Proposals for Parks North Town Center

Prepared for The Reston Master Plan Special Study Task Force
By: Guy L. Rando
Urban Designer Landscape Architect

& Kathy Kaplan With Residence, Urban Design and Livability Work Group Reston 2020 Committee Reston Citizens Association June 2, 2010 Residence, Urban Design and Livability Work Group Dick Rogers, Co-Chair Kathy Kaplan, Co-Chair Guy Rando, Author Jennifer Byl John Carter Mike Corrigan Fred Costello Paul Darmory Bill Dingell Dave Edwards Joe Leighton Terry Maynard Stephanie Mirabello Bryan Moll Richard Newlon Bill Penniman Tammi Petrine Terri Phillips Holli Ploog Wendye Quaye Rob Whitfield

North Town Center Proposals

Plan A and Plan B
Guy L. Rando
Urban Designer Landscape Architect

Proposed is a walkable galleria/atrium of varying heights and widths along the north-south axis of Town Center. The galleria will provide a climate-controlled space. It will be composed of residential units, hotels, offices, and retail. Residential units at the upper levels will have open balconies overlooking the galleria below. The distance between Baron Cameron and Reston Parkway Station is about a mile. People will not walk that distance unprotected from the elements. An enclosed galleria will promote pedestrian connectivity between North Town Center and the station. People will come to the galleria for exercise and to walk the safe and clean mile-long space back and forth all year, 24 hours a day. The new residents of Town Center will need open space and parkland. Both Rando Plans A and B provide open space and parkland and increased property values for the community. The following are a few examples: the gallerias in Milan and Naples, Prudential Center in Boston (Boston Properties), and the public atrium at James R. Thompson Government Center in Chicago, and the atrium at the Bank of China in Beijing with a stone water garden designed by I. M. Pei. Please see photographs below. In Town Center new school buildings will be attached to the gallerias/atriums and the adjacent parks will provide outdoor recreation for the students. Fountain Drive is too wide for successful synergy for a retail street and increasing the traffic along Fountain Drive will further defeat a retail purpose, therefore Fountain Drive should be narrowed.

Cascades Park (Plan A) Cascades Park will be composed of an expanded Reston Town Green and an additional parcel of equivalent size west of Library Street stretching to Town Center Parkway. A watercourse will cascade downhill utilizing the existing topography with waterfalls over rocks down through the park providing peaceful sitting areas among the rocks for people to enjoy the sight and sounds of the water. Existing tree cover will be preserved where appropriate to the overall design. A wheelchair-accessible, winding walkway will cross the watercourse in several locations. Benches and other urban park features such as picnic, game tables, and play areas will add texture to the park. The park will host Shakespeare-in-the-park and music concerts with an outdoor amphitheater. The park will have multiple small specialized gardens dedicated to horticulture, butterfly gardens, and a bird sanctuary. At the northeast Fountain Street corner a restaurant will be located to provide south and west-facing terraces (Sunset Deck) with views over the park. A climate-controlled galleria from Baron Cameron to Market Street and then on to Metro will be connected to civic uses, commercial, parks, and residences. Cascades Park will draw people from all over Reston and beyond and those visitors will then be able to visit local restaurants and retail stores in Town Center and the galleria. Please see Rando Plan A, Cascades Park, and the Diagrammatic Section of Plan A.

Lake Inova (Plan B)

The value of the property between Fountain Drive and Town Center Parkway will be greatly increased by a lake, by a park, and by an integrated, mixed-use community. Lake front properties are worth twice the value of those which are not on a lake. The two current property owners could engage in a PPEA agreement to redevelop this section of Town Center. Both Inova and Fairfax County will reap great financial benefits, but it is the community itself that will reap the greatest benefit with the creation of an elegant world-class development in the center of town. Lake Inova will be surrounded by a public walkway and parkland open to the public. High-rise, mixed-use buildings housing condos, restaurants, hotels and retail will circumvent the lake. The space will include facilities for an elementary school with the park to be used for outdoor exercise. The cascading waterfall feature can be inserted between the high-rise buildings along Fountain Drive, wind down through the park, and empty into Lake Inova. Ground-level restaurants with outside seating areas and ground-level offices will be located inside the ring of high-rises. The architect for the Lake Inova plan must be chosen by international competition to assure the highest level of design standards. Please see Rando Plan B, Lake Inova, and the Diagrammatic Section of Plan B.

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, Milan, Italy

Galleria Umberto, Naples, Italy

Galeria Royales St. Hubert, Brussels, Belgium

Bank of China, Beijing. I.M. Pei

Bank of China, Beijing. I.M. Pei 7