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In the Sept. 2008 LASN issue, we gave a brief rundown of the landscape architecture firms that won paving awards in the Brick Industry Association?EUR??,,????'?????<????????????EUR??,,??s 2008 Brick In Architecture competition, and promised a more in-depth and pictorial presentation of those winners in our Hardscapes issue.
Well, that time has come. The four landscape architectural firms the Brick Industry Association recognized were: Landscape Architecture Bureau?EUR??,,????'?????<???????????Best in Class Award The Lakota Group?EUR??,,????'?????<???????????Gold Award Kimley-Horn and Associates?EUR??,,????'?????<???????????Silver Award Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart & Associates?EUR??,,????'?????<???????????Bronze Award
Project: Cady?EUR??,,????'?????<????????????EUR??,,??s Alley, a historic passageway in Georgetown?EUR??,,????'?????<????????????EUR??,,??s industrial past. Architect/Landscape Architect: Landscape Architecture Bureau,Washington, D.C. Brick Manufacturer: Glen-Gery Corp. Brick Distributor: Capital Brick
The Landscape Architecture Bureau views its projects as a fusion of art, science and stewardship. Pursuing art through designs that are iconic, imaginative, and inspirational the company enjoys a well-earned reputation for creating astonishing designs that result in a memorable sense of place, integrity, and lasting beauty. For more information, please visit: www.labindc.com
A single developer assembled a number of small parcels comprising the entire block between 33rd and 34th Streets, M Street and the C&O Canal in Washington, D.C. (Georgetown), then commissioned five architectural firms to design mixed-use projects in the parcel called Cady?EUR??,,????'?????<????????????EUR??,,??s Alley. The landscape architectural firm, the Landscape Architecture Bureau, was the only designer that worked on the entire site comprehensively.
The primary design element for the alley was to make it an inviting and invigorating pedestrian zone for shopping. However, a major requirement of the project was to allow periodic service uses (deliveries, trash pick-up, etc.). So Cady?EUR??,,????'?????<????????????EUR??,,??s Alley is not your typical alley, but combines a pedestrian walk along the front doors of shops, apartments and restaurants, but also functions as a service alley.
The key was to do both, but uphold a pedestrian character. While the space is essentially pedestrian, it had to be designed for heavy vehicular loads.
Cady?EUR??,,????'?????<????????????EUR??,,??s Alley is a historic alleyway dating to the mid-18th century. Although there are no original paving materials from that time, it was considered important to design the alley with that historic character in mind. Since there are examples of both brick and cobblestone alleys in Georgetown, the landscape architect determined to use both materials in the design of the alley. The sides of the alley are paved in brick turned on-edge. This mimics a ?EUR??,,????'?????<????????sidewalk.?EUR??,,????'?????<???????? The edge-laid brick both deepens the section, making it stronger for the inevitable truck traffic and also makes the paving pattern more interesting and of smaller scale for pedestrians. The alley also shifts its axis at its midpoint. The landscape architect used edge-laid brick in this area as well, changing the pattern from running bond to herringbone in order to dramatize the shift.
It is important to recognize Cady?EUR??,,????'?????<????????????EUR??,,??s Alley is different from other ?EUR??,,????'?????<????????streets?EUR??,,????'?????<???????? in Georgetown. An alley?EUR??,,????'?????<????????????EUR??,,??s an alley; a street?EUR??,,????'?????<????????????EUR??,,??s, a street. The fundamental distinction between the two is neither their width nor their location at the rear of buildings. Streets drain to the sides, while alleys drain to the center. Cady?EUR??,,????'?????<????????????EUR??,,??s Alley is actually a front-door space, not a hidden back alley. Still, it is an alley and with that in mind the alley dramatizes the passage of water down the centerline by using eroded, water-washed pebbles in a center strip to carry the water that flows east and west to its ends. The use of brick on the sides was an essential color contrast to the granite carriageway.
Project: Marion Streetscape, Village of Oak Park, Ill. Landscape Architect: The Lakota Group, Chicago, providing planning, urban design and landscape architecture services. Brick Manufacturer: Whitacre-Greer Paving: W.R. Weis Co., LPS Pavement Co., and Christy Webber Landscapes Builder: LPS Pavement Co.
In 1974, Lake and Marion streets in Oak Park were converted to a pedestrian shopping mall to compete with regional indoor shopping centers. In recent years, ?EUR??,,????'?????<????????Marion Mall?EUR??,,????'?????<???????? deteriorated, while other blocks in the downtown thrived.
Village Park updated its downtown master plan in March 2005. The plan called for reopening Marion Mall to vehicular traffic with a European-style design that would enable it to be closed for special events and include traffic-calming elements to ensure low-traffic speeds.
