Posts about Eastern Market

Architecture

Architecture should create sense of place, not "flair"

by Ryan Velasco   •   May 9, 2011 12:39 pm

Erik Weber wrote enthusiastically about two designs by the Mexican architecture firm of TEN Arquitectos. Pieces of flair are appropriate in certain settings. But in historic neighborhoods, architects should ground new construction, especially if it is large, in a "respect of place."

Image courtesy of TEN Arquitectos.

Certainly there is a place for "modern" design in our built environment. There is a curatorial value in preserving definitive examples of a particular style as part of our cultural record. The MLK Library, for example, had its place in time and is the only Washington building by modernist master Mies van der Rohe.

It should be preserved, but it's not an endearing place. It doesn't ask me to linger, to settle in with my book. It lacks what the architect and theorist Christopher Alexander calls that "quality without a name."

Without its august associations with its namesake and its designer, the MLK Library would have been demolished or gutted during the last real estate boom. That would never happen to the Old City Library, regardless of its historical merit as one of Andrew Carnegie's.

Left: MLK Library. Photo by ElvertBarnes on Flickr.
Right: Old City (Carnegie) Library. Photo by The Great Photographicon on Flickr.

That building endures because there is something attractive and innately human in its scale. It elicits a sense of reverence and respect appropriate for its purpose. One cannot say the same for the MLK Library or the projects designed by TEN Arquitectos.

Of the West End project, Weber approvingly writes the viewer perceives the structure as a "pixilated glass amoeba," which is nearly as good a simile as that used by an architect who once appeared before ANC 6C who described his project as "two tectonic plates colliding." The Glass Amoeba overhangs the public space—an expedient trick that is about maximizing profit rather than design.

It reminds me of the J. Edgar Hoover Building. It's mass looms above the pedestrian, which always gives me a sense of unease as I walk down Pennsylvania Avenue. What they lack in an architectural idiom grounding them within an historic setting, neighboring architectural blunders aside, they make up for in shock value. They are stunning, but so is much of pop culture and neither will stand the test of time.

There are very few examples in DC where "new" (post-World War II) traditional design is done well. The Ronald Reagan building approaches it. The Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building alludes to it.

But in the wrong hands traditional architecture becomes kitsch. Some of the most vocal opponents of the current Amy Weinstein design for the Hine School site are neighbors that live in the 300 block of 8th Street SE, an example of 1970-ish infill where misapplication of traditional form is on display.

Turn the corner at 8th and C Street, SE and it continues, complete with curb cuts and garage entrances the degrade the pedestrian experience. Were these structures to be subjected to design review today, they would not be permitted.

Houses at 8th and C, SE. Image from Google Street View.

Architecture can be a restorative act. When an architect takes cues from community and not her or his creative impulse, the design result can reconcile the built and natural environment, healing the mistakes of previous generations. I often think of what was lost—and what we were given—in the Southwest waterfront during the Great Society endeavors of the 1960s.

Architecture and urbanism in practice should seek to form a whole, to make something complete. Each element, be it a room, a house, a porch, a garden, a block, a neighborhood, or a city, provides transition and each element relies upon the previous.

This shared state of transition is the underlying principle of unity found in all things. It applies to cities, to ecosystems and agriculture, to art, to human systems of organization as bureaucratic and inefficient as Congress and to things as natural and enduring as families.

I think about this in the case of Hine School project at Eastern Market. I sympathize when I hear residents say they want something that is in keeping with the character of the neighborhood. Those parts of the Hill we love the most, we love for their "completeness."

Eastern Market is already "complete", not simply because of the attention Adolf Cluss gave to brick course and cornice (and, after the fire, the careful hands that restored it), but of the neighborhood that exists around it; the activity and personal connections formed through commerce and community across generations.

Paraphrasing architect Steven Mouzon: "If a building cannot be loved, it will not endure. And if does not endure, it is not sustainable." Progressive planners and some architects get this concept of sustainability. We demand it in our transportation systems, in our food systems. There is an interest in all things local. Why not in our buildings? Why is it that an architects practicing in the early 20th century understood this balance better than many practicing today?

Development

Compare the Hine redevelopment proposals

by David C.   •   June 22, 2009 10:39 am

On June 10th, four developers presented their plans for the now-closed Hine Junior High School site in Capitol Hill to a packed room of neighborhood residents and business owners. Three of the four proposals were refreshingly urban in their look, focused on place-making oriented toward people friendly, human scaled buildings. The other one had no hard plans, making it difficult to judge. All four of the presentations are online here.

National Leadership Campus concept (PDF).

