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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPEC130008, 0009 Jeff Winston Memorandum 032613M ��i Design Review Memorandum Project: Wall Street Building, Vail Village, Vail CO Date: March 26, 2013 This memorandum builds on the March 4 memorandum, and is pursuant to a site visit with the applicant. The proposed building infill is generally consistent with the guidelines, with several reservations and suggestions: 1. Given the gradually descending grade of Wall Street to the north, filling in the second floor of the corner module, as proposed, will still leave a generous ground floor height. The second floor area can obviously be put to better use than it is currently. a 9 Filling in the ground floor entirely out to the NE corner column cuts off a minor "cut - through", but the more significant concern is that it closes off views of Wall Street that attract pedestrians in, and allow the space to flow naturally. More consistent with the guidelines would be to expand the ground floor out to a diagonal fagade that extends from the existing corner column of the Emporium shop, to the second column south on Wall Street. In addition to allowing the pedestrian space to flow around the building, the diagonal fagade would be visible to a greater area. Filling in the rest of the arcade along Wall Street will remove an interesting and somewhat unique feature in Vail (not very many arcades), but will make the windows more visible and the stores somewhat more accessible. The negative aspect of this infill is that it removes an area that is now heavily used for outdoor displays. If the displays are then moved into Wall Street, there will be a significant narrowing of the corridor. Since the Wall Street Building property apparently extends about 3' beyond the column line, this would be legally possible. As a condition PLANNING / DESIGN / COMMUNICATIONS / MANAGEMENT / TECHNOLOGY Wall Street Building Design Review Memorandum 2 March 28, 2013 Page 2 of expansion, the Town may wish to consider being granted an easement over the additional property so that it's use can be regulated appropriately. 4. The ground floor windows that fill in the arcade appear to be a metal -clad commercial storefront system. A stroll around Vail Village reveals that there are a number of installations that differ from the guidelines, and in fact have metal frames, and large windows. The difference however, is two key features of these Vail Village applications: a. most of these installations area embedded in a wall rather than °'" " continuous windows separated by /► ' " narrow columns (that is, there is a more - significant amount of wall separating the windows than in the Wall St. Bldg 7: ! , proposal). b. the frames make either square or - verticle rectangle patterns (not the horizontal rectangles in the proposal). 1 Ii �r 1 t, i To be consistent with the guidelines the vertical columns should be made wider, and the horizontal stucco beam should be made thicker (vertical dimension) to give more of a sense of a solid, load- bearing building wall, into which windows have been inserted. Wall Street Building Design Review Memorandum 2 March 28, 2013 Page 3 5. With regard to the second floor of the corner, the narrow stucco beam and columns also give a modern, non -Vail Village, character. The use of storefront windows on the second floor are not consistent with the guidelines, and are not even actually practical. (In contemporary glass -wall buildings, office uses usually dictate putting desks or filing cabinets next to the windows, which gives an unsightly appearance —or opaque glass is used — neither of which is desired here.) Co An approach more consistent with the guidelines would be: smaller windows inserted into a solid �Ju wall (e.g. wider horizontal stucco beam, wider columns, solid wall between banks of windows, taller wall beneath the windows. (The windows could even be bay windows for interest.) The proposed fagade for the Jewels of the West, with the horizontal rectangle windows, isn't consistent with any of the guidelines, or the discussion above, and has modern, almost Japanese quality. To be consistent with the guidelines suggests: window panes that are square or vertically proportioned rectangles, at least a small amount of solid building wall separating windows, and /or at least wide columns framing the door, and a pitched or awning overhand.