In June 2006, the village began planning, hiring a team of consultants to study a potential village-owned downtown parking deck, as well as the function and appearance of the streets leading to the deck. Metro Transportation Group, a planning firm, and The Lakota Group, an urban planning and landscape architecture firm, studied the feasibility of reopening Marion to vehicular traffic to support the proposed deck.
For the first several months of 2007, the steering committee held 11 meetings with the consultants and village staff. The existing dedicated right-of-way for this section of Marion is only 50-feet wide, with most of the buildings setback slightly, creating a street zone of 55 to 58 feet. To emphasize the pedestrian environment and slow vehicular traffic, drive lanes were kept to 10-feet widths. Parallel parking was located throughout the project in small clusters of three to four spaces. In these zones, the pedestrian sidewalk is the most narrow, approximately 10 feet. Outside the parallel parking zones, the curbs return to a narrow street configuration to create a wider pedestrian zone of 18 feet or wider to offer additional landscape and outdoor seating.
The right-of-way for Westgate Terrace is only 33 feet, making it difficult to create two-way vehicular access. The final design includes one-way westbound access along Westgate until it connects with the existing two-way street. The one lane of travel was kept at 12 feet to once again preserve a minimum pedestrian zone of 10 feet.
Clay brick pavers were selected for the streets, in keeping with Marion?EUR??,,????'?????<????????????EUR??,,??s historic hardscape. Brick has a higher upfront cost, but an extended lifetime and means less maintenance. At the center of the project, the street elevates to match the grade of the sidewalk. This ?EUR??,,????'?????<????????speed table,?EUR??,,????'?????<???????? constructed of bluestone, is a traffic calming element and a curbless flexible space for special events. A low-voltage heat mat for the sidewalks melts snow and increase the longevity of the walks. Dark-gray granite curbs contrast with the bluestone walks.
Oversized granite pieces at the ends of several planters offer seating. The planters are lined on the sidewalk-side with decorative cast iron trench grates to collect surface runoff. The gutters, like the street curbs, are built of the same dark gray granite used for the raised planters.
The committee selected a globe light similar to those used here in the Roaring 20s. ?EUR??,,????'?????<????????Candelabra?EUR??,,????'?????<???????? lights, a large globe surrounded by four smaller ones, mark the two gateways. The arch over the center of the intersection offers a teardrop light supported by four Candelabra poles.
To maintain flexibility for outdoor cafes and special events, permanent benches are kept to a minimum. Decorative black metal benches trash receptacles and ash urns are clustered in select locations. The trash receptacles have customized recycling containers. A simple stainless steel bike rack with a loop design complements the circle motif of the globe lights and benches. Custom signage includes an events kiosk and historic plaque.
Decorative cast iron tree grates (3???5-ft.) were generally placed adjacent to parallel parking spaces. The grates were selected for their narrowness to create the widest sidewalks possible and as an additional area for water infiltration. Structural soils, underneath the sidewalks in a 10???15-ft. area around each street tree, create an expanded zone for root growth. Trees, low shrubs, perennials, groundcovers and annuals go in the raised planters. Cast iron movable planters are placed around the pole bases of several of the pedestrian lights and at regular intervals along Westgate.
The fountain design is a simple low-granite base, using the same materials and a similar scale as the raised planters, surrounded by cast iron trench grates to match the other tree and trench grates used throughout the project. The fountain sports 10 jets that gently bubble water into the basin. The water cascades over the edge, along the rough granite face of the base into the trench grates. Each jet has its own internal lighting, with additional subtle lighting hidden under the lip of fountain edge and at the fountain base.
Storm water runoff goes to a large ?EUR??,,????'?????<????????rain barrel?EUR??,,????'?????<???????? storage tank underneath the street. This water irrigates the planters. Microspray nozzles in the planter beds reduce water usage, while deep-watering the plants. A root water system irrigates the trees in the pits, but provides oxygen to the root zone. Mini-weather stations adjust the run time of the system based on precipitation, humidity and temperature data collected from the site.
The dimension from building to building varies from 57 to 58 feet. The new zoning preserves those distances and does not allow build up to the right-of-way. The village also reduced the maximum allowed building heights from 125 feet to 45 feet.
Project: Downtown Streetscape Improvements, Durham, N.C. Landscape Architect: Kimley-Horn and Associates, a comprehensive and engineering and land planning firm with over 2,100 staff in more than 60 offices. Brick Manufacturer: Pine Hall Brick Co., Inc. Builder: ValleyCrest Landscape Development
The city of Durham, N.C. engaged Kimley-Horn to lead an effort to revitalize its downtown core. The process began with a significant public planning effort, geared toward understanding the needs of the downtown and capitalizing on the culture and history of the area.
