DenverInfill Blog

Today we’ll review the other major public space planned for Denver Union Station: Wynkoop Plaza.

Wynkoop Plaza is proposed for the east side of the historic station along Wynkoop Street. It’s hard to not call that side the front of the station, since that has effectively been the case for decades. But with the new transit elements going in to the west and with all the new vertical development in the Central Platte Valley, both sides will now be the “front”. Fortunately, the historic station was designed with equally attractive east and west facades.

Currently, ugly surface parking lots occupy the key corners of 16th and Wynkoop and 18th and Wynkoop. Both of these will be replaced with “wing” buildings as they’ve been called, given their location at the end of the historic station’s two wings. The north wing building at 18th and Wynkoop will be the new home of IMA Financial and will look something like this. The design of the south wing building hasn’t been completed yet but it will be of similar scale and quality. Both buildings are critical to the success of Wynkoop Plaza for two reasons: they define the plaza edges and help visually enclose the space to make it feel more intimate, and they provide the ground-floor retail and restaurant uses that will help enliven the plaza with people and activity.

Wynkoop Plaza consists of north and south sections, with each having a different programmatic and design emphasis. Here’s an overview:

The south (left) plaza will be more open and sunny than the north (right) plaza. Given the south plaza’s proximity to the 16th Street Mall and the end of the commuter rail platforms, it will experience more pedestrian traffic, which the open design facilitates.

The south plaza will also include an area with pop-up fountains that, during the warmer months, will engage the senses and draw more people into the plaza. The fountain will be computer programmed to allow for a variety of effects, such as the jets of water popping up in different shape and timing patterns. The height of the water jets can also be adjusted depending on wind speed and other factors, and up-lighting can make for dramatic nighttime displays. Of course, during the colder months and during larger events in the plaza, the fountain can be turned off entirely to create an unobstructed hardscaped area. A row of trees closer to the historic station will provide shade to restaurant patios. Movable chairs will be used throughout the plaza along with a few permanent seat walls that will help delineate the primary pedestrian paths.

While the south plaza is the sunnier, more open and active section, the north plaza will be a bit more quiet and shady, although still a great people place.

The north plaza will feature a bosque of trees that provides plenty of shade for both permanent seat walls/planters and movable tables and chairs. The far north end of the plaza closest to the IMA Financial Building will remain open to provide a sunny space and clear sight lines to the pedestrian bridge/plaza spanning over the commuter rail tracks.

Like the 17th Street Gardens, the Wynkoop Plaza has been designed for both passive use as well as programmed events, such as stage performances, festivals, vending carts, games, etc. The diagrams below show two of the many ways different events can be configured into the space.

Regarding Wynkoop Street itself, many people have suggested that the street be rebuilt between 16th and 18th so that the Wynkoop Plaza’s paving surface and streetscape elements can extend across to the storefronts on the other side of the street, thereby making the street itself part of the public space. Everyone thinks this is a great idea, but currently there is no money in very-tight project and city budgets for this to occur at this time. However, nothing in the Wynkoop Plaza design would preclude that from occurring in the future when funding is available, so it’s just something we have to keep on the front burner and eventually we’ll find a way to get it done.

About the revival of the Welcome/Mizpah Arch: You may recall Union Station Advocates held a big gala event in the historic station to start raising money for the return of the arch. Currently, there’s no consensus among the Downtown community as to the arch’s design or location. Some people feel it should be an exact replica of the original arch (at the same scale or perhaps at a smaller scale) and some people feel it should be a contemporary arch inspired by the original. Some people favor the original location at 17th and Wynkoop, while others favor a new location on the west side where there are more potential sites available. Regardless of the ultimate design and location, it would be several years at the earliest before the arch could be constructed and installed anyway, given the funds that will need to be raised to pay for it. So for now, a healthy debate over the arch continues while a longer-term fundraising plan and decision-making process is devised.

Finally, it is the hope and goal of Union Station Advocates and many of us throughout Denver that Union Station becomes much more than a transportation hub. The station’s location between our beloved Lower Downtown historic district and the exciting contemporary developments in the Central Platte Valley, along with the infusion of masses of people every day, creates the opportunity for Union Station and its surrounding public spaces to become a nearly perfect urban nexus for Downtown. It can become the place where, when asking what not to miss when in Downtown Denver, first-time visitors are told “go to Union Station”. It can become the place where locals hang out even if they have no plans to travel by transit. Paired with its likely-to-be-very-dramatic Calatrava-designed sister station at Denver International Airport, Union Station will be the gateway to Denver for millions of people every year and may become Downtown’s most important single place.

