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<br />.:w PI~lI1llill~ Nnvemh~r 1004
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<br />
<br />A m'w mixed-uS!!
<br />delJeLopmertt at
<br />Cdifol7li'J S
<br />Pleasallt HiLL
<br />BAR T sttltion,
<br />noz.l1 under ZUt';y, ]
<br />will replaa a 20- ;
<br />acre pm'hi/ig lot ~
<br />with office, retail, ~
<br />/"esid.entiaL, and
<br />recreational uses. -
<br />
<br />ences to building style, fearing that roo much
<br />specificity will lead to an overly homoge-
<br />neous, "themed" look.
<br />
<br />A Iittlt' hi~lor)'
<br />While the term form-based coding has only
<br />. recently emerged, the technique has been used
<br />for over 20 years. Andres Duany's Miami
<br />firm, Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company, first
<br />applied the approach in its 1982 code for
<br />Seaside, the highly publicized coastal resort
<br />town on Florida's panhandle.
<br />The firm's principals, Duany and his wife,
<br />Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, initially set Out to
<br />design all the rown' s buildings themselves.
<br />But once the true scale of the project became
<br />evident, they realized that such a high level of
<br />design comrol would not be possible, or even
<br />desirable. Instead, they handed off the design
<br />responsibility to the lot purchasers, or their
<br />architects. That decision led to a new challenge
<br />-fInding a way ro impart a distinctive charac-
<br />ter to specific areas within the development.
<br />On study trips to historic Southern com-
<br />munities, the design ream saw that certain
<br />building types tended to dominate in cer-
<br />tain parts of a town: shopfroms on the main
<br />square, rowhouses on side streets, and man-
<br />sions flanking Main Street just beyond the
<br />edges of the downtown. The team also noted
<br />that, while building types were fairly consis-
<br />.em in a given area, there was always enough
<br />'ariety within the design of each building to
<br />avoid a cookie-currer look.
<br />The first Seaside code established a hierar-
<br />chy of seven (bter expanded to eight) "classes"
<br />of buildings for use in the new communi!")"
<br />Each class was based on a traditional Southern
<br />vernacular building tnoe. Tbe cude specitled
<br />
<br />the rudimentary physical characteristics of
<br />each class, controlling siting on the lot, build-
<br />ing height, location of porches and outbuild-
<br />ings, and bow parking should be handled.
<br />The code progressed through a number of
<br />iterations, achieving its near-final form dur-
<br />ing an on-site design charette in 1981. Shortly
<br />after that event, several architecture profes-
<br />sors at Washington, D.C.'s Catholic Univer-
<br />si!")' conducted a test of the code. They asked
<br />140 students to design and build models of
<br />every building included in the 80-acre master
<br />plan according to the rules set forth in the
<br />code. The students then combined their indi.
<br />vidual creations intO a 16-foot-long compos-
<br />ite model of the communi!")"
<br />Looking at the finished product, one could
<br />easily envision the town's streets and public
<br />spaces. The model also assumed an important
<br />diagnostic role. Recognizing the tendency of
<br />architecture students to push the design of
<br />each building to its limits, the code's creators
<br />were able ro idemify and fix a number of
<br />potential regulatOry problems before tbe code
<br />was formally adopted.
<br />After the firm's experience at Seaside, Duany
<br />Plater-Zyberk adapted form-based codes to
<br />work within the legal framework of a planned-
<br />unit development. The Kentlands in
<br />Gaithersburg, Maryland, is one early example
<br />of that application. Since 1989, when its plan
<br />and code were created in a highly publicized
<br />charene, DPZ has crafted similar documents
<br />to regulate the buildout of over 200 new and
<br />existing communities.
<br />
<br />Br'oadl'uing nw ("in,I('
<br />Other urban designers bave since used form-
<br />based codes in a wide "arien' of projeCts and
<br />
<br />locations. In 1999, Dover, Kohl & Partners
<br />of South Miami, working in collaboration
<br />with DPZ, prepared a master plan and form-
<br />based developm.ent ordinance for a new down-
<br />town for Kendall, an edge city just south of
<br />Miami. The 240-acre project site is adjacent
<br />ro two commuter rail stations and a state
<br />highway.
<br />Since the adoption of the ordinance, an
<br />estimated $250 million in new construction
<br />permits have been issued. Some 3,400 new
<br />dwelling units, most in high-rise buildings
<br />(up to 25 stories), are now under construction
<br />in an area that previously had no residential
<br />population at all. 'V;Thile tbe recent wave of
<br />construction in Kendall was foreseen well
<br />before the code was adopted, many credit the
<br />regulations with helping the community ro
<br />achieve a true downtown development pat-
<br />tern rather than ~he patchwork !")'pical of
<br />booming suburban areas.
<br />On the East Coast, Dover Kohl and Ferrell
<br />Madden Associates of Washing ron, D.C., con-
<br />ducted an eight-day charette that resulted in
<br />the adoption in February 2003 of a plan and
<br />form-based code for the Columbia Pike Cor-
<br />ridor in Arlingron, Virginia. That wotk fo-
<br />cused on the detailed design of four mixed.
<br />use centers along a 3.5-mile section of the
<br />hisroric corridor, which is minutes away from
<br />the Pentagon and downtown Washington.
<br />A year later, Arlingron Coun!")T planners
<br />approved Columbia Station, a mixed-use de-
<br />veJopmem consisting of 257 housing units
<br />above 42,000 square feet of street-froming
<br />retail. Future plans c..'1.1l for the integration of
<br />bus rapid transit or light rail along the corridor.
<br />Geoffre,' Ferrell of Ferrell !\hdden was also
<br />responsible for [he form-based coding of a
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