Suburban sensibility in Silver Spring submission

Development

Suburban sensibility in Silver Spring submission

by David Alpert • June 6, 2008 9:51 am

Yesterday, I wrote about the historic preservation fight underway in Silver Spring as a developer seeks to add more housing right near downtown Silver Spring. There's a strong dose of NIMBYism in the drive to landmark the existing Falkland Chase low-density apartments, but as commenter Dan Reed pointed out, there's also a strong dose of bad design in the proposed redevelopment.

This building typifies what I call "suburban sensibility," placing something that looks generally like a suburban hotel in the middle of an urban grid, like Newport in Jersey City, NJ (right across the Hudson from Manhattan), the Hilton Washington just north of Dupont Circle, the Marriott Wardman Park, or the Watergate apartments. Each of these uses architecture to separate from rather than connect to the city. Each sets its entrance away from the road, separated by a driveway loop, forcing people on foot to cross wide car-oriented spaces. And each creates large visual empty spaces rather than the continuous streetscape found in vibrant urban neighborhoods.

The left-hand picture shows the main resident entrance. Cars have a very wide driveway while pedestrians are crammed into a much narrower space. And the entire driveway loop, with wide turns and a green but unusable space in the center, will force people to walk all the way around to get in and out.

On the right is the project's attempt to somewhat engage the street by putting a grocery store near the sidewalk. But they've still put a landscaped barrier in between, still separating the complex from the rest of the city. And what's with that winding path the woman is walking along, which for no discernible reason winds one way and then the other? Do they really think people will walk all the way around instead of just cutting across those bushes?

Critics also say this building is too tall. Ironically, the pressure to preserve the rest of the Falkland Chase apartments may contribute to the height—by allowing the developer to make money on only a small portion of the property, it increases the need for height on that one fragment. Moderate height throughout the area with a more street-oriented urban feel would serve Silver Spring much better.

Update: Dan has more on his blog.

8 comments — Share	— tags: Falkland Chase, Maryland, Silver Spring, Smart Growth, suburban sensibility

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Comments

It's not height, it's width. The best urban places have lots of diversity at street level. One building that takes up a whole block is boring for pedestrians, and even with ground floor retail doesn't have enough entrances to generate enough pedestrian users or keep enough eyes on the street.

This came up in Ballston about two years ago.

by BeyondDC on Jun 6, 2008 9:59 am

Nice critique.

Again, I think it's vitally important to keep the issues related to this development separate. By my read, they are as follows:

1. Preservation. Is the current site worth preserving, regardless of development plans? I'd argue no - preservation here is being used as a tool to stop development rather than keeping worthy structures.

2. Smart Growth. Should this site have increased density, mixed use, etc? The answer to this is an unequivocal yes.

3. Design. Does the design match the principles and intent of smart growth? From what I've seen, not really.

If the battle is over #3, then let's talk about #3. But it seems people are using #1 as a way to argue about both #2 and #3, and thus they aren't doing any of the issues justice. None of them are being discussed on the merits, but rather as a means to some other end.

by Alex B. on Jun 6, 2008 10:13 am

BLECH! I agree with the NIMBYs here. Why replace mediocre suburban development with terrible airport hotel anti urbanism. Frankly this project should unequivocally be rejected simply because of its bad design.

A few comments:

The site work is unimaginative and just bad, the towers in the park idiom NEVER works.

The "public park" will likely be unused, the center taken up by the retention pond makes it unusable for any recreation. Again, something just out of the suburban hotel playbook that always fails.

The architecture itself is banal to the extreme, just like in Ballston, Roslyn et al. I'd even go so far to just call it hideous. Simply a hack job.

by Boots on Jun 6, 2008 10:51 am

I basically say the same thing in many more words, but with a little context about Falkland Chase's original architect Louis Justement: check out Just Up The Pike.

Thank you, David! I'm glad someone else understands what I was going for.

by dan reed on Jun 6, 2008 12:24 pm

Your posting today incorporates more nuance and endeavors to see more sides (the regrettable "NIMBY" as you put it - are you really Marc Fisher? He too overly relies on that word). I could get more on board. But I encourage you, before diving head first into projects that say they provide more density, to publish one or two entries on the existing density, as compared with similar cities or towns or neighborhoods. It might provide a bit more context. Is more density just automatically in and of itself a good thing? Without any examination? Maybe so, maybe not. Is there already overcrowding in parts of neighborhoods? Etc etc.

by WM on Jun 6, 2008 8:31 pm

Marriott Wardman: Yes it is set back and has long driveways. But it is a beautiful building and is easier to see because it's set back. And, in my opinion, whatever inconvenience is incurred from crossing the driveways is made up with the gorgeous gardens right next to the sidewalk. The hotel spends a fortune on flowers-thousands, maybe 10's of thousands of tulips bloom every April. There are blossoming trees and paths ped's can take right off the sidewalk to meander around the flowers and even benches. When the tulips have bloomed they put in flowering annuals. It's the best flower garden in the area and those who get to enjoy it most are; 1. the neighbors and 2. everyone walking past it from the north/west to the Woodley metro stop.

The tulips are so impressive I make a point of taking out-of-town guests to see them. It's like Tulip Time in Holland Michigan.

by Bianchi on Jun 10, 2008 10:54 am

There's also some interesting hand-waving in the design and drawings which make we wonder if something built to these specs could be significantly worse than the pictures. In the middle of Falkland Chase is a CHASE. The stream has, has steep hills on each side. All the drawings show almost a fountain that at pedestrian level. The text ( http://www.homeproperties.com/falkland/4.asp ) says, "The water will fall and tumble over a rockscape animating the pedestrian experience as residents from the western part of Silver Spring make their way to the Metro." This matches reality more than the picture and I wonder how much of the limited green walkways in the middle will be steep stream banks.

My other main concern is the size of the apartments. While, one of the complaints of the current buildings is small apartments, I still don't see how 1000 apartments are fitting in the new buildings unless they are of equal size and mostly studios to 2 bedrooms. This is still very family unfriendly and won't do much to attracting groups with more than 2 people into the buildings. This would be on par with Summit Hills and the Blairs which are already having occupancy issues. I went through their website can couldn't find anything on #'s of rooms or apt size ranges. Anyone else know anything about this?

by d on Jun 10, 2008 2:02 pm

The "windy sidewalk" is likely a handicap ramp. Doesn't really matter because it's just a concept drawing, not the real thing. What does matter is if MoCo rejects the tower in the park and forces HP to build something along the lines of what they proposed for the site. There have been a few blogs circulating the graphic of MoCos recommendation. It's lower in density but still packed in there...and it really does a nice job of relating to the street.

by Woodsider on Apr 2, 2009 10:25 pm