Designed for Richmond

[540_804]

Here's my rendering of the 'vision' for 10th and Byrd that was posted in the Reynolds North & South Plant Redevelopment thread.

Of course I took a few liberties (in regards to materials used, and the green roof) and made a few mistakes (the square window/insets along the face) but its the best I could do.

[TBurban]

That's amazing! The rendering is so clear and pretty damn concise for not knowing intimate details. You've got an incredible talent. What program do you use?

[540_804]

That's amazing! The rendering is so clear and pretty damn concise for not knowing intimate details. You've got an incredible talent. What program do you use?

Thanks.

I use sketchup for the modeling and then Kerkythea for the rendering to give it a more realistic look.

Go to http://www.kerkythea.net/joomla/ for the free download. They make a plug-in for sketchup. The plug-in takes your model from sketchup and imports it directly into Kerkythea. Then you have to play around with it a bit to get it looking right. The guys in the kerkythea forum are very helpful with that and there are tutorials there.

[burt]

Here's my rendering of the 'vision' for 10th and Byrd that was posted in the Reynolds North & South Plant Redevelopment thread.

Of course I took a few liberties (in regards to materials used, and the green roof) and made a few mistakes (the square window/insets along the face) but its the best I could do.

Great job, Jay.

How tall do you suppose the building is (or would be?) It's impossible to estimate because we know every horizontal line is not a floor level. From the insert, it appears to be about the height of neighboring Riverfront Plaza.

And wouldn't you guess the building would be for residential rather than office use? Or maybe mixed use -- commercial on the river side and duplex apartments with balconies facing north?

[540_804]

Great job, Jay.

How tall do you suppose the building is (or would be?) It's impossible to estimate because we know every horizontal line is not a floor level. From the insert, it appears to be about the height of neighboring Riverfront Plaza.

And wouldn't you guess the building would be for residential rather than office use? Or maybe mixed use -- commercial on the river side and duplex apartments with balconies facing north?

Thanks.

I modelled the tower to be about 310 ft, so about 2ft shorter than the height of Riverfront Plaza. As you stated, the new tower appears to be of similar height as Riverfront so I modelled it with that in mind.

I figure it would probably be mixed used as well, but then again, the balconies could be there solely to provide a bit of "architectural interest" similar to those on VCU's engineering hall:

Then again, its just a vision....

[wrldcoupe4]

I say go to 400' or more. This tower would sit at a lower elevation than Riverfront plaza wouldn't it?

[540_804]

I say go to 400' or more. This tower would sit at a lower elevation than Riverfront plaza wouldn't it?

Possibly, but not likely 100 feet lower. Here's the location with the base or Riverfront in the frame for comparison.

Also, if you look at the artist's rendering the tower appears to sit on some sort of base/podium of several stories in height (perhaps parking) which would add to the overall height of the tower. I didn't include the podium because I couldn't make out the details in the small picture.

[wrldcoupe4]

I say at least 400' because it should be taller than Riverfront Plaza in the first place. Not a dig against your design, which looks great, just a wish for when it actually gets developed one day.

[Cadeho]

540_804 really nice! I do wish it would be built. And Tommy (Tburban) is a master at sketchup! I stink at it.

[LordChesterfield]

I walked around by the old intermediate terminal and past Rockett's Landing last week and really felt like the area had a lot of potential. I'd like to see something go there that's really on a big scale... something that the city probably would not by itself. This is what I came up with... I can't do renderings (don't have the time nor patience to learn SketchUp), but if someone would like to elaborate on the idea, feel free. This is just a basic outline.

Closest to what might become Echo Harbour is the Richmond Aquarium, something that should at least rival the Charleston Aquarium (maybe bigger, since we need to get people to come). Then one can walk in an elevated, enclosed bridge to the atrium, which is located in the Intermediate Terminal Building. This will house a small cafeteria, a gift shop, information, and maybe some classrooms/ other space that might be needed. West of the terminal, on the water, is a boathouse for VCU rowing. South of the terminal is another skybridge that will bring people over the access road to the marina. The marina will run alongside the river around 500 feet and will be able to accommodate fairly large vessels. The boat slip will be at the southern end of the complex. On the other side of the skybridge is a Maritime Museum of some sort, or something else that's similar if someone has a better idea. The brown line following Main Street is the Capital Trail, which will go from Echo Harbour, around the complex, back to the river near Rockett's Landing. Parking will be located in decks across the street from the complex.

