Thursday is the final public meeting for the Benning Library. Below are the latest architectural renderings:

What I like:

  • Cool effect in front created by the interior lighting at night.
  • It fronts on the street and has an inviting entrance there, in addition to a rear parking entrance.
  • 14 parking spaces is probably not excessive (though I’m not super familiar with the area). The site is right at the crossroads of the neighborhood and very close to two Metro stations, so we should be striving to create walkability there.
  • They included a picture of a bicyclist and a dog walker in the photos, which is usually a good sign they are thinking about non-vehicular access.

What I don’t like:

  • Despite having a bicycle in the picture, there are no bike racks.
  • The rear photo shows someone sitting on the steps reading. How about benches?
  • The windows are mostly on the second floor. It would be good to have more windows in the front so people inside can see the street activity and people on the street can see the library activity.

Here are more community suggestions from the March meeting. For a larger vision of this area, see “A Working Vision for Downtown Ward 7, by the Washington Regional Network, now part of the Coalition for Smarter Growth.

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Tagged: architecture, benning, bicycling, bike parking, cat:bicycling, dc, libraries, public spaces

David Alpert created Greater Greater Washington in 2008 and was its executive director until 2020. He formerly worked in tech and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco Bay, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He lives with his wife and two children in Dupont Circle.