A Sustainable Decision in Twinbrook

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guest post by Kristin O’Connor

Now If We Can Get the Brook Back in Twinbrook

Ah, the environmental benefits of reusing a building—a very large building with tons of existing steel and concrete. Built in the early 1970s, the 18-story Parklawn building is the tallest, most prominent in Twinbrook. Formerly, it housed the Food and Drug Administration before it consolidated employees in White Oak. Since then, much of the building has been vacant.

The cost savings of building materials and energy make this a good sustainable decision. Additionally, the building’s proximity to the Red Line Metro station and the WMATA/JBG’s Twinbrook Station development, makes re-using the 1.3 million square foot building a good financial and sustainable option for any … Continue reading

April 2011 Building of the Month

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guest post: Clare Lise Kelly

Can you identify this Montgomery County Building? Here’s a hint: This complex share ties with Penn Center in Philadelphia.

Tune in next month to find out what building it is and its architectural merits.

Montgomery Modern explores mid-century modern buildings and communities that reflect the optimistic spirit of the post-war era in Montgomery County, Maryland. From International Style office towers to Googie style stores and contemporary tract houses, Montgomery Modern celebrates the buildings, technology, and materials of the Atomic Age, from the late 1940s through the 1960s. A half century later, we now have perspective to appreciate these resources as a product of their time.

Building of the Month

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guest post: Clare Lise Kelly

Weller’s Dry Cleaning (1960) Fenton and Thayer Streets, Silver Spring

 

Built in 1960, this modernist structure is a great example of what is popularly known as Googie architecture. Defining features include a canted roofline and brightly colored porcelain panels—and a space age sign that looks right out of a George Jetson scene.

Incised in a brick is the name of the architect, Ted Englehardt (1898-1980), founder and first president of the Potomac Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

The building is still owned by Charlie Weller who is in his 90s. This resource is not listed on the Locational Atlas or designated on the Montgomery County Master Plan for Historic Preservation.

But it … Continue reading

Farming Montgomery

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The recent U.S. Census shows that the average age of farmers is rising across the country as well as in Montgomery County. The EPA notes, “As the U.S. farm population has dwindled, the average age of farmers continues to rise. In fact, about forty percent of the farmers in this country are 55 years old or older (Bureau of Labor Statistics). The graying of the farm population has led to concerns about the long-term health of family farms as an American institution.”

But as other groups and media have observed, change may be afoot. The New York Times has tagged the increase in young hipster farmers in Oregon as a trend. And they find that young farmers across the … Continue reading

D.C. Environmental Film Festival Features Urbanism and Architecture

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This year’s film festival takes a broad view of the enivronment, covering not only the natural environment, but the built environment as well.

Films on Samuel Mockbee’s Rural Studio, the green contextual architecture of Rick Joy and Kieran Timberlake, and the impact of car-based development on the city of Istanbul explore individual and collective design decisions–some more considered than others.

Also, someone has finally made a film about my favorite historian of all time–Vincent Scully. He is certainly a great lecturer whose words, images, and ideas create an inspiring flow in his audience. His sense of humor is charming; he apologized to an audience of architects for showing a picture in which his wife had marched into the frame and posed–this kind … Continue reading

Gehry’s Back? What About His Front?

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According to Witold Rybczynski in Slate, Gehry’s New World Symphony in Miami Beach proves he’s back. I’m not sure where he went, but the building is a well-detailed box that adds the civic-friendly option of turning itself inside out by broadcasting performances on the building to a lawn park.

This is bascially a programming decision as much as a design decision, as is the building’s interface with the the park and the way the park functions. Interface and progamming are a lot of what makes a place pleasing and interesting. So an empty lot in Silver Spring becomes a weekend market or a Miami warehouse becomes a Sunday afternoon hangout.

Gehry’s building is nicely detailed, but it’s … Continue reading

Bethesda Green Eats, Follow-Up

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Bethesda Green’s TEDx meet-up on Changing the Way We Eat drew local farmers and food innovators. You can read Bethesda Green’s report here and watch the speakers as well.

Bethesda Green, TEDx, and Your Dinner

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Bethesda Green sponsored a TEDx meet up this past Saturday on “Changing the Way We Eat,” and although the speakers were based in New York, the local viewers took time to introduce themselves and their efforts in local food and to discuss the potential for local food in Montgomery County.

 

So after Laurie David talked about the importance of family dinner and Carolyn Steele’s TED talk about How Food Shapes our Cities, we heard from Mike Kennedy, a board member of the innovative model Fox Haven Farm, from Kristina Bostick who works with Montgomery Countryside Alliance to make the County’s Agricultural Reserve into a food porducing resource, and Greg Glenn of Rocklands Farm, which is starting out with … Continue reading

Keep on Truckin’–Just Do it Somewhere Else

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Nordin Grabsi, who has been trying to run the Ali Baba Felafel truck at the Bethesda Farm Women’s Market, may finally have to shut down his popular stand. He is unable to meet County standards for a mobile food truck, but it also seems the County standards don’t recognize the growing and changing food truck business.

As one of the commenters on the Bethesda Patch site wrote, “I hate to see this happen, particularly since food carts are becoming more popular and interesting…”.

And this is not just a problem for Ali Baba, other food carts have also moved or shut down, just when things are getting interesting. And as well as possibly outdated regulations, there also seem to … Continue reading

Even the Best Laid Plans…

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Rockville’s King Farm was designed as a transit friendly community, with a gridded street pattern lined by street fronting homes on small lots. So that’s the community part. Now that the transit part is coming along, the pull of suburban standards is proving strong.

In this article, A Community Planned for Transit Now Resists It,  residents are quoted as saying the transit line will create a wall within the community. But this is not the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and King Farm is not Union station.

Why do people never point out that waiting with your neighbor at a station in the morning is a great time to chat and get to know each other–much better than driving home in … Continue reading