1996.
The Civic Foundation was no healthier financially in April 1996 than it had been in the previous year. The guarantors by this time were getting weary of the monthly calls for cash and were looking for a better solution. The bank was looking for its money rather than another loan extension and the Civic was looking for a long-term loan to avoid a crisis every April. The City of Cleveland Heights was also looking for a permanent solution and was unwilling to release any funding to the Civic until the permanent loan solution was in place. Reluctantly, the bank granted another one-year extension in April 1996. Then, unexpectedly, one of the three guarantors stopped making donations to the Civic to pay the monthly mortgage. As a result, the Civic was not able to make its July or August mortgage payments. In August, the president of the Civic Board invited the bank's leadership to sit down with board to work out a solution. The Board hoped that the bank might be willing to reduce the interest rate of the loan by making a charitable donation to the Civic. The bank responded in a formal letter informing the Civic that it was now in default of the loan agreement.
During the fall of 1996, several meetings were held between the Board of the Civic, the guarantors, and the City Manager and Development Director of Cleveland Heights, all looking for a strategy to convince the bank to grant a permanent loan to the Civic. Because the guarantors were no longer willing to make monthly donations to the Foundation, some other solution was necessary. The City expressed a willingness to participate financially in a solution. In early 1997, a meeting was set up in the offices of the George Gund Foundation, one of the early funders of The Civic Foundation's planning phase. The meeting included representatives of the Civic Foundation, the City of Cleveland Heights, the Gund Foundation, the Cleveland
Foundation, and the guarantors. At that meeting, the City of Cleveland Heights and the Gund Foundation representatives agreed to take to their board and city council, respectively, a proposal to work out a linked deposit program with the Civic. The terms of this proposal were that each of the parties would deposit a sum of money in National City Bank. The interest from these deposits would accumulate in the Civic Foundation’s account at National City and would be applied each month to the monthly mortgage payment. This would enable the monthly payments to be low enough to fit within the budget of the Civic.
In July 1997, the Civic Foundation and the George Gund Foundation signed an agreement calling for the Gund Foundation to deposit $250,000 in a Certificate of Deposit that would mature in July 2007, when the Civic’s loan would be paid off. The CD would bear interest at 6.06 percent; 5.06 percent would be applied to the Civic’s debt service. This linked deposit would produce about a $1,000 per month contribution to the monthly mortgage payment. On October 31, the City of Cleveland Heights followed suit, signing an agreement to deposit $100,000 at six percent interest. The City’s CD would allocate five percent to the Civic’s debt service. This would contribute another $400 to the monthly mortgage. With these two linked deposits, the Civic’s cash flow would now allow it to make its monthly payments without assistance from the guarantors. The agreement with the city also approved the release of the almost $400,000, as detailed in the following section, in Community Development Block Grant funds that had been allocated but not released to the Civic.
From Ark to Art
THE QUEST FOR CAPITAL FUNDS
Even before taking title to the building, the Civic Foundation staff began the process of trying to raise the funds necessary to protect the building from any further damage and to upgrade the building systems to acceptable standards.
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANTS
The City of Cleveland Heights is an integrated, inner ring suburb of Cleveland with a population of about 55,000. By 1995, approximately 35 percent of the population was non-white, with a significant number falling below the official poverty income line. As a city of more than 50,000, Cleveland Heights was an "Entitlement City" under the 1974 federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. Fiscal year 1995 was known, in CDBG parlance, as "Year 21." Cleveland Heights, under the CDBG formula, was receiving more than $1.5 million annually in federal funds from this program. Under federal guidelines, 70 percent of the funds had to directly benefit low- and moderate-income individuals. Because the Civic was located in one of the poorest census tracts in the city, and its condition would have a significant impact on an already economically troubled area of the city, the Civic Foundation saw that it could potentially benefit from these federal dollars.
In August 1994, The Civic Foundation applied to the City of Cleveland Heights for $500,000 of CDBG funds for the Year 21 program. After a rigorous process of arguing the case for the Civic’s proposal, the Foundation was awarded $250,000 by the City for the 1995 program. Because in 1994 the ownership of the Civic had not yet been assumed by the nonprofit Civic Foundation, the City made the award of the funds contingent upon the ownership change. As detailed earlier, the ownership change occurred in January 1995. On November 7, 1994, City Council formally awarded the Civic its first capital rehabilitation grant.
