Building a sense of community: Town center projects

Building a sense of community: Town center projects

By WALT NIEHOFF and BOB TISCARENO
LMN Architects

Five years ago, LMN Architects took its commercial and retail design services in a bold new direction through the planning and design of Redmond Town Center.

A fountain marks the public heart of Redmond Town Center.
The project was designed specifically to focus community activity, create urbanism in a suburban area and respect local environmental qualities. Four more LMN "town center" projects have followed Redmond: most notably Peterkort Station, a transit-oriented, multi-use development in Portland.

Several current lifestyle trends, reflecting the pressures of modern society, have created a demand for town center projects.

First, it has become evident that people have begun to seek places where they can interact casually -- environments more relaxed than the office or the mall. Additionally, small retailers have found that they can be successful without being located in a mall anchored by huge department stores. They are discovering, in other words, the benefit of "main street" locations where a nearby cinema or popular restaurant provide the best anchors.

With these developments and others, society has begun to turn away from a fifty year tradition of suburban sprawl. Communities desire a focal point for activity along with a sense of neighborhood identity. At the same time, traffic everywhere is getting worse. As commuting time to the city grows longer, having direct access to a broad range of amenities, such as retail, residential, office and entertainment, becomes increasingly attractive.

Finally, shopping habits have changed. Not only do people have less time to shop, but, when they do, they want to be entertained. A stimulating environment that provides a variety of experiences and a place "to see and be seen" has become the preferred option, especially when it includes small, conveniently located specialty retailing centers.

All streets lead to the public plaza in Redmond Town Center, a 120-acre mixed use development bringing new vitality to downtown Redmond.
The town center concept, as demonstrated in Redmond, responds to current market trends that reflect changing lifestyles. It mixes residential, retail, office, entertainment and civic uses to create a focus of round-the-clock activity in communities that may have previously lacked clear patterns of development. The key difference between the Town Center and a traditional mall is the way in which it integrates itself into a location, both in terms of its physical appearance and its response to the interests of the community it serves.

A town center project is inspired by the imagery of "main street," a place where people come outdoors to find shops instead of going to indoor malls. It involves an urban pattern of streets, plazas and buildings with pedestrian-oriented storefronts. Parking is screened from view, and it provides an inviting, familiar neighborhood setting for all users. Additionally, town center buildings are designed to be marketable, to facilitate future development changes and to respond to existing transit mode facilities. Local bus and light rail stations, for example, are regarded as opportunities for a town center project to accommodate users even further.

Located in the midst of downtown Redmond, Redmond Town Center sets a new standard for this kind of "multi-use" development. This innovative, 1.5-million-square-foot complex by Winmar Company is nationally important in that it represents the first example in many decades of a shopping center that blends into a community rather than standing apart from it.

The design approach was an intensive process that involved the collaborative efforts of city planners, retail specialists, architects, engineers, landscape designers, traffic consultants, and land use experts. The goal was to develop a strategy for development that addressed urban integration, project scale, parking, traffic, market changes, environmental issues, and engineering concerns. A consensus emerged from these activities, resulting in an open-air, multi-use center with public plazas and landscaping, rather than the typical enclosed retail shopping mall.

As a contemporary development, Redmond Town Center is remarkable in a number of ways. Instead of consisting of a huge, enclosed, inwardly-oriented mall, it is divided into city-sized blocks with streets that connect to downtown Redmond's street network. The blocks contain individual buildings that are designed to support pedestrian activity. The street level facades have generous storefront windows, canopies, and rich materials and details that can be appreciated when passing by on foot. The streets are built like typical urban streets, with trees, decorative lighting, and curbside parking. Covered walkways and awnings also create their own intimate places that naturally invite visitors to stop for a conversation or closer look.

Most of the parking, however, is out of sight. A central parking structure has been located behind commercial spaces. A freestanding parking garage, which features a corner plaza, has retail space on the ground level. It is connected to the second level of shops by a visually striking overhead walkway. With most conventional shopping centers, parking dominates the image. In Redmond Town Center, the focal point is a grand, circular public space surrounded by shops and cafes.

Even before the center was fully open, local residents and employees began to use this space to meet friends and relax at midday.

Peterkort Station is now taking shape in Portland
Located on a 34-acre site, Peterkort Station in Portland, is adjacent to the intersection of two major highways and encompasses the Sunset Transit Center, a multi-modal light rail transit station along the western expansion of Portland's MAX line. The design of this transit-oriented, 775,000 square foot multi-use development takes advantage of its location to initiate focused development in a fast-growing community. Another 200 acres surrounding Peterkort Station will eventually be developed with approximately 2,300 new residences, 600 of which will be within easy walking distance of the Transit Center.

Peterkort Station distinguishes itself from typical multi-use projects in that it is an open-air, pedestrian-friendly town center with a recognizably urban scale and character. Multi-level retail, residential and office buildings, as well as restaurants, a hotel and cinema, will border on tree-lined commercial streets punctuated with a variety of urban spaces, providing an attractive setting for the community in which to live, work and play. Pedestrian and vehicular linkages with surrounding residential developments assure easy access and convenience for shoppers, workers and patrons of the cinema and restaurants. In addition, the centrally-located Peterkort Station provides strong visual and pedestrian links between the project's "main street" and the Sunset Transit Center.

There are both challenges and opportunities associated with Peterkort Station's location at a transit hub. While the project will clearly benefit from the pedestrian, bicycle, bus, light rail, and automobile activity generated by the Sunset Transit Center, levels of activity for each mode of transportation will fluctuate as Peterkort Station and the surrounding community evolve.

The area surrounding Peterkort Station anticipates significant increases in residential density, yet is currently small in scale and low in density. Consequently, while light rail use may exceed automobile use at some point in the future, it is safe to assume that the initially predominant mode of transportation to and from Peterkort Station will be the automobile. The Peterkort Station masterplan takes this into consideration, especially as it pertains to parking.

As LMN Architects' Town Center experience continues to grow, each new project redefines the model and sets a new standard for design. Our long term goal is to provide the pattern for new commercial/retail development, and move beyond suburban-style development to re-establish the heart of existing communities.

Walt Niehoff and Bob Tiscareno are architects with LMN, where Niehoff is a partner and Tiscareno is a principal with the firm.

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