Walking Tour Series: Columbia Heights

Saturday, August 2, 2008
10:00 am – 12:00 pm

Please join CNU DC for a tour of new development and civic spaces at the Columbia Heights Metro station. The area has undergone a rapid transformation over the past six years, with new projects including the historic preservation of Tivloli Square and DC USA, the largest retail development in DC. The area's Public Realm Framework Plan, now underway, will create two new plazas and a streetscape/public art framework based on the theme of a "kaleidoscope" that symbolizes the rich diversity of the Columbia Heights.

The tour will be led by Otto Condon, principal of Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects and lead urban designer on the Columbia Heights streetscape project. We will meet at the Columbia Heights Metro station west entrance (14th & Irving Streets NW) and tour the various development sites within one quarter-mile of the station. After the tour, participants are encouraged to stay for lunch on your own.

Tour fee: $10 member, $20 nonmember. RSVP to Lee Sobel or call 202-489-8812 (cell).

Directions:

By Metro: Take the Green Line or Yellow Line to the Columbia Heights station. Meet at the west entrance at 14th & Irving streets NW.

By car: Click here for a map of the neighborhood and driving directions. Parking is available in the DC USA garages at 14th Street & Irving Street NW.



Images by Lee Sobel and Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects

CNU DC’s Review Workshop of the T4America Draft Platform [Rescheduled]

When: July 28, 5 pm
Location: Ayers Saint Gross, 800 Eye Street NW, Suite 600 Conference Room

RSVP by

Background: The Transportation for America (T4America) draft platform will be a roughly 20-page document that outlines the coalition's vision, strategy, talking points and proposed policies for the federal transportation bill. This month, T4America will be holding meetings in Chicago, San Francisco and Washington DC to gather feedback and develop strategies to work together on the bill’s reauthorization.

Workshop: CNU DC's July 28 workshop will be in preparation for the T4America meeting the following evening. We will review the draft platform and gather members' comments and suggestions. In addition to the T4America draft, we will have the benefit of notes from the California and Chicago meetings.

This is an important initiative for CNU DC and for our national conversation about transportation and place making. We urge you to take part -- please read this letter from the CNU DC board that describes why this is important to new urbanists.

The CNU DC workshop is open to CNU DC members only. Head over to CNU's membership page to join CNU and the CNU DC Chapter.

Walking Tour Series: Downtown Silver Spring

Saturday, July 12, 2008
10:00 am to 12:00 pm

CNU DC’s walking tour series continues with a visit the Downtown Silver Spring development in Montgomery County. Mostly completed by 2004, this development established a new retail core for Silver Spring and catalyzed urban revitalization in the surrounding neighborhood. The 405,000 square foot project included the restoration of the historic Silver Theatre.

Leading the tour will be Gary Stith, director of the Silver Spring Regional Center and Urban District. We will meet at the AFI Silver Theatre, third floor conference room, for a presentation about Downtown Silver Spring and its revitalization. A walking tour of the area will follow. Afterwards, participants are encouraged to have lunch on your own and explore Silver Spring.

Tour fee: $10 member, $20 nonmember. RSVP to Lee Sobel or call 202-489-8812 (cell).

Directions:

By Metro: Take the Red Line to Silver Spring Metro station. Walk one and a half blocks northeast on Colesville Road to the AFI Silver Theatre, 8633 Colesville Road, third floor conference room.

By car: From the Beltway, take the Georgia Avenue (Route 97) exit or Colesville Road (Route 29) exit toward Silver Spring. Turn left on Spring Street, go to Ellsworth Drive (one block east of Colesville Road), and turn right on Ellsworth to garage parking. Meet at AFI Silver Theatre, 8633 Colesville Road, third floor conference room.

CNU DC's Walking Tour Series: Carlyle, Alexandria

Saturday, June 28, 2008
10:00 am to 12:00 pm

CNU DC's 2008 walking tour series kicks off with a tour of the Carlyle development in Alexandria, VA. Carlyle is one of the highest-density new urban developments in the world, planned with 4.2 million sf office, 1.9 million sf residential, 375,000 sf retail and 300,000 sf hotel. Originally designed in 1989, the 75-acre development weathered a series of financial setbacks to begin construction in the late 1990s. It is part of Alexandria’s Carlyle/Eisenhower East planning area and was the subject of a roundtable critique in the book The Seaside Debates.

The tour will be led by Al Cox, FAIA, code enforcement architect, City of Alexandria, and Natalie Sun, AICP, urban planner, Department of Planning & Zoning, City of Alexandria (invited).

We will meet at the lower level of the atrium at the Patent and Trade Office for an orientation and then walk in a loop through Carlyle. At the conclusion of the tour, participants are encouraged to take advantage of the many nearby restaurants for lunch on your own.

Tour fee: $10 member, $20 nonmember. RSVP to Lee Sobel or call 202-489-8812 (cell).

Directions:

By Metro: Take the Yellow or Blue Line to the King Street station. Follow the pedestrian tunnel under Duke Street. Walk along Dulany Street about 2.5 blocks; the street is terminated by the central glass atrium of the Patent and Trade Office, 600 Dulany Street, Alexandria VA.

By car: Travel to Alexandria and drive west on Duke Street (Route 236). Turn left at the traffic light onto Holland Lane; make the third right onto Emerson Avenue; proceed one block to the parking garage. Meet in the central glass atrium of the Patent and Trade Office, 600 Dulany Street, Alexandria VA.

See more detailed directions.

Building After the Cheap Oil Age in a Time of Global Warming: Principles of Architecture and Urbanism for the 21st Century

Tuesday June 3, 2008 at 6:00 p.m.

CNU-DC is honored to present a talk by Michael Lykoudis, dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Notre Dame. Appointed dean in July 2002, Michael Lykoudis has served as professor of architecture at Notre Dame since 1991. Committed to linking architectural tradition and classicism to urbanism and environmental issues, he has devoted his career to the building, study and promotion of traditional architecture and urbanism. He is the co-editor of two publications, "Building Cities," published in 1999 by Artmedia Press, and "The Other Modern," published in 2000 by Dogma Press. A third book, "Modernity, Modernism and the Other Modern," is forthcoming. 

Beverages will be provided. $10 for members/students and $20 for non-members.

Location: First floor conference room at 800 Eye Street N.W. (American Public Health Association Building and Ayers/Saint/Gross’ office). Nearest Metro stop is Gallery Place/Chinatown.

RSVP by email to Sarah Lewis.

Image: Jason Montgomery,
"The Effects of Good Stewardship in the City and Country"

Vernacular and Classical: Tuning the Ratios

Monday, February 11, 2008 at 11:30 a.m.

CNU-DC is honored to present a talk by the Driehaus Prize- and Athena Medal-winning architect Léon Krier. The images shown below are of Krier's project with the Prince of Wales: Poundbury in Dorset, UK. More information can be found in the Poundbury profile on the Duchy of Cornwall's web site.

RSVP by email to Sarah Lewis. Please bring your own lunch, and soft drinks will be provided. A $10 donation is requested to fund future events but is not required.

Location: First floor conference room at 800 Eye Street N.W., Washington D.C. (American Public Health Association Building and Ayers/Saint/Gross' office). Gallery Place/Chinatown Metro station.