Some patience will be required for Union Station to achieve its full potential. While the basic layout and urban design elements of the public spaces are being constructed now, the area will evolve and improve over time as the trees and plantings mature, public art is added, the private-sector developments are built out, and other enhancements (like the Mizpah Arch or extending the plaza across Wynkoop) are implemented. Union Station won’t be perfect on opening day, but the planning and design framework is in place for it to get off to a great start.

We’ve reviewed the light rail station, the underground bus terminal, and the commuter rail station. Now let’s take a look at the plans for Denver Union Station’s signature public spaces, starting with the 17th Street Gardens.

First, an overview of the proposed public spaces at DUS. The public realm within the Union Station transit district consists of a network of spaces that flows above, below, through, and around the various transit elements, the historic station, and the future private development buildings. We’ve discussed some of these already, such as the commuter rail Train Hall, Light Rail Plaza, the pedestrian concourse inside the underground bus terminal, the areas around the three pavilions, and the pedestrian bridge over the commuter rail tracks. The streets are also an important part of the public realm. Wynkoop, Wewatta, Chestnut, 16th, 17th, and 18th streets will all contribute in different ways to the character of the district. There’s also the inside of the historic station—perhaps the premier public space of them all—which we’ll discuss in a future blog post. Today, however, it’s about one of the two new signature public spaces at Union Station, 17th Street Gardens (Wynkoop Plaza is the other and next up in this series). The following graphic came from a presentation prepared back in the fall of 2008 early in the conceptual stage of the public space design, but it still does a good job of showing the basic framework for the public realm at Union Station and the different character zones within the district. As with all Union Station plan maps, west (northwest actually) is at the top, and east (towards downtown) is at the bottom:

The 17th Street Gardens is the main public space (aside from the rail platform areas) on the western side of the historic station. Labeled as the “linear gardens” on the map above, the short section west of Chestnut Street near the light rail station is now the Chestnut Pavilion Plaza and the short section east of Wewatta Street near the commuter rail station is now the Wewatta Pavilion Plaza. Both of these pavilion plazas will contain design elements from the 17th Street Gardens, but the main garden space is focused on the block in between Chestnut and Wewatta.

One of the earliest design changes recommended by SOM and Hargreaves (the transit and landscape architecture firms hired for the project) was to shift the 17th Street vehicle drive lanes to the south and eliminate the median. The original plan had a vehicle lane in each direction and a median centered within the wide 17th Street right-of-way. In fact, a few years ago this block of 17th Street was built (but never opened to traffic) and was removed only a few months ago when construction began:

The new plan consolidates the public space by shifting most of the plaza to the north (sunny) side of 17th Street. Centered within the right-of-way are the skylights that provide light to the bus terminal below. Extending horizontally across the plaza from each skylight are raised planting beds with seat walls. These create the framework for the eight “rooms” that will feature different landscape and urban design elements. A 25-foot wide fire lane provides the main pedestrian walk zone, ending with a 10-foot wide zone for restaurant patio seating. Between the skylights and the street is an 8-foot sidewalk, and the south side of the street still enjoys a wide sidewalk and a cafe seating zone:

A key aspect of a successful public space is a design that people feel comfortable hanging out in, yet also allows for a variety of programmed events to occur, such as stage performances, street fairs, games, vending carts, etc. The 17th Street Gardens layout provides that flexibility between programmed and passive use. For larger events, 17th Street can be closed down, providing even more space. Here are two images that show the variety of programmed uses that could be incorporated in different combinations throughout the seasons:

The landscape plan for the gardens is intended to provide a variety of interesting plant colors and textures for all four Colorado seasons:

Finally, here are some street-level renderings of the finished 17th Street Gardens:

Of course, until both buildings along 17th Street facing the gardens are completed, the 17th Street Gardens won’t “feel” finished, as it is the sense of enclosure that buildings provide that is such a critical component to a successful urban space. Let’s hope for a speedy economic recovery so the private sector developments within and adjacent to the Union Station transit district can be built to complement this significant public infrastructure investment.