Well, that's all I have for now. Any ideas?

PS: since making this post, I've decided that the architecture (from the outside at least) should be consistent with that of Tobacco Row. What do you think?

[Cadeho]

Yes, at the Master Plan charrette, I proposed the aquarium but for the Echo Harbour site. My team presented that idea and I would rather see an aquarium than condo towers at that point on the river. However, a nice riverside promenade would be nice and a RIchmond Maritime museum would be great and Burt I believe has floated that idea. And yes, the architecture idea is on point. I'd rather see Echo Harbour also echo Tobacco Row more than that apartment building on the Rappahannock in Tappahannock.

[Icetera]

Here's a small urban residential lowrise I made.

Residential above, retail below.

Not sure how I missed this, but I really like your work, here.

I really like TUrban/LordChesterfield's idea with the Aquarium, even though I also support the Echo Harbor development.

[LordChesterfield]

Reynolds South Plant... hope you guys like it. The dark red is high-density residential... apartments/ condos no more than 10 stories high. The lighter red is single family homes/rowhouses. The green is park land. The yellow lines are alley ways. The blue are the community pools. There will be some retail under some of the apartment buildings. Parking for the apartments are in below ground decks. Parking for rowhouses are in the street and off the alleys. Parking for the baseball stadium will have to be offsite. Probably right south of Hull Street in decks.

[burt]

WOW! You've done a terrific job here, LC.

Have you also taken into consideration the topography of the land? For instance, I believe there is a large drop-off between Legends Brewery on W. 7th Street and the Norfolk/Southern tracks along the river. Would that allow for residential development in that particular area.

IMO, a ball park would require an immense space for parking.

[LordChesterfield]

Thanks, burt! Well, if the terrain is really steep, perhaps we can terrace the land to make it more even... I'm not sure. Or take out the road/ houses along the tracks and leave it as hillside park land. As for parking, in the lot across from the Burger King, how many spots do you think I could fit in with a 4-5 level deck there? I would like to have the baseball fans walk up past the rowhouses/ apartments on their way to the field. Also, with that park land there, you can see the stadium from Hull Street, which I think would be nice.

[Icetera]

Great ideas here. I do recall the steep grade behind Legends and Savor Cafe, but I believe it levels out south of there, so I think his layout will fit without issue. The size of the stadium may be a bit small, though. A typical professional field appears to be between approximately 350' to 450' in length, and the space laid out here is only around 400'. If you stretch the ball park to W. 6th St., then you will have about 600' of length to work with, allowing around 150-250' of concession/seating area. The higher density residential could be relocated to replace the row housing on the 100 block of W. 7th St. Since we are talking about having parking decks across Hull St, perhaps we should have commercial space along W. 5th St. so sports fans can frequent restaurants and shops while walking between the stadium and their automobiles. Hull at 5th St. is already a bus stop, so we could close W. 5th St. to traffic allowing a plaza lined with shops (with residential above) to connect the Stadium with parking/bus stop.

Here is a quick hack job:

[burt]

Since most games begin around sunset Isn't it important that home plate does not face north/west at ball parks. I get confused about directions in Manchester, but the numbered streets south of the James run east/west.

[Icetera]

Since most games begin around sunset Isn't it important that home plate does not face north/west at ball parks. I get confused about directions in Manchester, but the numbered streets south of the James run east/west.

That would make sense (The Diamond faces East) and it is currently facing North. The park will not fit nicely facing East (or South), so that will take some more creativity.

[LordChesterfield]

Well home plate in that design is facing north... I wanted spectators to have a view of the downtown skyline at night, since you stated in a previous post that this would be a good idea to have. We can rotate the stadium on the site, but how can we do so while still allowing visitors to face the downtown skyline?