The concept is a non-profit leadership campus, a place where non-profits can get low cost office space, housing, training, conference facilities and leadership development programs. Retail and restaurant space would partly subsidize the nonprofits. The site would include community and open space, a green low-density walkable campus, the possibility of reopening C Street, and as many as 500 parking spaces.

This one probably has the longest odds, since it's harder to sell people on a concept. If the other proposals had been weak it might have won by default, but that wasn't the case. Furthermore, with so many parking spaces and an emphasis on low-density development it may be the least appropriate. The idea is good, but the design and site isn't.

The other three resemble each other more closely. They all envision reopening C Street, with some type of open space along it and placing cafes along 7th. The all treat the site as one with four fronts and build below ground parking where Eastern Market trucks could park. All would have retail along 7th, C and Pennsylvania and residential along 8th. None included a second entrance to the Metro.

Market Row proposal from Seven Penn Partners (PDF).

Market Row: Samuelson described this presentation by Seven Penn Partners as looking like Bethesda, and that is more accurate than SPP might hope. Their plan would move the flea market to C Street, closing the street to car traffic on the weekends. A below ground garage would contain 350 parking spaces, two-thirds for the public and one-third for residents. An alley offset to the south would break up the site, though it wouldn't line up with the alley between 8th and 9th. A pedestrian walk from the alley to C Street offset to the west. In addition to residences and retail, they would include office space, a park along C and a courtyard. The biggest weakness is that, unlike the other two, they didn't mention any explicit tenants (except St. Colleta's for crafts) which makes is hard for people to imagine themselves going there.

Kimpton Hotel Anchor: The proposal from DSF/Street Sense/Menkiti Group presented a high end set of proposals with more specifics. One key element was the inclusion of an 80-room Kimpton Hotel and Spa on the corner of 7th and Penn. They had more specific numbers than others: 235 residential units, 40,000 sf of retail, 15,000 sf of private open space (including for-rent rooftop space). They plan to add a 35 foot wide sidewalk along 7th and to move the flea market there. Unlike Market Row, the only way to traverse the site is on an L-shaped alley from C to 8th that does align with the alley between 8th and 9th. They plan fewer than 350 parking spaces, though they didn't give a number, and think they can do it by doing a shared space analysis.

DSF/Menkiti proposal (PDF).

They said they would spruce up the currently sad triangle of open space at the northwest corner of 8th and Pennsylvania. They have commitment letters from Yes! Organic Market about moving down the block for a larger location, and with Busboys and Poets, who would provide a community room. For an added touch of class, they're bringing in Robert Wiedmaier, 2009 Rammy Chef of the Year, to do the cooking at the Kimpton. They would build below the maximum allowable building height and FAR "to keep the development consistent with the existing neighborhood." Finally, they'd also build a small park along C Street.

It was a strong entry, and probably the one most in line with New Urbanist principles. The quality of its design and the strong list of partners they've added make this one of my two favorites.

Stanton/Eastbanc: This is the homer choice. With Amy Weinstein and her husband Philip Esocoff as the prime architects, they bring in a team who knows the area, knows the history, and knows the neighborhood (though every group brought someone who could tell a story of living on the Hill). They spent significantly longer than the others promoting their experience and knowledge of the history of the area. Weinstein designed the addition to the building across 7th Street, a building on 7th just north of the Hine site and is designing the proposed Capitol Hill Town Square just south of the site. Knowledge and experience is definitely a strong suit for this team.

Despite their "emphasis on people"—they showed photos of Hill residents eating Al fresco and of the artistic bike rack on 7th—their proposal is most donut-like, without an alley or walk to traverse the site. It also has the greatest density. A large amount of space is set aside for the Shakespeare Theatre, which has office space down 8th, a rehearsal space across the street from that, and a prop storage area in Mt. Rainier; they would love to combine these into one location.

Stanton/Eastbanc proposal streetscape plan (PDF).

The plan includes a piazza on C Street, where the Shakespeare Theatre could do free performances, a sunken courtyard in the middle, and over two acres of green roof and roof gardens. Like Market Row, they'd place the flea market on C Street and close it to car traffic on weekends (as well as during 'special events' in the piazza). Other than the Shakespeare Theatre, the only other specific user mentioned was International Relief and Development, which would move into a large block of office space along 7th. The garage would have parking for 390 cars. They would pursue a LEED platinum rating. This group seemed the most prepared and gave the most information about the site and their plans. With their connections to the Hill, the project is almost theirs to lose, and at this point it's probably a two-horse race between the last two groups.

Overall, I felt they were all better proposals than what I expected to see, with three very strong ones.

