A Plaza for Everyone, Everyday

[jamie r. karn]

A PLAZA FOR EVERYONE, EVERYDAY

A Modest Proposal for Adjustments to the Silver Spring Veterans Plaza

The temporary “green” in downtown Silver Spring has succeeded very well in attracting a cross section of Silver Spring residents for a dynamic mix of activities on most days of the year. The flexibility of the open space and the comfortable surface are very conducive to spontaneous rest, play and interaction. Lessons should be learned from this experience and put into place in the design of the new plaza.

Successful town plazas and greens result from a shared community vision developed through broad and deep community engagement in the concept and design. This process ensures buy-in and long term use by the community. Community engagement and visioning for our plaza were short-circuited by a preemptory decision by the County to include a large roofed ice rink. Consequently there is little evidence of buy-in by the community (particularly in the roofed rink), and a greater risk that the plaza will fail to improve upon the success of the temporary green.

The current plaza design will work well for ice-skating, concerts and other special events. Most of the design is strong and should remain as it is currently drawn, particularly the green slope, the Veteran’s Memorial art, and the linear walkway near Ellsworth Avenue. The design will not work as well, however, for day-to-day gathering, play, interaction and community-building. The success of these activities depends on the availability of flexible open space that accommodates fast changing uses, and strong management . The large rink/pavilion roof, unfortunately, compromises the flexibility of the plaza for daily use.

Dramatic improvement can be achieved by a few careful modifications to the current design: First, reduce the size of the main roof, make it retractable or removable, and use additional smaller roofs for shade in the summer. Second, move the ice rink to the proposed open area at the future library site at the intersection of Fenton Street and Wayne Avenue, or make the rink smaller. These changes will allow an increase in the amount of unroofed open/green area, creation of an open center for the plaza and improved flexibility for daily use. Furthermore, if we move quickly, and the County government agrees to submit an application in the near future for a Site Plan Amendment, the construction of the civic building could be allowed to proceed without delay and the changes to the plaza design could be made in time for it to open with the civic building.

A more detailed analysis of the positives, negatives and possible solutions for the roof , ice rink and plaza surface options is as follows. For more information on flexible space and other criteria for public space success take a moment to explore the website of Project for Public Space at www.pps.org , and particularly to view the article at the following link: http://www.pps.org/parks_plazas_squares/info/parks_plazas_squares_articles/squares_principles.

ROOF:

Positives: The 7000 square foot roof will protect the ice rink in the winter, allowing it to stay open more days. It will protect the band and a sizable audience from rain for concerts and other special events. It will provide shade from the sun in the summer.

Negatives: The roof will divide our long awaited civic plaza down the middle, and while it is to be translucent, it is not at all transparent and will turn about 1/3 of our precious public open space into less energizing sky-less space. Recall that the vast majority of people prefer to be outdoors when at a park, and only use the shelter as needed to keep off rain or intense sun. The current scheme in effect sacrifices the park space every day for occasionally used shelter space. This will cause the plaza to be attractive for lounging and playing in good weather and will reduce the use of the plaza. Furthermore, the roof is to be placed along the south side of the plaza and in the winter will cast a shadow over more than half of the plaza for long parts of the day, making the plaza colder and much less attractive to anyone other than ice-skaters. Overall, the roof will reduce the day-to-day spontaneous relaxing, playing and interacting on the plaza.

Solution: A smaller roof and/or demountable roofs. Thousands of plazas in this country and around the world solve the rain and sun problem with smaller roofs and shading devices, and they often use retractable or removable roofs that won’t cast a shadow in the winter. Additionally, unroofed ice rinks are far more attractive to users than roofed rinks. The ice rink near Pentagon City does not have a roof and is surviving well. If we reduce the size of the roof from the current 7000 square feet to 2500 sq. feet we would still have a more than adequate shelter for bands and some spectators. This reduction would save money that could then be used for artificial turf to cover the rink area in the warm weather.

ICE RINK:

Positives: The rink may attract lots of skaters in the winter (though no due diligence has been published to demonstrate this). It can be used for other activities during the warm weather and may be “convertible” to soft space in the warmer weather if artificial turf is installed over the concrete rink base.

Negatives: The rink is expensive to build and maintain, consumes a lot of non-renewable energy. It consumes a lot of space in the winter for an activity that has not been shown to be a high priority for the residential community. Because the plaza site is sloped and the rink has to be flat and is to be accessible from the rooms below Adega, the rink is placed three steps down from the rest of the plaza and a lot of space and money are used to provide access to the rink. Skaters will be charged to skate and to rent skates, thus taking what should be a free public space and making it a fee required space in the winter (the charge at the Pentagon Row rink is $8). Furthermore, the nearby Wheaton Ice Arena currently operates at a loss. If the proposed rink reduces the number of users at that rink, the County will lose more money.

Solution: My preference is to move the ice rink to the proposed open space at the upcoming library site at the intersection of Fenton Street and Wayne Avenue. This is a flat site that will easily accommodate the large rink and roof, and at that location it will serve to draw young people to the library. Alternatively, make the rink smaller. The proposed rink is nearly 7000 square feet in size. The new rink near Pentagon City is only about 4000 square feet and has so far been financially successful. A smaller rink would allow for far more open green space and would allow for the public space to be used as public plazas have been traditionally used, for community-building. Other amenities and events to activate the plaza in the winter should be included in the design and programming (fire pit, heated seating, hot food kiosks, ice carving festival, etc.).

OPTIONS FOR SURFACE OF OPEN SPACE: Grass is more aesthetically preferable than artificial turf, but is not durable enough for high traffic areas. It can be used successfully with other planting in low-traffic areas. Artificial turf is not as nice as grass or other planting but is far more durable, though it is susceptible to getting dirty and burned and looking bad after a short time (though better products will hold up better). It can be replaced periodically. Pavers are more durable, but not as soft and inviting for lounging and sitting.

Solution: The options needs fast investigation so that the possible solutions can be rated on the criteria of first cost, durability, maintenance cost and attractiveness for various activities. There are a number of solutions and though none of them are perfect, many other communities have addressed this issue and found solutions. My preference is pavers in the high traffic areas and natural planting in low traffic peripheral areas, but artificial turf is worth further investigation.

If we move quickly, we can collect community input, assess the demand for various activities, make the adjustments that will allow our plaza to truly be a plaza for everyone, everyday, and build a plaza that will be sure to succeed. Thank you.