5 - Building Blocks The PlazaM E M O R A N D U M
To: Planning Board
From: Macon Cowles
Date: P'riday, November 2, 2001
Re: Building Blocks-The Plaza
You are all familiar with the concept of pattern in design of
everything from windows to regions-set forth comprehensively
in A Timeless Way of Building and A Pattern Language by
Christopher Alexander, et aL The Congress for New Urbanism
hae approached this impartant subject in a variety oP ways,
from the comprehensive to the single topic definition.
In the latter category, they include a single example on the
Technical Page of their bimonthly publication New Urban News.
They draw the form, discuss its purpose and attributes and
distinguish it from similar forms with which it may be
confused.
Having read these for a period of time, I find these single pages
to be useful and interesting, and thought you might too. So I am
sending along the most recent one.
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Parto 1
The plaza
I. Past and Future
Categor y: yublic open space. ,
Subcategory: plazas and squnres.
ANDRES DUANY, MICHAEL MORRISSEY~
AND PATRICK PINNELL
ithin a traditional urban fab-
ric, public space has an iden-
tity; it exists as more than mere resi-
due after the construction of build-
ings and roads. Public spaces asso-
ciated with some communal activ-
ity are particularly important. The
combination of internal use and ex-
ternal space affect the public life and
activities through which a commu-
nity defines itself.
The plaza is an open area with a
clearly recognizable public space. It
is carved out of the built urban fab-
ric as a distinct form. Plazas are not
unlike urban squares, but while
squares tend to be green, plazas are
predominantly hard-surfaced. The
paving allows for crowds and ac-
tivities to spill over from civic or
market buildings.
Both historically and in current
practice, town planners have con-
trolled the texture of the surround-
ing urban fabric by designing the
plaza prior to any buildup. A plaza
should be designed in correlation
with the form and use of the build-
ings to which it relates. An extreme
example, shown here, is a building
that defines three kinds oE plazas.
The main facade fronts a major
civic plaza, which gains status from
the building. A side facade defines a
medium-sized plaza, while a third fa-
cade controls a minor plaza. The
scheme sustains the kind of complex-
ity that urbanism requires, and the
design achieves this with a relatively
small amount of building.
This variety of spaces is useful
for accommodating several market
segments at once. Built examples of
this kind of relationship between
building and plaza include the
The ceniral 6uilding,
abave and right, is
strategically placed
to define three
separate plazas. The
pedimented portico
ironts a majar plaza
(1) and tormalizes
the space. ihe
tlanking elevation
enfronls a medium-
sized plaza (2), and
the rear elevatian
iniarmally controls a
minor plaza (3).
~
'~ 1. ~ ~
"~ 3~
~ ~~
2• ~
L___I
courthouse in Wilmington, Dela-
ware, and the inn at Princeton's
Palmer Square.
With the emergence of shopping
"plazas" and the vague, setback "pla-
zas" associated with modern high-
rises, the term has nearly lost its
meaning. We may begin to recover
the term by conceptualizing parking
lots - today's preponderant hard-
surfaced, public spaces - as plazas
that happen to have cars on them,
rather than as areas exclusively for
automobile storage. Among other
things, it is important not to stripe
spaces, since this automatically de-
fines the surface as dedicated to cars.
The size, details, and location of
plazas related specifically to civic
and market purposes will be dis-
cussed in two subsequent sections:
II. The civic plaza and III. The mar-
ket plaza. •
OCT08ER • NOVEMBER 2001
16
Status
Sfate/Name/Locatlon (Campletion~~ Oevelaper/sponsnrs Designer°•8 Transeet zones° Acres Characteristics
4~ ch/
Mel~ Re Ground6reaking Craig International OPZ Center, general, etlge ~~~24 oymeo
rei
emp
oente
y t
ail
l
e
5. Frisco Square/ Groundbreaking Five Star Development ~avid M. Schwarz, Core, center, general 140 400 units, 695,000 sq.ft.
frisco Architedural Services retaiL new dowmown
6~ Village/
G
t Constmction (20%) Georgetown Village Dev. ' Compton &
T Center, generai, edge 613 main street,
s
hoo
s
eorge
own urner l
~retaii
c
7. Home Town/
d Construction Arcadia Realry DPZ Center, general, edge 330 1 700-unit town center, retail,
N
North Richlan
Hills o
ice, civic
8. Jefferson CenteU
Wi
l
C Constmction (25%) JPI Bosse, Compton & Center 109 1,200 units, hi h-tlensi~y
4Q
i
hb
9
h
d
000
ounry
l
iamson Turner urban ne
p
o
r
oo
,
,
sq.tt. retaii, 50,000 sq.tt. office
9. LegacyTown Cented Construction EDS, Post Properties DPZ Center 150 Town center for ottice/
Plano industrial park, 300,000 sq.ft.
retail, 2,500 apis.