Followup from David A: A group of neighbors, called the Eastern Market Metro Community Association, laid out five principles in advance, including accommodating the flea market, keeping the neighborhood's residential character, working with the community, and designing for people and bicycles rather than cars, including avoiding excessive parking. According to EMMCA organizer Thomas Riehle, the Stanton and Street Sense groups have been aggressively reaching out to neighbors, particularly Street Sense. Riehle says that Bozzutto, the lead developer in the Seven Penn group, "was actively hostile" to neighbors' outreach efforts, limiting the number of attendees at a meeting to 12 and insisting they had to check with the Mayor's office before scheduling anything. NLC was "the hardest to reach," routing EMMCA's outreach efforts to an assistant.

Transit

Breakfast Links: Fe Fi Fo Fum

by Joey Katzen   •   June 10, 2009 8:30 am

Wisconsin Giant site plan

Transit

Afternoon links: "War on Drivers" armistice unlikely

by Joey Katzen   •   June 4, 2009 1:50 pm

Richmond's bypassed
Main Street Station

Public Spaces

Dinner links: development delays and bodily wastes

by David Alpert   •   February 17, 2009 5:04 pm

Photo by mrobenalt on Flickr.

Shady development seeing the light: The Mongtomery County Planning Board will hold a hearing on the Shady Grove Life Sciences Center on March 26th. (Gazette)

Isn't it fertilizer? Some residents of McLean Gardens and the surrounding area aren't sure a dog park can coexist with their community garden on Newark Street. (WTOP)

Radio? Is that like YouTube without pictures? Kojo Nnamdi discussed social networking today in light of the Maryland legislature's recent ban.

When boarding, please don't pee: Friends of friends of Transportation Examiner Katherine Hill pee on the Metro platforms. Really. Yuck.

Bricks or bricks? DDOT wants to know what you prefer for bricks around Eastern Market: "Holland Pavers" or cobblestone-esque bricks. (DCist)

Dead tree? Oh well: There's nobody to prune dying or dead trees, DC officials tell Life in Mount Vernon Square.

On the calendar: Tonight, DDOT is simultaneously presenting plans for 17th and 18th Street in Dupont and the 11th Street Bridges. In Alexandria, the Potomac Yards advisory group is discussing a potential Metro station. Tomorrow, DDOT will present plans to reopen Champlain Street under the Marie Reed Center in Adams Morgan.

Plus ça change: Last year, people in Ward 3 were debating free visitor parking passes; Council Chairman Vincent Gray was talking about parking on Poplar Point, and we looked at two options for South Capitol Street, of which DDOT ultimately picked the better one.

Transit

Tonight's meetings

by David Alpert   •   September 23, 2008 5:00 pm

[Autoposted while I'm in France]

Are you going to the carsharing forum or 16th Street bus public meetings?

What do you think we should do about 16th Street? Car sharing? What else is on your mind?

If you go, give your summary in the comments on this post.

Transit

So many meetings, so far away

by David Alpert   •   September 22, 2008 4:00 pm

[Autoposted while I'm in France]

Photo by M.V. Jantzen on Flickr.

There are three meetings I really want to go to in the next few days. Too bad they have to all happen while I'm in France. I hope some of you can go in my place and report back.

From A to B, With a Stop at Z: Carsharing in the DC Region: Hear Ellice Perez of Zipcar, DDOT's Anna McLaughlin, and Arlington's Chris Hamilton discuss carsharing in Greater Washington. Refreshments at 6, program from 6:30-8 at NCPC, 401 9th St NW, 5th Floor. Organized by the Coalition for Smarter Growth. RSVP here.

16th Street Metrobus public meeting: The 16th Street line is being reworked to add express service and make other changes to improve reliability and reduce bus bunching (a huge problem on this line). There will be a second public meeting tomorrow, 6:30 pm at St Stephen and the Incarnation Episcopal Church, 16th & Newton Sts NW.

17th Street Streetscape: DDOT will finally present its plans for 17th Street. The community participated in multiple workshops at the beginning of the year, but the feedback seems to have disappeared into a black box to turn into some kind of ultimate design. Wednesday, September 24th, 6 pm at Foundry United Methodist Church, 1500 16th St NW.

Capitol Hill Town Square community meeting: Fortunately for me, this meeting was moved to October 1.

Parking

Breakfast links: conventional wisdom can be wrong edition

by David Alpert   •   July 30, 2008 9:47 am

Monderman at a sign-less intersection in Drachten. Photo by sociate on Flickr.

