Read on Twitter
I sure wish that the @arlingtonva board had told them to push the envelope on transportation. Never mind the aesthetics of the Helix, this site plan looks highly disappointing overall. Let's delve into what's going on - and missing - at street level. https://www.arlnow.com/2021/02/02/amazon-unveils-plans-for-futuristic-nature-inspired-phase-2-of-hq2/
Try to ignore the Helix for a minute. We're trying to build a city, or a reasonable facsimile of one. Does this streetscape (along Army-Navy and Eads) belong in a city?
Anyone else afraid that we're going to get a prettier version of the vibrant Macy's streetscape at Army-Navy and Hayes? Is this some twisted (ha) attempt at context-sensitive design?
What's missing? Well, i'm no fan of cars, but a tight grid network of streets is generally a good thing. Ditching interior streets for open space would be great, if it was part of some larger plan for nonmotorized transportation and recreation. But this ain't it.
Here's what the current Pen Place plan shows. Not great, but seems like we ditched the good parts and kept the bad parts.
Here's my messy reimagining of the site layout. Smaller buildings, allowing people to pass through, without the superblockiness. Side-streets that line up sensibly to adjoining blocks. Open space that isn't hemmed in by walls of private buildings.
Hey, remember Vision Zero? There's a meeting on the 11th. Anyway, we're rebuilding both sides of Eads St. We could break up this 800' superblock to the freeway with a roundabout where 11th St S should intersect.
Let's talk 12th St S. It's getting bus lanes, but none of our planners want to keep the trail adjacent to this site, despite its demonstrated popularity in the scooter GPS trips data.
Instead of ignoring bicyclists and scooters on a new street that we use now, maybe take that street parking (that we can accommodate on interior streets if we had them) and some of that huge setback, and provide riders a safe two-way space to travel here. Crazy stuff, I know.
The interior: Have we learned nothing from Met Park? Do we really need another cloistered multimillion dollar courtyard for Amazon employees? Streets? A school? More homes? Anything....
...Except a helipad, which I don't see in any of the renderings (yet). Thank goodness.
one of these things is not like the other
