Urban Turf: The Two Options for Re-Imagining One of DC’s Most Notorious Intersections

Two concepts have been presented to re-envision what is one of DC’s most notorious intersections. A year after the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) shared the city’s plans to redesign “Dave Thomas Circle,” more detailed proposals are on the table for the open space around the Florida and New York Avenue NE (map) intersection.

READ MORE

The NoMa Parks Foundation wants opinions for the potential designs of three new public spaces that will appear at the intersection of New York Avenue NE and Florida Avenue NE, also commonly referred to as “Dave Thomas Circle.” READ MORE

… Along with outdoor outfitter REI, Red Bear is housed in a renovated 1940s ice arena. Outside the building, sidewalks provide “signing space”—room to walk and sign—and benches that face each other, allowing for “conversation circles,” both ASL design terms. A block away, the recently opened Swampoodle Park has “open sight lines,” says its designer Jeff Lee. The benches around the park are curved, another nod to the deaf community. READ MORE

Swampoodle Park: Adrienne McCray, ASLA, a landscape architect at Lee and Associates spoke about the challenge of meeting the needs of the different groups who shaped Swampoodle Park, which is named after a vanished 19th century neighborhood in Northeast D.C. Community outreach is an important aspect of the mission of the NoMa Parks Foundation, which financed the projectis high on the list. READ MORE

Metropolitan Washington’s persistent urban challenges are frequently in the news. The concerns include ensuring public safety; providing quality public education; increasing the availability of affordable housing; promoting accessibility and quality of transportation; enhancing infrastructure reliability and durability; and caretaking of public parks and open space. Sustaining fiscal and economic health — especially jobs — also is high on the list.

Another urban challenge that tends to be overlooked is the need for beautification of visually unappealing and unsafe public places.

Examples of such places in the District are the dark, poorly lighted, ominous railway underpasses along K, L and M streets NE, and Florida Avenue NE, in the NoMa (North of Massachusetts Avenue) neighborhood. READ MORE