The next step was for the staff of the Civic to begin the process of working with the architects, vanDijk, Pace, Westlake & Partners, to put together a priority list of projects and begin the drawing up of bid documents. Because this was a federally funded project, the bid procedures were very cumbersome and time-consuming. By spring of 1996, vanDijk had drafted a $1 million, three-phase construction priority list. The first phase would utilize the $250,000 that had been allocated by the City in November 1994. That phase would include roof repairs as well as gutter and downspout replacement. Since the Civic was listed on the National Register of Historical Places, the construction had to conform to historical guidelines as enforced by the Ohio Historical Society. This meant that the gutters and downspouts had to be copper, as they originally were, even though copper was then about three times as expensive as aluminum.
While the process of drawing up the bid specifications for the first $250,000 grant was going on, the staff began the process of applying for another $250,000 grant from the next CDBG funding cycle. The Year 22 total funding requests were much greater than the previous year, making competition much stiffer. As a result, the Civic was only awarded $144,000. However, the total CDBG funds now totaled almost $400,000. Unexpectedly, spending the money became the problem, because the City was unwilling to authorize the funds until the Civic cleared up its financial problems with National City Bank. As noted above, that finally occurred in the fall of 1997.
**OTHER FEDERAL FUNDING SOURCES**
In early January 1995, the executive director and the president of the Board of Trustees met with Mary Rose Oakar. Ms. Oakar had been a U.S. Congresswoman representing the west side of Cleveland and several western and southern suburbs. She was defeated in her bid for re-election in 1992 and was working as a consultant. She had very close ties to Congressman Louis Stokes, whose east side of Cleveland and eastern suburban district included Cleveland Heights and who was the senior Democrat on the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee. The Civic hired Oakar's firm to "take all
appropriate steps to conduct a review and analysis of potential federal funding sources to apply toward the adaptive reuse of the Civic.\textsuperscript{13} The hope was that the Foundation could raise between $1 and $2 million in federal funds using a combination of development grants and tax credits. The contract described three possibly useful programs: the Historical Tax Credit program, the Economic Development Administration (EDA) grant program, and Congressional line item appropriations.
The Historical Tax Credit program proved to be inappropriate for the Civic. The program allowed the purchase, sale, and trading of Historical Tax Credits, but there had to be private investment in the building in order to trigger a credit that could be sold. Since there was no private development and unlikely to be any, there would be no credits to sell. The second program looked at was the EDA program. This program was essentially a job creation program for low- and moderate-income neighborhoods. While the Civic qualified in terms of its neighborhood, its job creation possibilities were minimal. While the City did its best to work with the Civic to make this program fit its project, there was little likelihood that this project would be funded by EDA.
The final possibility was a line item grant through Congress. During the time when the Democrats were in the majority in the House, Congressman Louis Stokes, who represented Cleveland Heights, had considerable influence in funding programs. However, January 1995 saw the takeover of the House by the Republicans for the first time in 40 years. Not only were there bitter disagreements between President Clinton and Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, there also were 40 years of Republican pet programs that had not previously been funded that would take priority over Democratic proposals. Thus this route to the federal funds was no longer open to the Civic.
**STATE OF OHIO FUNDS**
While the news on the federal dollar front was not good, better possibilities existed with the State of Ohio. Ohio operates on a two-year budget cycle. In the odd years, the state passes a two-year operating budget; in the even years it passes a two-year capital budget.
As is the case with the federal government, there are smaller line item possibilities in the Ohio capital budget. The area's State Representative, Barbara Boyd, was a veteran Democrat in a Republican majority State House, but she had always had good relations with her Republican colleagues. The Civic, with the support of the City of Cleveland Heights, which had in January passed a resolution of support to the state, applied for $500,000 for "interior improvements to make the building accessible to disabled persons and for historic restorations." The capital budget that passed in June 1996 included a $100,000 grant for the Civic. The terms of the grant were extremely broad and gave the Civic the right to use the funds for almost any non-operating purpose. The broad scope became a necessity when the boiler cracked shortly after the grant was made. Over $34,000 of the funds had to be used to replace the boiler before winter came. The rest was used for elevator repairs, the replacement of several windows that had rotted out and were leaking, some additional roof repairs, and handicapped access ramps.
In the year 2000 capital budget, the Civic was again successful in receiving a state grant, this time for $50,000. The terms were again extremely broad. The Civic proposed to use the funds to continue the structural repairs necessary to upgrade the portion of the facilities that have the possibility of producing more rental income. These items include bathroom upgrades with the inclusion of a handicapped access bathroom to serve the large rental spaces, better signage, and lighting of the exterior.
