"Do they reflect the local Tysons Corner community?"

Ha ha ha ha!!! "Tysons Corner community." Ha ha ha...

by Simon on Apr 23, 2009 10:45 am  

All kidding aside, they do reflect the Tysons Corner community, insofar as it looks like lobby art at a bland hotel.

by Simon on Apr 23, 2009 10:46 am  

It's a good start I guess, although it's hard to judge them with only low-quality sketches. Either way, I don't think art work is that big of a deal for this.

by Vik on Apr 23, 2009 10:48 am  

Not wanting to prejudge too much from one small image, the Tysons 123 art looks kind of neat, except that it really isn't placed or scaled for the pedestrian shown down below. From the looks of the image a pedestrian would still be faced with a really long blank concrete wall.

by RichardatCourthouse on Apr 23, 2009 10:55 am  

As a note, while all of the stations do have bridges, people accessing Tysons East from the North side of Chain Bridge and Tysons Central 123 from the North side of Chain Bridge will have direct access from the sidewalk. They won't need to use the bridges. The other three stations are in medians, and I believe all access will be through the ped bridges.

As for the artwork, I'm not particularly inspired by any of it. Were I to choose artwork representing Tysons, I would think it would need to be auto-centric. The Hard Rock Cafe in Atlanta has a Cadillac hanging from the outside facade, perhaps we could do something like that.

And don't we already have the Tysons Central 123 artwork? Take a look at the "Largo Beacon" outside Largo Town Center on the Blue Line: http://world.nycsubway.org/perl/show?36064

by Matt' on Apr 23, 2009 11:00 am  

Good thing WMATA's spending $1.7 million on fugly art instead of closing that $29 million budget gap.

by monkeyrotica on Apr 23, 2009 11:12 am  

From the Farragut presentation:

There is no cost to Metro to fabricate and install the proposed artwork.

If that's true, then this is a wonderful idea.

by tom veil on Apr 23, 2009 11:14 am  

Ugh. Why must art be a choice between the debased and this, the banal.

by Boots on Apr 23, 2009 11:22 am  

Wow! I got a 10/10 on the washington post metro artwork quiz, and i am not the artsy type to memorize artwork at every single station. I guess having unique art at metro stations does stand out!

by Mark on Apr 23, 2009 11:26 am  

Is that the '80s band A-Ha there in the bottom one?

by unsuckdcmetro on Apr 23, 2009 11:27 am  

I'm not generally a fan of any of these, but I do like the luminous columns. They are practical and interesting.

by Nick on Apr 23, 2009 11:57 am  

I think each of these pieces is horrible--but no moreso than most public art of the modern era. Will we ever get back to statues and murals? Even Alexander Calder is better than these haphazard messes.

I'm glad it's not WMATA footing the bill. But even with the Tysons group paying for it, what a waste. So many better uses for that money.

by JB on Apr 23, 2009 11:59 am  

Why is MWAA paying $1.7m for art that isn't even located on airport property? Why should airlines and airline passengers foot the bill for this?

Doesn't $1.7m worth of art seem like a luxury when Metro's budget is in disarray?

If there's a public benefit to all of this, then general taxpayer funds should pay for this, not airlines, passengers, or Metro riders for that matter.

by zonk68 on Apr 23, 2009 12:08 pm  

After looking at the presentations, the left three (Farragut, Tyson's East, and Tyson's 123) seem interesting and might turn out OK.

But it begs the question of why Metro hasn't aimed for better designs of the Tysons stations, which are aesthetic and conceptual disasters.

by цarьchitect on Apr 23, 2009 12:56 pm  

None of them are offensive, but the only one I think is particularly worth it is that at Farragut. The blank concrete corridors of Metro are a pet peeve.

If I had my druthers, Metro would just give every panel of concrete in every walkway and escalator corridor in the system to a high school art student, outline some basic instructions (nothing offensive, nothing that sticks out more than 1/2 inch, etc) and tell them to go wild.

by BeyondDC on Apr 23, 2009 1:25 pm  

Upper left corner: "Welcome to Tysons /The Fires of Hades"

by DG-rad on Apr 23, 2009 1:38 pm  

I thought that they still hadn't decided on the final station names for the Silver Line, am I wrong? I will admit that "Tysons Central One-Two-Three" has a sort of "Pennsylvania Six-Five-Thousand" cadence to it (even though I realize that it would be more likely pronounced "One-Twenty-Three").

