Saturday, December 11, 2010

Dreyfus Releases New Renderings of Center Leg Freeway

Posted by Brooks Butler Hays on 12/11/2010 07:22:00 AM
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Earlier this week developers at Louis Dreyfus presented their plans to build 2.3 million s.f. in 6 buildings on top of I-395, a stretch known as the Center Leg Freeway, to the Zoning Commission. The developer has now released new renderings for their North Block plans, courtesy of Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo & Associates; so no more reading, just looking...enjoy.


11 comments:

Que said...

Would love for them to make 3 third street two way

IMGoph on Dec 11, 2010, 6:18:00 PM said...

amen, que. they need to make as many of the streets two-way as possible. for safety, for ease of getting around, to reduce congestion (there is so much congestion that just comes from people having to circle around a block because the whole thing is surrounded with one-way streets.

if they could untangle the mess of lanes that go every which way at 3rd, H, and mass, they would earn a nobel nomination in my mind.

Anonymous said...

just out of curiosity, where are they putting the parking?

Anonymous said...

Six buildings? I only see three.

Anonymous said...

@Anon9:23

Good question...good question

Brooks Butler Hays on Dec 13, 2010, 2:08:00 PM said...

these are renderings of the northern block, the other 3 buildings on the southern block haven't been made available, when they do we will of course post them immediately

Anonymous said...

The urban planning is less cliched than the previous "gateway" version, but the buildings are just as inept architecturally.

The problem isn't the acres of glazing; it's the MINDLESS application of acres of glazing. It's a basic tenet of sustainability which works hand-in-hand to create lively architecture: walls with different exposures should have different facade treatments!

Compare PNC Place, a sophisticated glass box with differentiation, against the clunky, undifferentiated 801 17th Street just across the street to get a sense of how not all glass boxes are created equal.

And in this case, we don't even have the benefit of the design dollars staying local: Dreyfus had to go to a Connecticut firm for this dreck!

Rob on Dec 13, 2010, 2:41:00 PM said...

All parking and loading for the three blocks will be located below grade to the west of I-395 freeway. Not much space elsewhere to put them because of the freeway.

Anonymous said...

Wow. A little bit of suburban Dallas right here in the nation's capital. Ugh. This site deserves something really cool -- these renderings aren't it.

Paul said...

Considering the deck platform and rerouting the highway ramps is going to cost $200+ million I'm sure it limits the degree of discretionary funding to funnel towards progressive architecture.

Anonymous said...

Cmon. glass facade systems are among the most expensive options. There are countless ways to introduce cost effective alternative facade systems around the building that cost less than this. It could help address scale, address site specific conditions, daylighting, heat gain and sustainability, add character.... I could go on. mix in some split face, brick, concrete (while I'm sure the structure is concrete slab), metal panels from centria run around $130/sf (even corrugated metal panels can look delicate if taken care with). I'm not familiar with the site so I don't know what materials would be relevant, but I agree with the previous comment that it's simply a careless application of glass curtain wall all around. the design is just a footprint of the allowable building area with cartographic cuts through it. it creates interesting negative space, but nothing was done with that negative space (at least at an intellectual level). Regardless, the space will fill. Offices are in demand.

*sigh*

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