A new VRE line? VRE is evaluating a potential new branch from Manassas to Haymarket. My transit future map includes the route, which is currently single-tracked. Funding, of course, is the elephant in the room. Via WP Get There.

Why should the rate be different? An Emeryville architecture firm has started paying employees 58.5 cents per mile if they bike to official meetings—the same as the official IRS rate for driving, reports the SF Chronicle. It's a great inducement. From a public policy standpoint, why should we reward people more for taking a more expensive and more polluting form of transportation? Tip: Ben T.

Hill loves parking, could do without youth: Residents of Capitol Hill discussed principles for redeveloping the Hine Junior High site last week, and voted for principles they found most and least important by putting colored dots on a board. "Maintain historic character and moderate density" and "housing accessible to a broad range of income and age groups" were among the most voted-for principles (27 each), but "Add underground parking accessed from 7th St" ran away with 45 green dots.

As for principles residents marked with red dots (a priority they opposed), parking was fifth (with 5), restoring C Street third (10), and the number one red dot vote-getter: "Maintain focus on youth with educational services, library or other youth oriented facility." In fairness, "maintain focus on" does suggest a youth use to the exclusion of others, which I can understand not being the right priority. Full voting numbers here.

Parking

Capitol Hill parking problems from Shoup misapplication?

by David Alpert   •   June 9, 2008 6:47 pm

The Hill Rag outlines neighborhood complaints about the performance parking pilot implemented in March. The biggest objectors are businesses, mostly bars and restaurants, on Pennsylvania Avenue, who claim a drop in patronage. There's no data, though, and "according to Wells, the Capitol Lounge and Marty's on Barracks Row report no change in business level."

Photo by Bill on Capitol Hill on Flickr.

But there are as many positive impacts as negative ones. The Hill Rag reports that Wells' staff have found the regulations very beneficial to people running short errands at banks, cleaners, or drug stores. And in Eastern Market, the parking rules have made it easier for visitors to park while raising revenue at the same time.

The reporter checked with Donald Shoup, the UCLA professor who blazed the trail of performance parking policy. "Shoup was both surprised and disappointed and indicated that the plan as adopted by the City Council was 'not what I recommended.'" For the businesses, Shoup says, Wells can win them over as similar parking plans did in cities like Pasadena. The key is to ensure that the revenue from parking near the businesses directly benefits the businesses through improved streetscapes—in Pasadena, the BID directly received the money. Here, it goes to DDOT, which may be too indirect for the merchants to directly feel the benefits commensurate with the costs.

The other problem with the pilot is residents who can't host parties. Rather than installing multi-space meters on residential side streets, the pilot simply converted them to resident-only spaces with a two hour limit at night as well as during the day. Currently, most DC residential streets allow visitors for two hours until some hour in the evening, usually 6:30 or 8:30 pm.

Simply forbidding parking over two hours isn't really Shoupism; what we really ought to do is allow people to park for as long as they like, but for a fee. Then, guests at dinner parties can be assured of a space to park, just not a free space. DC didn't do this because multi-space meters are expensive and hard to come by. We can solve this problem with technology allowing people to pay by phone instead of having to use a multi-space meter. The signs will simply list a phone number, and perhaps also direct phoneless residents to a multi-space meter a block or two away.

Instead, DC is going to relieve this problem by allowing residents unlimited free guest passes. It'll be impossible to ensure these are really for parties rather than baseball games. As the Hill Rag wrote, "What struck me as I listened to complaints was how many of my 'close friends' and neighbors have entertained over the past decades as often as they say they have without ever having invited me to one single dinner. Too often in the midst of these complaints to me I have seen the light go on, followed by an awkward pause and the subject is quickly changed."

This is a similar situation to that which led to guest parking passes in Ward 4 and elsewhere: housecleaners or home health care workers can't park for more than two hours, so we give an exemption from the rules. Instead, we should let anyone buy more time. It's silly to say that you can park free for 2 hours but not longer no matter what.

Tweaking parking rules this way and that won't solve the problem. Let's try real Shoupism. I suggest we bring it to Dupont Circle, where parking is extremely scarce evenings and weekends due to the many restaurants and other businesses in the area. That's bad for business because it's so tough to park. In fact, two frat-boyish Maryland students in a big SUV with an Obama sticker (ironic) practically ran me off the road yesterday trying to grab a parking space I was about to enter.

Free parking is a recipe for road rage. Instead, let's have non-residents pay a reasonable amount for parking. Some people will ride the bus or Metro instead of driving, there will be more spaces for everyone else, and we'll make money that can benefit the neighborhood. Shoup's ideas have worked elsewhere—we just have to try them.