Despite this nice cadence, I hope they come up with something that doesn't evoke bad urban renewal projects like the current names do (although I hope they avoid the aspirational and totally misleading names like "Shady Grove")

by Reid on Apr 23, 2009 1:46 pm  

The station names will supposedly be decided by WMATA when the construction team turns the line over to them. But in the mean time, we still need to ID the stops and the artists should show any signs that will exist.

by BeyondDC on Apr 23, 2009 2:00 pm  

Will there be stadium seating at Tyson's 123?

(and what other names will be on it by the time it's done: Koons/Nordstrom's/Neiman-Marcus/Route 123?

by ah on Apr 23, 2009 2:03 pm  

The new station names will be presented to the RAC by surprise with the attitude of "take it or leave it, these go to the Board next week", and that will suffice for public comment?

by Michael Perkins on Apr 23, 2009 2:05 pm  

I recommend the following station names as a straw-man. Feel free to suggest better names (going from east to west):

Tysons East: "Scott Run"

Tysons Central 123: "Tysons Blvd"

Tysons Central 7: unknown, just "Tyson's Corner"?

Tysons West: "Spring Hill Road"

Wiehle Ave: leave it as is.

by Michael Perkins on Apr 23, 2009 2:20 pm  

Not bad, Michael.

What about:

1) "Route 123" (station fully on Route 123, and Scott Run not as well known)

2) "Tysons Malls" (perhaps where most at station are going)

3) "Tysons Corner" (or "Route 7", or, if we were cheeky, "downtown Tyson's")

4) "Toll Road" (or Spring Hill Road)

5) Wiehle Ave.

I do think there's a problem using either Route 123 or Route 7, since both roads have two stops on them, but not sure there's a way around that.

by ah on Apr 23, 2009 2:43 pm  

I like having the most centralist "central" station be named simply "Tyson's Corner". The others, I'd rather not name them after roads, but I suppose that's the only option since it's not like there are neighborhoods there yet. I guess we could use the street names and then the neighborhoods would start getting called that, like how North Cleveland Park is now called Van Ness. So we should choose the more pleasant names. I don't think Tyson's Blvd qualifies (plus, it's a little too close to "Tyson's Corner"). Scott Run and Spring Hill Rd. are both pleasant sounding without being misleading like Shady Grove.

by Reid on Apr 23, 2009 2:51 pm  

ugly wastes of money. F-

by Dave Murphy on Apr 23, 2009 3:00 pm  

I'm imagining upscale residential towers or apartments will want to borrow the names of their nearby stations. "Scott Run" makes a nicer sounding building name than anything based on "123". These names are what the neighborhood is going to be called. Since to my knowledge it's not really known by anything right now, anything we pick is going to be the name for the next 100 years.

by Michael Perkins on Apr 23, 2009 3:02 pm  

@Simon - there is a "community" in Tysons Corner, despite its lack of walkability. I think the only person you made laugh is yourself.

There is a real reason why there is an investment in infrastruture and developers are filing zoning changes....

by Ted on Apr 23, 2009 3:05 pm  

I don't understand what is so misleading about Shady Grove? It is located in a no-man's land between Gaithersburg and Rockville and it is close to Shady Grove Road. It's not anymore misleading than "West Hyattsville", "Virginia Square" or "Grosvenor". Maybe "Derwood" would've been a better name for it.

Anyway I like the idea of naming the stations after cross streets (but leaving out the "Road", "Street", etc.) The places will make themselves.

East: "Colshire" (or "Scott Run")

East Central: Instead of Tysons Blvd, "Tysons Center"

West Central: "Westpark"

West: "Spring Hill"

by Reza on Apr 23, 2009 3:06 pm  

I think Reid means that the area isn't shady and there's no longer a grove.

by David Alpert on Apr 23, 2009 3:09 pm  

Back in September 2008 I suggested the following names for the four Tysons stations, from east to west:

Scott Run

Galleria Center

Westpark

Spring Hill

by BeyondDC on Apr 23, 2009 3:24 pm  

Michael--There's no reason we're stuck with the names for 100 years unless WMATA outlaws the slash from station names. And good luck with that . . .

by ah on Apr 23, 2009 3:25 pm  

Oh! Or we could really honor the suburban tradition of naming things after stuff that isn't there with station names like:

Fox Glenn Chase

Forest Deer Pond

Wood Harbor Place

The Preserve At Meadow Dogwood

by BeyondDC on Apr 23, 2009 3:31 pm  

"The Preserve At Dogwood Meadow" I mean. Gosh, that other one just made no sense at all!

by BeyondDC on Apr 23, 2009 3:32 pm  

@Ted: Not by any definition of the word "community" that goes beyond mere geographic proximity, there isn't.

by Simon on Apr 23, 2009 3:32 pm  

@Beyonddc, I think you mean the tradition of naming things after stuff that used to be there. Such as cutting down the trees and then naming the streets in rememberance.

by Michael Perkins on Apr 23, 2009 3:42 pm  

Chances are that "Wood Harbor Place" never had a harbor, and perhaps limited amounts of wood, there.

