Compare the Silver Spring Civic Building plans to reality

Architecture

Compare the Silver Spring Civic Building plans to reality

by Dan Reed • February 2, 2010 1:22 pm

The Silver Spring Civic Building now has windows and doors. After years of waiting, we can finally compare the artist's renderings to the real thing.

Rendering (left) and current photo (right) of the Silver Spring Civic Building.

Even though I initially didn't like the design of the Civic Building at first, I'm really excited to see it completed. It's sleek but also inviting, and it'll hopefully be a stage for many great public events in the future.

Three months after first installing the ice rink, the canopy above is coming together. What looks like an ordinary open truss now will eventually be clad in a translucent material that will glow at night.

Rendering (left) and current construction (right) of the canopy.

The ice rink will complete the "urban room" in front of Baja Fresh, visually enclosing the space and giving outdoor diners something to watch. (Will people eat outside at the same time of year when people are ice skating? Probably not. But the rink will double as a stage when it's warm.)

Site plan (left) and photograph (right) of the plaza.

It's always gratifying to see a building come to fruition. We'll hopefully celebrate the opening of the Civic Building and Veterans' Plaza on July 1, just in time for summer. In the meantime, you can take a trip through the past year of construction with this slideshow.

6 comments — Share	— tags: architecture, public spaces, Silver Spring

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Comments

Is there more info somewhere on the dedication of Veterans Plaza?

by Dave Murphy on Feb 2, 2010 2:57 pm

Looks pretty good. It's too bad their rendering style is so antiseptic.

by Neil Flanagan on Feb 2, 2010 3:19 pm

I would second the post. It seems very inviting, I hope the plaza comes out as nice. I wish the library proposed for around the corner had the same elegance this design had, but oh well. I'm not sure how the ice rink will "inhabite" the space, but being open at the ground, I'll withhold judgement till humanoids take over.

by Thayer-D on Feb 2, 2010 3:24 pm

You have to question why it is that Montgomery County is spending so much on lavish public buildings when at the same time it is comparing itself to Fairfax. Fairfax, except for the government center, has very utilitarian public buildings and parks. Even the library in Reston is very suburban auto-oriented in what is considered Fairfax County's only "downtown" area. Tysons has practically nothing in the way of public facilities or parks despite being a major employment center. Montgomery on the other hand has the Civic Building, Soccerplex, Rockville and Silver Spring Libraries. Why this considerable difference in planning when data show the counties are virtually identical in demographics/stats?

by Cyrus on Feb 2, 2010 4:11 pm

Cyrus, if we're comparing the two counties, wouldn't the differences you cite cast Montgomery in a positive light?

Are you casting Montgomery in a positive light? I'm confused.

by Cavan on Feb 2, 2010 4:38 pm

It's something the county govt does to justify the higher taxes

by mark on Feb 2, 2010 7:16 pm