Fantasy City Planning Project #3: Architecturally Significant Pedestrian Bridge for Tysons Corner (2013, hotel)

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by clevispin

I ACTUALLY did this project in my fourth year architecture school studio back in the '80s. The crits ripped it to shreds.

So, who cares what some critics in architecture school said? Let's see your ideas! You might discover that real people like your idea a lot more than architecture school critics. Lots of times I think architecture professors are fools who have lost touch with what the average person likes or is likely to use. Most of the beloved monuments in DC (and around the country) have been blasted by self-proclaimed architecture critics. Think how many hated the WWII Memorial before it was built.

[Tiger Beer]

Originally Posted by clevispin

I ACTUALLY did this project in my fourth year architecture school studio back in the '80s. The crits ripped it to shreds. Tyson's is not suitable for pedestrians, never was and never will be. Sorry to be such a downer.

m

I'd only be worried if that architect school were from Europe or Asia or somewhere else outside of the U.S.

Sadly, doesn't surprise me at all that U.S. architects can't imagine 'walkability' in a dense commerical area.

[normie]

Clevispin, I'd like to see the design. It can't be worse than my elephant bridge! LOL I'd like to submit my elephant bridge idea to your teacher to see what he'd say.

While we're requesting designs, I'd really like to see brooklyndad's idea. It sounds like it could be stunning but I'm having a hard time picturing exactly what he has in mind.

[brooklynborndad]

Originally Posted by Tiger Beer

I'd only be worried if that architect school were from Europe or Asia or somewhere else outside of the U.S.

Sadly, doesn't surprise me at all that U.S. architects can't imagine 'walkability' in a dense commerical area.

Lots of architects (as well as urban planners, often trained in the same schools) can, and strongly advocate for it. NB, the only architect who has said in this thread that Tysons can never be walkable is the poster him/herself. His teachers ripped up HIS design, not Tysons as a walkable community. (and if we want to get PRACTICAL, its possible that there are better solutions to walkability across rte 7 that do NOT involve a pedestrian bridge - I responded here in the fun spirit of normie's OP)

[brooklynborndad]

Originally Posted by normie

Clevispin, I'd like to see the design. It can't be worse than my elephant bridge! LOL I'd like to submit my elephant bridge idea to your teacher to see what he'd say.

While we're requesting designs, I'd really like to see brooklyndad's idea. It sounds like it could be stunning but I'm having a hard time picturing exactly what he has in mind.

Well duh, Im not an architect, Im not sure exactly how it would be implemented myself. Plus even I had a picture in my head, I can't draw to save my life. And Im not the best at getting pictures onto the net.

DD would be a lot better, but shes off traveling on her gap year, and when she starts Arch school in sept, she will have projects for grades to do, and I suspect little time for fun side projects Even assuming a bridge in Tysons appealed to her

[brooklynborndad]

"Lots of times I think architecture professors are fools who have lost touch with what the average person likes or is likely to use. Most of the beloved monuments in DC (and around the country) have been blasted by self-proclaimed architecture critics. Think how many hated the WWII Memorial before it was built."

Theres an interesting debate going on about the role user likes should play in design. To a considerable extent the likes of lay people are based in what they are familiar with (sloping roofs even where there is little snow, etc) , even where something new could enhance life much more. OTOH its now standard practice to do charettes involving different groups of stakeholders, to bring together user needs and desires with the architects ideas.

From all I can gather much of the most bizarre, artsy projects have been driven by the (usually corporate) client's desire for publicity. See this article Enrique Norten and architecture*in the Great Recession


As for the WW2 mem, I recall having a discussion with a non-architect who disliked the plan, but that was before I had seen the memorial itself. Certainly some of the monuments around town are cliched and mediocre, and more beloved for the associations with them than anything else.

[clevispin]

Tyson's was laid-out for the automobile. I'm all for adding sidewalks, pedestrian safety devices etc but the billions$ (?) in infrastructure that have accumulated over the decades don't allow for a classically urban walkable space that is people oriented, practical and architecturally "organic" within the hermeneutic of urbanism (at the least the type that is most admired and proven over centuries). Tyson's is a commercial/retail machine that is fed by the automobile.

As a small boy I attended school at what is now the Corner of Rt7 & International drive. As a fireman I burned down plenty of vacant property in the area that was then supplanted by office buildings. I have seen the BEAST! The best I can say is that the zoning boundaries are pretty tight so at least this thing is fenced in.

I think the urban fabric needs to established before there is any real opportunity for the intervention suggested in this thread. Perhaps further east there is opportunity for wholesale redevelopment - maybe as close as that stretch of 7 between Idylwood & Haycock.

m

[clevispin]

Brooklyn,

Gonna have to disagree here too. I find most "classically" inspired space - like the WW2 Memorial to be more pastiche than the real stuff that was last revived in the '30s. Very, very few architects today are capable of using the old vocabulary correctly and with vision. Most of what today passes for Classical is just a jumble of old-fashioned blocks cobbled together and rendered with a bright coat of stucco. It has become a lost art, a STYLE whose master practitioners had no students (busy on K St) to attend to its future.

Stakeholders are not planners, not trained urbanists and not architects. What they CAN DO is apply political pressure for progress and hopefully insist that the resulting plan is executed from the get-go by professionals with a sympathetic vision.

m

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by normie

Clevispin, I'd like to see the design. It can't be worse than my elephant bridge! LOL I'd like to submit my elephant bridge idea to your teacher to see what he'd say.

Hey, I like the elephant/donkey bridge! Even if it does have an escalator coming out of its butt. Although it could be fun to see Mr. Critic take one look at it, and then gasp, turn white and faint...

[brooklynborndad]

Originally Posted by clevispin

Brooklyn,

Gonna have to disagree here too. I find most "classically" inspired space - like the WW2 Memorial to be more pastiche than the real stuff that was last revived in the '30s. Very, very few architects today are capable of using the old vocabulary correctly and with vision. Most of what today passes for Classical is just a jumble of old-fashioned blocks cobbled together and rendered with a bright coat of stucco. It has become a lost art, a STYLE whose master practitioners had no students (busy on K St) to attend to its future.

Im not particularly looking for more classically inspired space. I am looking for more good architecture and good planning, period. I think that is out there.

Stakeholders are not planners, not trained urbanists and not architects.

Precisely, they are USERS, who can share with architects (and planners in larger contexts than an individual building) the functions they need from a building, the impact of a design on their lives, etc.

What they CAN DO is apply political pressure for progress and hopefully insist that the resulting plan is executed from the get-go by professionals with a sympathetic vision.

Its up to the client to insist or not insist on a charette. When Gesher JDS of NoVa, for example, built their new campus, the architecture team came in and discussed in detail with folks at the school how the school worked, the needs of teachers, students and admins, etc. I have not been to the new campus, but DW has, and reports the results are excellent.

Again I think doing a charette like that is now standard practice. But if the project manager at, say, a large bank, is more intent on a building that will garner headlines than one thats functional for 9-5 employeees, well thats what the architects are going to deliver. Its not a profession where many can afford to tell their client to shove it.

m[/quote]