10. Plum CreeW Construction (20%) Benchmark Land Dev. Bosse, Compton & Center, general, etlge 2,000 4,800+ units transit, town
Kyle Turner center,intlus3rial,renovated
histonc site, schools
N. Southlake Town Center / Constmction Ciry of Southlake David M. Schwarz Center 135 Mixed-use town center
,
Southlake Architectural Sermces
12. Spanish Oaks/ Construction (5%) CCNG Dev. Co. 8osse, Compton & Center, general, edge
Bee Cave Turner
13. Village at Colleyville/ Construction Realty Capital Corp. Brinkley Sargent Arch. Center, general
Colleyville
Utah
1. Overlake/ Constmction (15%) Tooele Associates Bum ardner
~ Center, general, edge
Tooele Arch
ecture
Uirplnia
1. Avalon at Arlington Construction (60%) Avalon Ba Torti Gallas/CHK, SKG, Center, general
Ridge/Atlington Counry Communi~es Land Design
2. Belmont Bay/ Construction EFO Capital Management, Torti GallaslCHK Center, general
,
Prince Williams Co. Belmont Dev, Associates
3. Belmont Greene/ Construction (60%) WateAo~d/BOUwfonds LLC DPZ, Parker/Rodriguez Center, general, edge
Laudaun County ,
A. Carlyle/ Construction (65%) Carlyle Dev. Gorp. Cooper Robertson Core, center
Adington
5. Evans Farm/ Conshuction (5%) Elm St. Development DPZ General, edge
McLean
6. Reston Town Center/ Construction Terrabrook Sasaki, RTKL Core
Reston
7. Spotsylvania Court- Groundbreaking William J. Vakos Lantl Design Services Center, general
' house Village/
i Spotsylvama/
8. Westbury/ Construction (20 %) Portsmouth Redev. UDA Generai
I Portsmouth Haus
Come rstone
ing
9. WinchesterGreens/ Construction RichmondBetter RaseArchitects,
Richmond Housing Coalition Planning & Design
~ Collective
Washin9tan
1. LooKOUt Ridge/ Constmction Baker & Associates Lennertz Coyle
Washougal
2. NewHolly/ Construction Seattle Housing Auth. Weinstein Copeland
Searile Architects
3. Northwest Lantling/ Construction Weyerhaeuse~ Real Estate Calthorpe
Dupan[
4. Redmond Tuwn Center/ Constmction (75°/a) Macerich Corp.
Redmond
Wiseonsin
1. ,
Beer Line B/
Construction
Ciry of Milwaukee
Milwaukee
2. Middleton Hills/ Constmction (40 %) Marshall Erdman
'
Madison Assoc
iates
3. Midtown Commons/ Groundbreaking reat Dane Dev.
Matlison ommuniry by design
General
Center, general, edge
160' Mixed,-use village center
new ciry hall, amphithealer
28 Town center, 800,000 sq.ft. of
retail, restauranis, offmes,
and residences
3,000 10,000 units,town center,
baseball stadmm
20 900 rental units, civic, live/
wark
75 Mixed-use maritime village,
transit connection
273 752 homes, 500,000 sq.ft.
office and retail
76.5 Hiqh-densitV urban neigh.,
30
000
l
D,
sq.it. retai
24 150 uni[s, mixed residential
85 3.5 million sq.ft.
comme
cia
l
r
50 Mixed-use dev., 250 units,
750,000 sq.ft retail
41 Pu61ic housinq redev., 365
units, civic huldings, parks
84 Low-income TND on site of
failed apartment complex
100
370 units, several neighbor-
hoads, parks
Hope VI, 800 rental units,
40o for-sale
3,500 units, retail, industrial
General 102
Center, general, etlge 3,000
Loschky, Marquardt & Center
Nesholm
Solomon ETC Center, general
DPZ Center, general, etlge
Town Planning Center, general, edge
Colla6orative
120 Retail, oRice 6uildings, and
apartments connecting to
h~stonc downtawn
20 Redev. of former rail and
canal corridor
149 400 units,100,000 sq.ft.
retail
79 750 units, main street district
Ney to designers (abbrevlafed): Calthoipe=Caltho~pe Associates; Cooper Robertson=Coopei Robertson & Partners; DPZ=Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company; Dover
Kohl=Dover, Kohl & Partners; Lennertz Coyle=Lennertz Coyle & Associates; Moule/Polyzoides=Elizabeth Moule & Stelanos Polyzoides, Architects and Urbanists;
RTKL=RTKL Associates; SKG=SKG Arohitects and Planners; TCA=Thomas Comitta Associates; TPS= Town P/anning Studio; UOA=Urban Design Associates.
OCTOBER • NOVEMBER 2001
15