Design

Streetscape Challenges for Planners and Users

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This Thursday, the Planning Board will review the County’s DHCA plans to upgrade the 25-year old streetscaping along Georgia Avenue between Selim Street and Silver Spring Avenue. The goals are to meet ADA standards and to install new soil panels that will help street trees reach full maturity.

But it’s more than a matter of setting in a few bricks and new trees. The design of the sidewalk space and its elements has to mediate among the needs of all users. Business owners want trees that don’t obscure their storefronts and signs. Curb edges and varied paving materials can hold up wheelchair users but can help blind pedestrians navigate. Agencies undertaking the work, trying to make the most out of … Continue reading

This Week at the Planning Board

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guest post: Valerie Berton

July 29 will be the last meeting of the Montgomery County Planning Board until September 16. The Board, which meets weekly on Thursdays, typically takes a recess every August. This year, the Board will stay on break through the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah and reconvene in mid-September.

As you might expect, the Board’s agenda is packed on this last day before a six-week recess. On tap:

A mandatory referral review of the proposed Travilah Fire Station, on 5½ acres at Darnestown and Shady Grove roads in Shady Grove. The proposed station is expected to serve Travilah, Traville, Fallsgrove and western Rockville. The Planning Board will provide comments to the county’s Department of General Services … Continue reading

Buses: Green and Cool

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With low-cost, long-distance options like Vamoose, bus travel is on the ascendancy, especially when they can offer high-tech services like Wi-Fi. If we could apply some of that high-tech thinking to congestion  management, they could really move.

A new COG survey has found an increase in telecommuting and a decrease in driving alone in the Washington metro region. Transit use is part of that equation–more than eight in ten respondents who live in inner ring communities live less than one half mile from a bus stop. But can they walk there easily and once they get there are they perched on the curb, rather than sitting under cover?

And if you can’t be green at least look green.

Round, Round, Get Around Friday Round-up

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Some interesting articles about transportation this week, none of them having to do with cars. Say bye bye to the little deuce coup.

Slate magazine has been running a series on “Nimble Cities” and here is their estimation of the three best ideas for urban transportation.

New York Magazine explores ways to make buses work as well as the subways.

And The Washington Post reports on a sight-impaired Montgomery County resident who identifies walking hazards that effect us all.

Legibility (and Dreaming of Vacation)

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A landscape or city is legible when it conveys information about itself. A place is most legible when it conveys information without the obvious devices of communication. Legibility is a kind of follow-your-nose sense that allows you to understand a place from both macro and micro signals.

Manhattan is legible though a grid punctuated by landmarks.

Miami Beach is ever-oriented between ocean and bay.

Most Greek villages run from a port, up the hill to a fort or church that takes the high ground.

The ebb and flow of commercial activity and social life in these places can be anticipated. You can figure out where the main shopping streets are and where people go to relax.

Legibility works in different dimensions–from an … Continue reading

Metro Fare Increase Still Cheaper Than Driving

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Metro’s recent fare increase has some people wondering whether it makes economic sense to continue riding the rails. Base fares on Metrorail have increased by $0.20 to $1.95, and $0.25 to $0.45 for Metrobus. A second fare increase is planned for rush hour commuters at stations with heavy ridership traffic.

So is Metro still the smart economic choice for your daily commute? Yes, absolutely, without a doubt. According to Greater Greater Washington, once you factor in the cost of gas, maintenance, and parking the decision becomes a financial no-brainer. A daily rider who drives and parks at Shady Grove Station to commute to Metro Center will realize 50% savings over a driver.

Obviously, there are a few other factors … Continue reading

Parking Mad?: Jolie-Laide (Part 3 of 3)

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I like the concept of Jolie-Laide: Beauty and the Beast.  While Montgomery County undoubtedly has a burdensome share of beastly buildings, some so crystallize the product of their time that they rise above.  Taken head-on it is not much to look at, but obliquely the minimally monikered (sorry)  Silver Spring’s “Garage 2”, at the intersection of Fenton Street and Cameron Street, is a civic building with moments of majesty that reminds me of Peter Behrens 1909 Tubinenfabrik in Berlin.

For your delectation:

Positively Parking (Part 2 of 3) Part of the Whole

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Right around the corner from the parking garage I showed yesterday is a very nice integration of retail into a parking garage.  It is difficult to say if the result was intentional or serendipitous and I think the success relies in part on the proximity of the surrounding buildings.  But I appreciate what looks like design intent made manifest.

The sharp contrast between the stark bright(ish) white and the shock of red establishes a nice hierarchy and rhythm for that side facade, while the tower anchors the corner and announces there is something there.

What you wouldn’t know from the pictures, however, is that the door on the longer facade is somewhat of a side door, entering into a … Continue reading

Positively Parking (Part 1 of 3)

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A lot of attention has been paid recently to parking.  The National Building Museum has an exhibit that closes in a couple of weeks.  Herzog and DeMeuron has their new disco garage in Miami, 1111 Lincoln Road.  Trenton, NJ, has a new scheme afoot.

Last month the International Parking Institute announced their 2010 design awards (bigger pictures available on ArchDaily).  Among the winners is part of the recent expansion of the Towson Town Center Mall north of Baltimore.  And while the street activation there is probably mostly still indoors, the project shows a successful integration of retail and parking.

The primary facade, as it were, holds the corner of Dulaney Valley Road and Fairmount Avenue, on what used to … Continue reading

Elevating Contemporary Facades

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Facade-ism.  Facade-omy.  Building facades are harder to design than they look.  Especially with bigger buildings.  Look around you.

There are always of course excellent examples.  The National Gallery of Art, West Wing, designed by the fabulous John Russel Pope, is a beautiful building.

DC architect Phil Esocoff also does a nice job with attractive facade design.

There are far more stinkers, however.  For design, I prefer smaller buildings.  Like small gardens or landscapes, there is usually room for only one organizing principle and its elegant elaboration.  The rowhouse is a good urban example of this and the DC area has a wealth of fetching specimens in Alexandria, Georgetown, Dupont Circle, and of course Capitol Hill.  Another local architect, Amy … Continue reading