Background

 

    Public policy over the past decade has more and more embraced the concept of compact development as a means of promoting a sustainable future, particularly at high density transit-oriented hubs. Within the metropolitan Washington region, local municipalities have taken advantage of the economic downturn to update their comprehensive plans and established frameworks for development for the next twenty years and beyond. In Fairfax County, Virginia, zoning regulations are currently being written to transform the much maligned sprawl of Tyson's Corner into a vibrant mixed use context, radiating from urban nodes to be created at the four new Silver Line metro stations.

         Within Montgomery County, the most notable attempt to transform sprawl into a walkable urban environment is the White Flint Sector Plan, covering approx. 500 acres, bisected by strip mall dominated Rockville Pike and centered on the White Flint metro station.

         The studio utilezed the Mid-Pike Parcel to address issues of design at both micro and macro scale. Rather than addressing existing building sites in an established urban context, students were encoraged to think more comprehensively and engage in urban design within a context currently devoid of urban quality

 

Phase 1

 

         Develop a street grid and establish development parcels

       Disposition of program densities through simple building massing guided by formal, functional, and economic considerations, and forned by newly established zoning and sector plans.