**PRIVATE INVESTMENT & FUNDING**
**INVESTMENT**
In the summer of 1996, one of the Civics' tenants, the New Spirit Revival Center, which had been renting a section of the building for their Sunday services, approached the Civic with a proposal to sign a long-term lease for the Great Hall. In return for a long-term lease, they would agree to substantially rehabilitate the Great Hall to use as their permanent facility. The original plan for this, the largest and most attractive of the large spaces in the building, had been as a multi-purpose space. The area now had a raked floor, (theater style), with a stage
in the front, plus a large balcony). The Great Hall can accommodate as many as 1,600 people on the main floor and balcony. The architectural plan called for the space to be renovated with a flat floor and movable rather than fixed seating. The balcony was to remain as currently configured, but the space below the balcony on the main floor would become part of an extended lobby, because the current lobby space was not large enough to function effectively for a multi-purpose hall. The new configuration, as envisioned by vanDijk, Pace, Westlake & Partners, would accommodate about 900 on the main floor and balcony for performances, and could seat close to 400 for a banquet.
Before the board of the Civic was willing to consider a long-term lease, they asked the congregation for assurances on a number of items. The first was that the work undertaken by New Spirit would conform to the vanDijk plan, that historical considerations would be taken into consideration, and that the space could be rented out for performances when the congregation was not using the facility. After several months of negotiations, a deal was struck for a seven-year lease. The only change made to the vanDijk plan was that the raked floor would not be changed to a flat floor. This would have greatly increased the cost. The original vanDijk cost estimate for the Great Hall was approximately two million dollars. New Spirit was willing to spend about $250,000. Their work provided valuable improvements for the hall. The fixed seating and worn carpeting were removed. New carpet was installed and the entire area repainted. A ramp was installed to provide easier access for the disabled to the hall. The area below the balcony on the main floor was turned into the enlarged lobby that vanDijk had planned. For its part, the Civic committed to fixing the leaky roof and to repair or replace the windows that were rotted and leaking.
In the years since the lease was signed, the congregation's membership has increased dramatically from several hundred to well over 1,000. The congregation is presently renting additional space in the Civic several times a month. Because of their expanded use, the plan to rent out the Great Hall for occasional one-day performances has never been implemented. This has become a revenue problem for the Civic because it is estimated that the space could bring in $1,500 to $2,000 per day as a performance space.
From Ark to Art
**FOUNDATION FUNDING**
In 1998, the Civic made applications to several Cleveland area foundations for grants for various capital projects. Many personal visits and discussions had yielded only a small amount of foundation grants. Finally, in late 1999, the George Gund Foundation indicated a willingness to consider a grant. In 1998, the Civic had sent the Gund Foundation a capital grant proposal for $150,000. This application remained on the desk of the program director for two years before coming to the top of the pile. Within hours of getting the call, the board president and the executive director of the Civic put together a revised wish list and resubmitted the request to the foundation. The grant was approved in December 1999, and the funds were dispersed to the Civic in January 2000. Because of an end-of-the-year cash flow problem resulting from a rent dispute with a major tenant, the Civic asked for and received permission from the Gund Foundation to temporarily use a portion of the grant for operating purposes with the stipulation that the Civic send to Gund for their approval a formal plan for restoring the operating dollars to the capital account, so that the entire $150,000 would be spent for capital purposes. The Civic used these capital dollars to improve the rentability of the large assembly spaces. The bathrooms were rehabilitated, several rooms were redecorated, the steps were repaired, the fire alarm system was updated to code, and tables and chairs were replaced for use in the rental halls.
**CIVIC’S FUND RAISING CAMPAIGNS AND EVENTS**
Over the past several years, the Civic has sponsored two fund-raising programs: Ramps to the Future, whose emphasis was on raising the necessary funds to install a ramp to access the theater portion of the building, and Windows to the Future, which was geared to raising the funds to replace several of the Civics’ windows. Both of these efforts had modest results, but enabled the Civic board to ask for and receive donations from some of the smaller foundations that did not make large targeted grants like the Gund Foundation and the Cleveland Foundation. The total raised in these two efforts was less than $50,000.
Each year the Civic holds a juried art show, which has grown in popularity since its inception. Artists exhibit their works, compete for prizes, and give the Civic a portion of their proceeds from sales at the show. This effort has also been a vehicle for receiving smaller
donations from individuals and corporations who direct their gifts towards the art community. In 1998 and 1999, this event raised about $50,000.