The third and final major transit element of the Denver Union Station plan is the commuter rail station. The light rail station and the regional bus terminal are the other two transit elements we’ve already reviewed. The commuter rail station will be the closest transit element to the historic station, located immediately to the west of Union Station where the Amtrak and light rail platforms are today. Commuter rail involves trains similar to those used by Amtrak—they’re bigger and longer than light rail and come in electrified (overhead wire) or diesel engine varieties. RTD doesn’t yet have any commuter rail trains in operation, but later this year the first FasTracks commuter rail lines (Gold Line to Arvada/Wheat Ridge and East Line to Denver International Airport) will begin construction. Eventually, the commuter rail platforms at Union Station will accommodate not only the Gold and East lines, but the North and Northwest (Boulder) lines, as well as Amtrak, private excursion trains (such as the Ski Train) and room for future lines/expansion.

The commuter rail station area includes several components. First, the commuter rail platforms will be surrounded and partially enclosed by a large canopy shelter. This is the area often referred to as the Train Hall or the Train Shed, and should not be confused with the Great Hall inside the historic structure. Then there’s the Wewatta and Union Station Pavilions, and the pedestrian plaza/bridge over the tracks north of the platforms. Here are two images that give you the layout in this area. On the left is an illustrative image that shows the historic Union Station structure, the north and south “wing” buildings to either side, the white canopy Train Hall over the platforms with the oval opening in the center, the Wewatta and Union Station Pavilions directly on the 17th Street axis, future private-sector development buildings south and west of the Train Hall, and the parking garage structure straddling the tracks off to the north. The image on the right identifies which train lines will utilize the eight platforms within the commuter rail station.

The first element one would encounter after crossing Wewatta Street from the west is the Wewatta Pavilion. Like the Chestnut Pavilion, the Wewatta Pavilion will include escalators, elevators, and stairs to provide vertical access to the underground bus terminal. The area surrounding the pavilion also functions as a public space, with room for outdoor cafe patios for the adjacent buildings, ticketing machines, landscaping, seating, and other plaza features. Along Wewatta in this area will be the primary drop-off point for vehicles and queuing areas for taxis and other private shuttles. Below are two images that show the Wewatta Pavilion in plan view (left) and street-level view from across Wewatta Street (right):

The train platforms will be surrounded by a dramatic swoopy canopy, 500 feet long and 180 feet wide, that will provide some cover from the elements while still keeping the whole Train Hall area generally open air. Within the Train Hall, the center platforms under the “hole” in the bigger canopy will have lower canopies to provide shelter, information signs, and the like. The height of the big canopy goes up to over 40 feet on the ends but dips down to around 21 feet in the center to not block the view of the big windows and neon lights of the west facade of the historic station.  The four images below show the Train Hall area from different angles:

Between the Train Hall and the historic station is the Union Station Pavilion. Like its counterparts, it offers multiple options to access the underground bus terminal below. A new door in the center of the historic structure will allow one to walk from inside the Great Hall directly out to the Train Hall and go either to the commuter rail platforms or down via the Union Station Pavilion to the bus terminal. Here are two images that show the Union Station Pavilion area:

The three main pavilions are not the only ways to get underground to the bus terminal. The center two platforms within the Train Hall—those sandwiched in between the other two sets of tracks—will have their own stairways and elevators down to the bus terminal.

The final element is the pedestrian plaza/bridge over the commuter rail tracks just north of the Train Hall. The original DUS plan called for the private-sector development building north of the Wewatta Pavilion (Block B) to be “L” shaped like its counterpart to the south. At that time, a wide plaza spanning the tracks was planned (called Kinetic Plaza) that would be incorporated into the facade of the building. The Union Station master developer team is currently evaluating the feasibility of the portion of that building spanning over the tracks. In the event the building over the tracks is not built, the plaza will be narrowed to a pedestrian bridge. Either way, the plaza/bridge will provide vertical access to the east down to Wynkoop Plaza, to the north down to the corner of Wewatta and 18th, and to the south down to the two center commuter rail platforms. Additionally, the Denver Union Station Project Authority is currently evaluating the feasibility of the parking garage that spans over the tracks farther north. Consequently, the plan for the area around the pedestrian plaza/bridge is still somewhat in flux. The issue in both cases is that the building/parking garage over the tracks must be built within the next couple of years before the new commuter rail station becomes operational; otherwise, to build either structure over active tracks in the future would be extremely complex and most likely prohibitively expensive. Anyway, here are two images that show this pedestrian plaza/bridge area:

That pretty much covers the commuter rail station area. Next, we’ll take a look at the plans for the public spaces within the Union Station transit district, followed by a wrap-up of the private-sector developments that will eventually complete the entire project and make the Union Station district one of Downtown Denver’s best urban places.