This spring, graduate students in the Advanced Planning Studio at the College of Architecture and Planning at the University of Colorado Denver had the opportunity to take a leading role in developing conceptual plans for the proposed public space along Wynkoop Street at Denver’s historic Union Station. Jeremy Németh, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Planning and Design at UCD, along with teaching assistants Morgan Landers and Shuyi Pearl Wang, led the effort which involved sixteen students divided into four planning teams.
The design and function of the public spaces that will surround the new transit infrastructure and historic station at Denver’s Union Station redevelopment site is incredibly important. With 190,000 people expected to use Union Station every day once all the new transit lines are up and running in 2016, the public realm areas at Union Station hold the promise to be the city’s most dynamic and engaging public space. Next week, the selection of the official landscape/urban design consultant for Union Station will be made and, during the course of this summer and fall, the design of those future public spaces will take shape. Consequently, the UCD Planning Studio project presented a valuable experience for not only the students, but for our city too.
The students spent the first few weeks of the semester analyzing the social, cultural, historical and ecological factors influencing the station area and gaining an understanding of the revised Union Station Master Plan and its planned circulation patterns, rail connections, and building configurations. Then, the four student teams spent the rest of the semester independently developing a detailed concept plan for the planned public space along the Wynkoop side of the historic station.
The students presented their concept plans at a public forum held at the Webb Building on May 13. Approximately 100 people were in attendance and, being there myself, I can say the students did a fantastic job. Not only were their plans well conceived and packed with very creative ideas, but their verbal presentations were articulate and the level of their visual graphics were exceptional as well. The documents presented below contain just a fraction of the many images and diagrams each team presented on May 13 and just a sampling of each teams’ work.
Concept A (Andrew Coburn, Todd Swirczek, Molly Veldkamp, Eric Watson)
Concept B (Kacey French, David Schott, Derek Stertz, Olivia Terwilleger)
Concept C (Tyler Greenfield, Bonni Johnson, David Mullen, Vichit Sayavongkhamdy)
Concept D (Jana Davis, Ryan Poole, Avant Ramsey, Darcy Varney)
In leading up to the actual design of Union Station’s public spaces later this year, the students’ work is obviously an important step in starting a public discussion about what we want for those public spaces at Union Station. That’s why I am posting them here at DenverInfill. What design elements do we want in the public spaces at Union Station? What kind of programs and activities should take place there and how will the design accommodate those functions? How will the public spaces at Union Station be maintained and who will govern them? There are a lot of questions to be answered over the next few months, and the decisions we make as a community will determine how successful the public spaces at Union Station will ultimately become. That is the reason why I am now involved with Union Station Advocates.
For more information and materials relating to the UCD student project, please visit the Advanced Planning Studio’s website at www.cudenver.edu/dus. Many thanks to the UCD students and to Dr. Jeremy Németh for his leadership and skill in sharing his expertise in urban design.
I'd like to see Union Station be a true transit station, like what you see in Europe. The plaza needs to be completely functional and have year round (or as long as people are willing to work them) open air markets: produce vendors, juice vendors, coffee vendors, magazine vendors, etc, also with an official busker pad with electrical outlets available. The space should be designed with that thought in mind.
And what a great opportunity for the students!
Cool. The big problem here is how to activate those two flanking squares (currently parking lots). They're so large that doing so in a manner that doesn't leave large dead spaces is going to be really difficult.
I think all these concepts offer good lessons. Individually they have their weaknesses and strengths, but looking at them all has been really valuable. I think if we picked and choose the best elements from each one we could have an exceedingly lovely public space on our hands.
Concept A does a good job of breaking the plazas up into manageable pieces, each of which can be activated using whatever strategy is best for that individual space. That is going to be a key technique, I think. But can we please not cover up the historic Union Station façade with a dime-a-dozen glass curtain wall?
Concept B has all sorts of things I love. The arcade on the wing buildings will do a lot to make them permeable and interesting. The statue directly in front of DUT will provide a single easily-identifiable meeting point and a nice piece of art. The grand staircase will turn what could have been an alley into a gorgeous non-symmetrical outdoor room / amphitheatre, especially if there's something interesting going on at the bottom of the stairs. The basin and the fountain are good ideas also, but more thought needs to be given to their placement in the plazas and how they will interact with other features. I'm also concerned that alone they aren't enough to keep the plaza busy. I don't think you can do this without a lot of outdoor dining (which doesn't seem to be provided), and I'm not convinced that there shouldn't be a place here for some sort of soft landscaping.
Concept C does great work on the edges, and I like that they're willing to consider a diverse range of architectural styles, but there's not enough going on in the plaza itself. I like the bridge a lot. Imagine it behind team B's staircase. What a space that would be!
Concept D's great strength is that it recognizes the diverse needs of the plaza. I *really* love that they're activating the flanking buildings of the station with seating and awnings. The arbor is a fantastic idea. I have mixed feelings about the terraces – will activity on a second level add to the vitality or take away users from the plaza? Could go either way. Like concept B, I like that they're providing a single central place, but I'd rather see a statue than granite blocks.
I'd like to advocate simplicity and minimal clutter. In Europe we often see open expanses with simple pavements of granite or brick. These spaces allow for views of the nearby buildings that are unobstructed and they permit easy pedestrian motion. They are also simple to maintain. Seems to me the Union station would benefit from simply having open spaces. It's a good looking building, let it be seen … so I suppose I'm not in favor of any of these plans.
Thanks so much for sharing. A hearty thanks to the students for their truly outstanding work – it's good to see such quality work coming out of the school's design program. I concur with beyonddc that their are very intriguing components presented in each of the concepts. They offer great value and should be seriously considered as a final design for spaces around the station is developed.
The difference between Denver and Europe is that those big open squares in Europe are surrounded by such tremendous user density that filling them with people isn't a problem.
That user density doesn't exist in Denver, and even with FasTracks it won't exist here on its own since all the rail activity is behind the station.
So simply paving these plazas over and leaving them alone is a recipe for empty, dreary plazas.
I hate, really, to be negative, but I disagree with the perceived quality of the work in general. Four graduate students each in four groups spending four months on this project should have resulted in plans that are both individually compelling and accessible and present solutions to the urban design of a crucial city space. Individually, fountains and sunken plazas don't activate – it's the density and uses that surround a space, as well as the connections to the space, that create quality urban environments.
Outside of that remarkably arrogant soap-boxy moment, I appreciated most the thought and attention that went into the fourth group's presentation. That's the quality of thought and expressions that should be coming out of all the studios at my alma mater.
I agree with anon10:48. The space should facilitate movement of large groups of people, allow for seating, and be designed for large outdoor events (community concerts, farmers markets, et al).
Multi-function requires open spaces that can be reorganized with event requirements. A large stone-paved plaza with six London Plane Trees (think Bryant Park, NYC) flanking each wing of DUS would be unbelievably simple and fulfill all the needs of the space.
Add in some great commissioned public art and a unique water feature or fountain(ice rink is a great idea) and you'll have a great public space that enhances LoDo in a simple, sophisticated manner.
I support the work of the students and hope that their output gets considered in the final plan. I especially like the density in each of the proposals.
I hope the final plan addresses more thoroughly how the redevelopment fits into the exiting city. Many ideas, including those of the students, appear to ignore the surrounding area and attempt to build a self-sustained island with downtown Denver. Existing facilities and amenities need to be acknowledged and not duplicated.