When the Civic Foundation took over the building from Temple Associates, $142,000 in back property taxes was owed to Cuyahoga County. By 1998 this amount had accumulated to over $300,000 in back taxes and interest. The Civic discovered an interesting quirk of Ohio law when it tried to pay its first semi-annual tax bill after the title transfer in January 1995 - the County cannot accept current taxes if there are back taxes owed. This meant that since the Civic did not have the $142,000 plus accumulated interest plus the semi-annual current payment of $14,000, the County would accept nothing. The County, in fact, returned to the Civic its uncashed check for the current payment. Thus the Civic was positioned to perpetually default on its tax payment. Periodically the County Treasurer and the County Auditor would post the Civic on their delinquency list and send letters threatening foreclosure.
Another "catch 22" situation was that the Civic was not able to apply to the State of Ohio for a partial property tax exemption because the taxes were in delinquency. Under Ohio law, according to the Civics' attorneys, since the building was owned by a nonprofit corporation, it would qualify for tax exempt status except for that portion of the building that was occupied by for-profit companies. A large part of the building was occupied by religious congregations, the Ensemble Theatre, and nonprofit civic corporations. There were only a few for-profit permanent tenants. Ohio law permitted the Civic to apply retroactively for three years of exemption that would include all of the years that the building was owned by the Civic Foundation. However, until the tax delinquency was resolved, there could be no application for a tax exemption. Finally, on January 29, 1998, the Civic was served with papers formally filing foreclosure action against the building for non-payment of property taxes. The suit also included National City Bank and the City of Cleveland Heights, both of whom had liens on the property as a result of outstanding loans. In an attempt to turn a bad situation into a good one, the Civic contacted the Cleveland Foundation and asked for a meeting with their program officer to discuss its problem.
Armed with the lawsuit and the full support of the City, the bank, and the loan guarantors, the Civic board and executive director met with the Cleveland Foundation, which agreed to consider a loan to pay the portion of the taxes accumulated prior to the transfer of ownership to the Civic Foundation. With this news in hand, the Civic contacted the Cuyahoga County Treasurer's office. After several internal discussions, the Treasurer's office agreed to a plan that involved paying back in one lump sum the pre-1995 taxes plus interest, and placing the post-1995 taxes on a two-year monthly payment plan. The Cleveland Foundation, once the County was on board, agreed to loan the Civic $188,000 with a seven-and-a-half year repayment schedule with a three percent annual interest rate. The provisions in the loan document included a requirement that the County agree to drop the foreclosure suit and that the Civic agree to turn over to the Cleveland Foundation any tax refunds that the Civic receives from the state if and when the tax exemption is granted. With the three-year retroactivity and the possibility that a substantial percent of the building could be declared not-for-profit, the refund could be considerable.
Finally in November 1998, the lawsuit was dropped, the loan from the Cleveland Foundation was used to pay the pre-1995 taxes, and the Civic signed a two-year agreement to pay $4,300 per month to clear up the 1995-98 taxes. In addition, the Civic resumed paying the annual property taxes of about $29,000 pending resolution of the tax-exempt status.
In August 2000 the State of Ohio finally granted the Civic property tax exemptions for almost 90 percent of the building, retroactive to January 1, 1995. This rebate will allow the Civic to pay back a large portion of the Cleveland Foundation loan and frees up almost $30,000 per year currently used for tax and loan payments for reallocation to the maintenance of the building.
The history of the Civic over the period 1980-2000 is a demonstration in both success and failure. The major failure was the purchase of the building by a for-profit corporation. The major renovation and retrofitting that were necessary in order to turn the building into a functional multi-purpose building were simply too extensive and too costly to make a for-profit enterprise a success, even under the best of circumstances. Over 20 years, more than $1.6 million in grants, loans, and private investment were put into the building. Almost none of these funds would have been available under the for-profit structure. The successes are that the major structural items have been addressed and improvements have been made that make the building more rentable. The tenant spaces are virtually 100 percent rented at all times. The Ensemble Theatre continues to do well in its space. The New Spirit Revival Center has thrived in its location and has beautifully restored its Great Hall area. The major rental areas have all been redecorated and the catering area is slated to be rented to a major Cleveland area caterer who intends to sponsor Sunday brunch for the church-goers and provide a linked catering program with the Civic’s hall rentals. This will benefit both the caterer and the Civic’s income stream. The resolution of the tax-exempt status and the payoff of the county loan will dramatically improve the Civic’s cash flow situation.