Kimley-Horn provided a wide range of services in the reconstruction and revitalization of the downtown core (15 city blocks) of the city of Durham, including implementing the first phase of the master plan. Kimley-Horn?EUR??,,????'?????<????????????EUR??,,??s services included the two-way conversion of Main and Chapel Hill, the realignment of Corcoran Street, the creation of a downtown plaza at the corner of Chapel Hill and Corcoran Streets, and streetscape and infrastructure upgrades on Parrish Street.
Durham, N.C. has embraced New Urbanism, with the planners setting out to make downtown not only more visually inviting, but more friendly to pedestrians, bicycles and motorists.
The downtown has carved offices, homes and businesses out of old buildings in the urban center. The conversion of Main Street to two-way traffic has improved traffic flow and makes it the hub to which other downtown districts are linked.
The streets have been reconstructed using standard paving and decorative pavements. The sidewalks have been reconstructed, using predominantly brick pavers designed to fit in with the surrounding brick buildings, made from clay mined in North Carolina?EUR??,,????'?????<????????????EUR??,,??s Piedmont, dating from the late 19th or early 20th century. Landscaping, new lighting and a plaza area for outdoor events were incorporated into the design. The $13.5 million project covers about one and one quarter miles and took 25 months to complete.
Project: American Tobacco Campus Historic Redevelopment Phases I and II Landscape Architect: Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart & Associates,internationally established design firm headquartered in Atlanta, with offices in Tampa, Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Brick Manufacturer: Pine Hall Brick Company, Inc. Brick Distributor: Fred Adams Jr. Paving Company
Located in the heart of downtown Durham, North Carolina, the American Tobacco project features restaurants, pubs, a YMCA fitness center, amphitheatre and retail. The home of the Durham Bulls (baseball) are nearby, and within minutes you can be on the campus of Duke University or at Research Triangle Park, home to some of the most prolific innovation and technology companies in the world.
The American Tobacco Co., a 16-acre property with nine buildings, was an active industrial plant from 1874 to 1987. In 2000, the American Tobacco Factory was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the site was approved by the Durham City Council as a local historic landmark.
Prior to 2002, there were several failed efforts to revitalize the old plant. It was common knowledge in the community that development of the property would be more cost effective by simply tearing down and rebuilding. However, in early 2002, Capitol Broadcasting Co. chose to invest in Durham. The costs and risk were high, but Capitol acted with vision and courage to preserve and reincarnate a significant part of the area?EUR??,,????'?????<????????????EUR??,,??s tobacco history upon which the community was built. The old tobacco company was transformed into a mixed-use development, with the intent to rejuvenate the community and preserve its historic character. The city and county invested in this redevelopment with two new public garages to benefit campus residents, tenants, visitors and the adjacent ballpark.
The design intent was to redevelop the old tobacco factory to fit today?EUR??,,????'?????<????????????EUR??,,??s lifestyle, while preserving the historical character. It was important to create a sense of place and ?EUR??,,????'?????<????????flexible?EUR??,,????'?????<???????? spaces. To keep the historic look, only materials available during the lifespan of the plant were used. Brick, concrete and wood became the major hardscape materials. Where new concrete was placed near or adjacent to existing concrete, the new concrete was stressed and stained to match existing concrete.
Since the brick buildings were constructed over a 75-year span the selection of the brick and color palette presented major challenges. The selected brick has a rumbled finish and a full color range to allow its use throughout the project. Benches were designed and constructed by local artists using existing steel and wood beams.
Water became a principal unifying element. The ?EUR??,,????'?????<????????headwaters?EUR??,,????'?????<???????? are at the north end of the campus?EUR??,,????'?????<???????????450,000 gallons of raw power at 5,000 gallons per minute. From the headwaters spawn ?EUR??,,????'?????<????????Bull River,?EUR??,,????'?????<???????? which travels south along the old loading docks where trains once delivered supplies and took away tobacco products. As the river runs past the old Power Plant, near the center of the campus, it spills into a longer multi-level pool. The larger pool encircles the Amphitheatre Stage located below the old water tower. The pool creates a peaceful ambiance for dining and amphitheater events.
Leaving behind the large open park space, the river continues its journey along sloped planted edges and old concrete ruins. A major pedestrian arrival point is Crowe Bridge and as the river flows beneath this area, open steel gratings, underwater lighting and the sound of rushing water are constant reminders of the river?EUR??,,????'?????<????????????EUR??,,??s presence. This adaptive reuse is the largest reuse of a tobacco mill in North Carolina and one of the largest in the United States.
Francisco Uviña, University of New Mexico
Hardscape Oasis in Litchfield Park
Ash Nochian, Ph.D. Landscape Architect
November 12th, 2025
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