A group interested in shaping Sacramento's architectural future had quite a challenge Wednesday night: discussing how to design urban infill in a city whose buildings are viewed as largely mediocre.

Figuring out where to go from here is the whole point of the Design Dialogues, sponsored monthly by the Urban Design Alliance and the Sacramento chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

On Wednesday, 40 design and planning professionals, community residents and others met at the AIA offices to discuss how to move the city's structural landscape forward despite the architectural challenges of designing infill projects.

The 90-minute dialogue was a give-and-take between participants and the presenter, architect Bruce Monighan of Monighan Design. Monighan was chosen to lead the discussion on infill due to four decades of experience, in which he has designed reconstruction, historical preservation restoration, adaptive reuse projects, urban residential, retail and more. His work includes reconstruction of Old Sacramento's Eagle Theater, a replica Kuskov House at Fort Ross and the Twohy Building in San Jose.

All but 10 percent of the buildings in Sacramento are "junk or no longer purposeful," he said.

Responsibility for the current situation belongs to city planners and officials, community residents, developers and architects, said Monighan and others at the meeting.

The problem is that Sacramento is being defined by people who don't have broad perspectives, he said. They'd rather "take the easy way out" by copying an existing building or style than construct something horrible, he added.

"The city tends to do the same thing all the time. That leads to mediocrity," he said.

International destinations such as Dubai, Beijing and Paris show that a variety of architecture is needed to help cities bridge centuries, said Walter Horsting, owner of Business Development International. Horsting has proposed that a landmark state office building -- something that represents a golden spike -- be developed for The Railyards.

"I think we haven't been bold enough in this town to take on more significant work," he said. "The city needs an iconic landmark."

The most difficult hurdle for infill projects to overcome is that they are infill, or, in other words, that people already live and work in the areas where the buildings must be constructed, said Monighan, adding those people want to protect what's there.

Community groups have formed to preserve historic neighborhoods and fight changes members don't want, such as massive buildings, a denser population, and traffic and parking problems.

"Preservation doesn't mean cities or districts get frozen in time," he said.

A mechanical engineer participating in the dialogue questioned why designers "allow" communities to have input on the design of infill construction. Community residents aren't trained and don't understand architectural concepts, he added.

While architects would have total control in a perfect world, Monighan said, the work of mediocre and poor architects led to oversight from planning commissions and residents.

"We earned that by being bad," he said. "Too many people don't care about what they're building and the legacy of what they'll leave."

Monighan also led discussion of the controversy about whether historic buildings and styles should be copied, and, if not, how architects can begin to determine what to build.

The context or "character" of the place, rather than the style of buildings, should lead the design, he suggested. Urban design guidelines recommend "creative interpretation" of existing patterns of such things as building materials, scale and how people move around.

"I think we look at something and say, 'What's it look like? — that's the character,' " he said. "I think that's where we've been wrong."

Photos by David Roberts. Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.