The major unknown and the one problem that the Civic must succeed in addressing is its ability to rent out the daily rental spaces. If all of the daily rental spaces were rented all of the time at the published rate, the Civic would have annual income of over one million dollars. If the Civic can achieve about 20 percent of its maximum occupancy, it can succeed in sustaining itself and make necessary additional capital investment in the building.
It is clear that the most important ingredient in the success of the Civic was a dedicated group of individuals who were committed to the project and were willing to spend the time and energy needed to make the project work. If a developer were to apply normal profit and loss calculations to this project, the project would have never been started. Temple Associates originally bought the building because the three general partners were dedicated, civic-minded
businessmen whose first priority was to save the building. The amount of donated hours in the Civic project was enormous. If the Executive Director were paid the prevailing wage for a job of its magnitude and if all of the volunteer hours of the original partners and the Foundation board members were charged at a normal rate, the project would never have been possible.
LESSONS LEARNED
An important and perhaps obvious lesson to be drawn from the successful effort to save the former Temple on the Heights is that adapting a sacred landmark for a new life in the secular world is a complicated and complex challenge. The starting point in this process is a clear vision shaped by a detailed market study that identifies and assesses alternative uses of the facility and projected revenue flows derivable from each. Market assessments may be tempered by the values of preservation and civic purposes, but these should not cloud assessments of financial realities.
From this follows decisions about the appropriate organizational form. A strategic business decision must be made in the effort to adapt sacred landmarks for other uses, whether to attempt to operate the facility as a for-profit or not-for-profit or public venture.
For-Profit: The attempt to operate the Civic as a for-profit business partnership with an array of full and limited partners was not particularly successful. Despite the commitment and apparent dedication of the partners, this approach appears to have floundered due to an array of operational cost and revenue problems, as well as complex and costly maintenance and restoration needs. If the projected use of a facility does not meet the "test of the market," the facility can be operated as a "business" only if some form of public subsidy in the form of tax exemptions or direct public payments can be justified.
Nonprofit: The transfer of the Civic from the Temple Associates partnership to the
Civic Foundation demonstrates the difficulties of adaptive reuse to commercial alternatives, particularly when the facilities require high maintenance and renovation costs. Nonprofit status removes the need to generate a return to stockholders or owners. It also creates an entity that can receive funding from foundations that, due to their legal status, can only make contributions to nonprofits, and an entity that can receive tax-deductible contributions from individuals and businesses. Nonprofit status, however, begins to define purpose. To sustain a facility as a nonprofit requires a compelling purpose and functions that are consistent with contributors’ charitable purposes and funding guidelines. Further, many foundations are precluded from, or very reluctant to fund, operating costs, particularly on an ongoing basis. The Civic Foundation appears to have found some success in creating a virtual incubator for artistic and religious endeavors. This model, however, was threatened by problems of tax arrears and capital renovations costs that were transcended only with great difficulty and financial innovation.
Public Use and Public Purpose: An alternative for adaptive reuse of sacred landmarks is acquisition by government for use in housing governmental units. This option was considered by the City of Cleveland Heights but rejected because of the very high cost of renovating the facility relative to new building construction. An intermediate alternative to public ownership is housing some government services that generate rental income for the facility. This could provide core tenants for both profit and nonprofit adaptive reuse. Another intermediate alternative is the use of public funds to facilitate adaptive reuse because the facility serves a historic and/or current public purpose. The Civic experience offers examples of state and city government providing funding, including the innovative use of linked deposits to generate resources to sustain and maintain the Civic.
The experience of the Civic also illustrates the depth and complexity of financial issues confronting adaptive reuse of sacred landmarks, as well as the complexity of financing to address these financial barriers. The transition from Ark to Art was underwritten by a wide variety of financing techniques, including equity investments through partnership of full and limited partners; foundation loans and grants and foundation and government linked deposits; private giving and local government funding; guaranteed loans; rental income; tax forgiveness;
debt transfer; balloon loans; tax deductible donations; federal Community Block Grant funding through the City of Cleveland Heights; State of Ohio Capital Budget allocations; Civic-sponsored fund raising programs; juried art shows; and low interest loans. In addition, the Civic explored federal Historical Tax Credits, Economic Development Administration grants, and congressional line item appropriations. The Civic’s experience with financing illustrates four important points: 1) A variety of traditional and non-traditional financial instruments are available, particularly for nonprofit entities. 2) These financial instruments need to be packaged to achieve viable financing approaches. 3) Workable approaches to financing require expertise, creativity, and innovation. 4) Plans for the adaptive reuse of sacred landmarks must be undergirded by sound financing strategies if they are to succeed.