@ Icetera... you're new design is nice. I'm just worried about there not being a "central park" sort of meeting area. Is there a way we can shift the stadium to one direction or another to create that space? Also, what do you think about getting rid of the rowhouses near Bainbridge Street and keeping high-density there instead? Then we can remove the high density from the area around Legend Brewing to create a small neighborhood of rowhouses. I like your idea about the retail running toward the stadium. I thought about this when I was designing, and that would be a nice feature to have. Well I've got to go! See you guys later!

[Icetera]

Well home plate in that design is facing north... I wanted spectators to have a view of the downtown skyline at night, since you stated in a previous post that this would be a good idea to have. We can rotate the stadium on the site, but how can we do so while still allowing visitors to face the downtown skyline?

@ Icetera... you're new design is nice. I'm just worried about there not being a "central park" sort of meeting area. Is there a way we can shift the stadium to one direction or another to create that space? Also, what do you think about getting rid of the rowhouses near Bainbridge Street and keeping high-density there instead? Then we can remove the high density from the area around Legend Brewing to create a small neighborhood of rowhouses. I like your idea about the retail running toward the stadium. I thought about this when I was designing, and that would be a nice feature to have. Well I've got to go! See you guys later!

The Plaza along W. 5th St. would act as the central meeting area surrounded by shops. I am going to try throwing this into Sketchup (if this PC can handle it) to get the measurements down and reposition the stadium. With the stadium repositioned, it will create some gaps for park at the W. 6th and Bainbridge. With a 90 degree shift East, the main seating should still have a good view of downtown. If possible, I figure the ticketing booths should be facing the W. 5th St. plaza. I agree on your idea of swapping the low density and high density residential, as currently they are very fragmented.

[ric75]

I believe the Shockoe Bottom stadium design had home plate facing north as well and that is a workable direction though I think the ideal direction is facing northeast... though I'm no baseball expert

[Icetera]

Here is what I have so far. The grade was a slight issue, but manageable. I did find that most ballpark appear to face Northeast, as Burt suggested (exceptions Pittsburgh east to skyline, Baltimore North-Northeast). In order to fit in a smaller, professional-sized ball field at a Northeastern direction, I had to take out the W. 4th St. to Perry St. connection along the rail lines. This field has a 310' Fowl line and 401' length from the Home Plate to the back fence. There is room to have the main ticket entrance on the South corner facing the 5th St. Plaza.

[540_804]

Perhaps the stadium parking could be under the green areas...sort of like Millennium Park in Chicago.

Thats, of course, unlikely; it would be too expensive, I'd guess. I heard something along the lines that the cost of subterranean parking is ~3x more per space than structured parking.

[LordChesterfield]

I have finished the model for the Reynolds at Manchester Center. I haven't put in things like windows on the buildings because I just don't have time. I hope you like it...

Sorry about the incorrect orientation... to the northwest is a neighborhood of single-family residential. Between them and the urban portion of the center is a traffic circle. Amenities include a fitness center, parkland, retail, underground parking for apartments, and pools.

Here is a view from near Hull Street of the center and the stadium.

This is the new baseball stadium, oriented in a northeast direction. In the outfield there can be some nice and very inexpensive bleacher seating. The road behind the stadium might have to be shut down on game days to protect drivers from home runs.

Here is a view of the traffic circle and the fitness center, which includes an indoor pool, cardio and weight training, racquetball courts, an indoor tennis court, and a cafe which opens up to a rooftop seating area/green space. Membership to the gym is offered to the public but offered to residents of the center at a reduced rate.

Here is a picture from the rowhouses, up the main street, all the way to Hull Street.

Here is a view of Hull Street along with high-density residential. The stadium is clearly visible with its prominent upper deck, as well as the 150' clock tower, which can be seen from much of the center and even parts of Hull Street.

Finally, here is a view of the plaza which features retail shops alongside it. Visible beyond the plaza is the stadium, with its main entrace visible from Hull Street.

Well, I hope that you enjoyed this tour. What do you think of the development?

[wrldcoupe4]

I think single family residential is too low density for this site. maybe 3-4 story mixed use residential buildings instead?