Any "preserve" most decidedly is not. At best it contains limited replanting of clear-cut trees.

Anyway, I've revised my proposed station name for 123-central:

"Where the Stores Are"

by ah on Apr 23, 2009 3:49 pm  

Station names! Here are my suggestions:

1. Asphant Commons (applies to pretty much any station)

2. American Standard (for a stop near the Toilet-Seat Building)

3. Dullard/Hernia (between Dulles and Herndon)

4. Waterboardia (for any station close to the CIA)

by JB on Apr 23, 2009 4:19 pm  

The Farragut proposal -- which is not exactly "Art" but more like a C/C+ project in a 1st year design studio -- is "loosely inspired by the maritime travels of Admiral Farragut." GIve me a break! It was clearly inspired by the sets of Austin Powers movies.

by Ron Eichner on Apr 23, 2009 4:21 pm  

It's not "art" so much as "decoration", but decoration is all I really want in a place like that.

by BeyondDC on Apr 23, 2009 4:41 pm  

"The Taking of Tysons 1-2-3."

by Simon on Apr 23, 2009 4:41 pm  

Such entertaining reading. Scott Run: I know very little about the area where the stops will be, but I know a lot about the FFX Co. park called Scott Run (or Scotts Run?). A metro stop named the same as the park would be misleading to me unless I could walk to the park from the metro stop.

Has anyone else been to the Wayne Co. International Airport (Detroit) and taken the underground pedestrian tunnel from one terminal to the other where there are moving sidewalks, a laser light show and sound effects?

by Bianchi on Apr 23, 2009 4:51 pm  

Do'h. Simon beat me to it. I was going to say that, if for no other reason than the cool movie tie-in, one of the route 123 stations should be called "Tysons 123".

by Joao on Apr 23, 2009 4:51 pm  

Tanglewood, MD, with all its musical streets is pretty odd, especially when you realize it has absolutely nothing to do with the Tanglewood music center.

by цarьchitect on Apr 23, 2009 5:37 pm  

That circular-looking art on Tysons Central 123 looks awfully like that prismatic circular thingy at Largo.

Tsarchitect: have you written about Tanglewood on every post?

by Daniel M. Laenker on Apr 23, 2009 7:06 pm  

Daniel mentioned what I was going to say about the Tysons 123 flag-frame-circle thingy. Certainly my least favorite, if only because it reminds me of that Largo thing.

Anyone else remember the ad prominently displaying the Largo circular thingy that boldly declared "Largo's Alive!" but depicted no life whatsoever apart from two tiny sapling trees in the far distance?

by Lucre on Apr 23, 2009 9:35 pm  

Bianchi, you're in luck. Scott Run park is right next to the proposed stop location.

by Michael Perkins on Apr 23, 2009 10:29 pm  

"McLean" could also work for the easternmost station. Being on the east side of the beltway it won't seem as connected to "main" Tysons anyway.

by BeyondDC on Apr 24, 2009 1:32 am  

Tyson's Corner a community? - interesting notion.

by Ralph Bennett on Apr 24, 2009 8:50 am  

I have been using the follow name in my post on the internet over the years:

Tysons East - Colshire Drive or WestPark

Tysons Central 123 - Tyson Corner Center

Tysons Central 7 - Pike Seven Plaza

Tysons West - Spring Hill Road

I have used these names for the Phase II stations:

VA-28 - Sulley Road or Dulles Greens

VA-606 - Morgan Road

VA-277 - Ashburn or Ryan Road

by Sand Box John on Apr 24, 2009 10:06 am  

None of these pieces of art are all that attractive or inspiring, though I am sure that artists tried. When was the art contest for this? Of all the artists we have in the area, these four were considered best? by whom?

by Laura on Apr 27, 2009 11:12 am  

I think the art should represent the ethos of our "community." It should celebrate gridlock, the force that brings us all together each and every day.

by liz on Jun 22, 2010 10:52 am