Revealing the enormity of the efforts involved should not discourage others from attempting to carry out related plans. The travails and frustrations involved in creating and sustaining the Civic Foundation have been clearly identified, but the experience of the Civic also demonstrates the deep satisfaction of successfully meeting these challenges, of preserving a sacred landmark as a civic asset, and the privilege of contributing so substantially to one's community. It is hoped that this latter lesson learned will be more than a sufficient restorative for those daunted by the challenge.
**The Sacred Landmarks Initiative**
The Sacred Landmarks Initiative (SLI) is a program within the Urban Center of the Levin College of Urban Affairs, Cleveland State University, that provides information about Cleveland's religious structures and organizations and their past and present role in strengthening and maintaining communities within the Cleveland metropolitan area. The initiative's four primary activities include researching and documenting the architectural and aesthetic features of Cleveland's religious structures; providing guidance or referrals to religious institutions who wish to preserve their archival materials and artworks, including their stained glass windows; researching and documenting the human and social services engaged in by religious institutions; and researching and documenting the role that various religious institutions and their members have played in the history of Cleveland. The monograph presented here reflects this mission because it not only helps develop a caring concern about sacred places and their fate, but provides information useful for their preservation and ongoing usefulness.
The Sacred Landmarks Initiative of the Levin College Urban Center is one of four such organizations with a common mission that form the Sacred Landmarks Partnership of Northeastern Ohio. This partnership includes the initiatives at the University of Akron, Kent State University, and Youngstown State University, as well as the original one at Cleveland State University. Because preserving archival materials and artworks is a central purpose of the Initiatives, a Sacred Landmarks archive has been created and is maintained in partnership with the CSU University Library.
REFERENCES
1 Friends of St. Alphonsus (2/99), St. Alphonsus Art & Cultural Center [online] <www.stalphonsus.org> (accessed 7/25/00)
3 American Synagogue Restoration Project
4 American Synagogue Restoration Project
9 Klanfer, M.
11 vanDijk, Pace, Westlake & Partners, (5/17/93). Architectural and Engineering Planning Study - The Civic, Cleveland, OH
12 McPhail, K. (10/28/92). Report to General Partners, Cleveland, OH: Deloitte & Touche
13 Agreement with Mary Rose Oakar & Associates dated 2/14/95
14 Resolution 9-1996 (CRR), (1/96). Cleveland Heights City Council by Council Member Montlack
15 Resolution 9-1996 (CRR)
16 Grants of $394,000 from the City of Cleveland Heights, $150,000 from the State of Ohio, and $150,000 from the Gund Foundation; Linked Deposits of $250,000 from the Gund Foundation and $100,000 from Cleveland Heights; Loans of $50,000 from the City of Cleveland Heights and $188,000 from the Cleveland Foundation; private donations and tenant investment of approximately $400,000.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
John J. Boyle, III is a 1962 graduate of Boston College who entered his family insurance business after graduating from college. At age 31 he was elected to Cleveland Heights City council and served for over 18 years as a member of Council, as Mayor and President of Council, as a member of the city's Housing Board, and as a member and Chairman of the Planning Commission. After retiring from City Council, Mr. Boyle became an original board member and the first chairman of the board of The Civic Foundation. He still serves as a member of the board of trustees.
Mr. Boyle began his masters degree in Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University in 1988, but was forced to take a nine year sabbatical to serve as a member of the university's board of trustees. After his service on the board was completed, he resumed his studies and is currently a master's candidate in Urban Planning and Development. Mr. Boyle is currently on leave from his insurance business and serving as Interim Vice President for Finance and Administration at Cleveland State.
THE CIVIC IN PHOTOGRAPHS
Laying the cornerstone for Temple on the Heights (B’nai Jeshurun Congregation), May 24, 1925. Rabbi Abraham Nowak, then spiritual leader of the temple, is in center behind flag-draped table.
The Great Hall (now home to New Spirit Revival), circa 1965.
Exterior of the Civic, circa 1966...
...and circa 2000
Above, the lobby doors to the Great Hall (now home to New Spirit Revival). The doors are largely the same as they were when the building was a temple, with the exception of the two panes in each door (now solid colored glass) that originally had etchings of Menorah and other symbols of Jewish religious life.
To the right, the staircase to the balcony (also in the lobby of the Great Hall.)
The Great Hall after renovations (fall 2000). |
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