HomeMy WebLinkAboutDRB130336 Jeff Winston MemorandumDesign Review Memorandum
RE: Wall Street Building, DRB Submittal, File: DRB130336 Schematic Designs.pdf
DATE: 6 September 2013
TO: Warren Campbell, TOV Community Development
FROM: Jeff
Winston
The DRB review of the Wall Street Building is to make a determination of consistency of the proposed improvements of the Wall Street Building with the Urban Design Guide Plan
(as prescribed in Policy 1.1.1 of the Vail Village Master Plan). This memo is to provide input on that determination.
This renovation is an opportunity to bring one of the few remaining
“pre-guidelines” buildings, at a key intersection near the heart of the Village, into greater consistency with the Village Core character. In addition to the proposed expansion improvements,
with inexpensive additional modifications, even the unchanged portions of the building can be greatly improved.
With the exception of the NE corner of the building, in my opinion the
design is now much more consistent with the Design Guidelines and is presenting a much more Vail-like character.
Relevant Standards
Vail Village Master Plan
Goal 1: Encourage high quality
redevelopment while preserving unique architectural scale of the village in order to sustain its sense of community and identity.
(Retaining the existing building retains the scale of
the Village.
The key question is to what degree the proposed improvements sustain the identity of the Village. (see discussion below, beginning with Proposed East View)
Vail Village
Urban Design Guide Plan--Architectural Considerations
Overhangs
Specific design consideration should be given to protection of pedestrian ways adjacent to buildings.
Overhangs are treated with varying degrees of ornamentation. Structural elements
such as roof beans are expressed beneath the overhangs, simply or decoratively carved.
(The extended canopy arcade, with its heavy timber arced brackets is consistent with this guideline.
Materials
Stucco, brick, wood, are the primary building materials found in the Village.
Of the above materials, stucco is the most consistently used material.
(The proposed building maintains
a majority of the stucco exterior, and the wood siding is retained, and consistent with the guidelines.
Color
Body colors, both siding and stucco, shall be rich and lively but must be
less chromatic shades, which relate to natural colors and can be either light or dark. All stucco shall have a flat finish.
(Proposed building improvements appear to comply. (The existing
textured stucco that is not affected by the expansion is likely to be retained.)
Transparency
On pedestrian-oriented streets such as in the Village, ground floor commercial facades are
proportionately more transparent than upper floors.
As a measure of transparency, the most characteristic an successful ground floor facades range from 55% to 70% of the total length
of the commercial façade. Upper floors are often the converse: 30% to 40% transparent.
Glass areas are usually subdivided to express individual elements—and are further subdivided by
mullions in to small panes – which is responsible for much of the old-world charm of the Village.
Large single pane windows occur in the Village, as long as they are generally consistent
in form with other windows.
(Elements on the ground floor of the East View that appear to be consistent with these guidelines include:
the articulated transom windows above the main
windows on ground floor of the East View
the differentiation of the window patterns gives nice vitality and “evolved over time” character
(Elements that do not appear to be consistent
with these guidelines are the proposed “storefront” style windows on the 2nd story at the north end of the building (see Northeast Corner View and North View). These windows bring a
suburban strip mall character into prominent view near the “100% corner” in Vail.
Recommendation to comply with the guidelines:
replace the bank of windows with Individual windows,
set into an equal-or-greater amount of wall space, with window mullions
An additional gesture that would be inexpensive, but greatly help bring the unmodified part of the building into consistency with the guidelines would be to:
add mullions to the unchanged
2nd and 3rd story windows
Trim
Prominent (wide) wood trim is also a unifying feature in the Village.
Windows and doors are treated as strong visual features.
(The proposed windows
and doors appear to comply with this guideline.
(The existing, unchanged windows do not.
Recommendation to comply with the guidelines:
An additional gesture that would be inexpensive,
but greatly help bring the unmodified parts of the building into compliance with the guidelines would be to:
Add wide trim around the 3rd story windows and doors.
Additional recommendations/suggesti
ons
Though not mentioned in the guidelines, shutters are a common element in the Village that help bring variety, old-world charm. An additional gesture, that would be inexpensive but
greatly add variety and interest to the building, and give the unchanged parts of the building a more Vail-like character would be to:
add several shutters to the 2nd story single windows
on the south section of the building) and and 3rd story single windows
Even though the ground floor northeast entry building layout has been approved by the PEC, the figure below includes:
an alternative layout that would give the applicant additional 25 s.f. of floor area, AND would give a more spacious pass-through, and a more visible doorway.
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Figure 1: Summary of recommendations
The images below are not intended to be a design, but merely to illustrate how the application of the guidelines could add Vail-character to the north end of the building.
Figure 3:
Proposed north view