Lawrence W. Cheek

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NO OFFENSE

AND THAT'S THE PROBLEM. AMERICAN WEST ARENA DOESN'T TAKE ANY CHANCES---LIKE BEING NOTICED.

By Lawrence W. Cheek
Aug 5, 1992

A forlorn picket shuffles listlessly across the forecourt of America West Arena, trying to rain a little conscience on the crowd celebrating the opening of this entertainment palace. His sign reads: $$$ TO BUILD ARENA BUT NO XXX FOR HOUSING No one's paying attention; the crowd--later estimated at 60,000--is in...
MARCHING TO A DIFFICULT DRUM

ASU'S NEW MUSIC BUILDING HAD A SPECIFIC JOB TO DO---LOOK GOOD NEXT TO THE OLD ONE

By Lawrence W. Cheek
May 13, 1992

ARCHITECTS WOULD always rather start with a clean slate-a nice, bare patch of dirt with no other buildings crowded around it, and no architectural masterpieces in the neighborhood that a new kid would either have to bow to or fight with. When the lot isn't vacant and the architect has...
BUILDING A BETTER MOUTHTRAP

AFTER YEARS OF CHEESINESS, FAST-FOOD ARCHITECTS HAVE IT THEIR WAY

By Lawrence W. Cheek
Jan 8, 1992

When fast feeders locate on a strip shopping center's pad, the design review boards force them to sing in tune with the strip's colors and materials-to use blue roof tiles, for example, if same are in the backdrop. This doesn't necessarily mean good design; it simply relieves conflict. The boards...
BUILDING A BETTER MOUTHTRAPAFTER YEARS OF CHEESINESS,FAST-FOOD ARCHITECTS HAVE IT THEIR WAY

By Lawrence W. Cheek
Jan 8, 1992

AMERICA MAKES the best fast food in the world. This is not an oxymoron. It is one overlooked point of light in our black hole of economic gloom. No Russian morozhenoye franchises are popping up in downtown Phoenix, even though ice cream might be more welcome here than in frosty...
DESIGNS FOR SPENDING

HOW DO YOU GET PEOPLE TO PART WITH THEIR MONEY? A TRIO OF SCOTTSDALE ROAD SHOPPING CENTERS LETS YOU COUNT THE WAYS.

By Lawrence W. Cheek
Sep 25, 1991

IT BURSTS OUT of the asphalt steppes at McDowell and Scottsdale roads like a Dada stage set, a crazed, skewed, hallucinatory caricature of pueblo architecture. Part nightmare, part cartoon, it looks like it might have been designed by a committee composed of Salvador Dali, R.C. Gorman and Fred Flintstone, all...

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