The corner of 5th an Court is an exciting opportunity in Des Moines urban space.  At the same time, it should serve as a gathering place, an urban marker, identify the entry to the district + be deferential to Courthouse.

All of these goals for the articulation of the corner of a building can be tough to integrate into one urban space + one architectural idea.  All design tells a story + speaks to the people that interact with it.  We must always set our goals for design with intention, purpose + authenticity.

URBAN WAY-FINDING

Our new public Pocket Plaza space at the SE corner of 5th and Court will be an integral part of the way-finding network downtown with the completion of our Beacon.  The Beacon will be a vertical, internally-lit, passive cooling tower cloaked in art.  The tower will serve as a prominent urban marker seen on 5th from the north and south.  Pedestrians walking in the area will easily perceive this as the entry + identity to the west end of the Court Avenue District.

CAS 420 is an opportunity to step into the SSA ‘war room’ where urban diagrams, placemaking ideas + urban living drove the design for our submission to the City of Des Moines for the project located at 420 Court Avenue.  Hubbell Realty Company, Slingshot Architecture + Reynolds Urban Design teamed up to propose a thoughtful solution derived from a regionalist connection.  Please comment + share with your friends.

One critical question for the 420 Court site:  What is the correct solution for inserting new architecture into the urban fabric of Court Avenue?

COURT AVENUE BASIS

The masonry buildings of court avenue establish a scale + character that defines the street.  Each building facade on court avenue is subtle + unique while completely deferring prominence to the courthouse.  The hierarchy Court Avenue as an urban space is defined by the axial termination at the courthouse.  Every farmer’s market image is identifiable to Des Moines when the courthouse is in the frame.

Starting with 100 Court to the east, the historical precedent of massing patterning along Court Avenue is quarter block buildings + alley ways.  The 2008 development at the SE intersection of 4th street and Court Avenue recognized and executed this pattern.  Our design continues this pattern along Court Avenue + also acknowledges the horizontal datum first established by the Spaghetti Works building, continued in the 2008 development + further continued in our design solution.

It is key in the design of 420 Court Avenue to interact with the historic rhythm + character of the street.  The quarter-block elevations that face Court Avenue are key to infilling the block.  A full block elevation would throw off the rhythm + hierarchy currently present in the street.  We chose to develop two masonry masses that face the street + establish aperture in ways that tie back to the other historic buildings on the street.  The balcony slots (that also conceal mechanical louvers) + the shifting out of the corner facing the courthouse are more modern moves that will add to the identity of this building in a subtle way that does not compete with the prominence of the courthouse.

Historic Courthouse View

Existing Courthouse View

Proposed Courthouse View

CAS 420 is an opportunity to step into the SSA ‘war room’ where urban diagrams, placemaking ideas + urban living drove the design for our submission to the City of Des Moines for the project located at 420 Court Avenue.  Hubbell Realty Company, Slingshot Architecture + Reynolds Urban Design teamed up to propose a thoughtful solution derived from a regionalist connection.  Please comment + share with your friends.

Urban design/planning impacts quality of life for 100 to 200 years.
Architecture impacts for 50 to 100 years.
Program impacts for 10 to 20 years.

– Dennis Reynolds

You may have seen images of projects in the news from the developer proposals for 420 Court Avenue in Des Moines.  One of our more publicized images from our Court Avenue Station concept features lit glass “Beacon” marking the start of Court Avenue in the context of the future Walnut Street Retail District + 5th Street North/South circulation.  Beyond attractive urban solutions, we think there are many very important reasons + purposes that inform the ideas our team proposed.  So here is the money shot (above), but let’s start at the beginning to see where the ideas originate.  Each day over the next week we’ll feature a new blog post in the series titled : CAS 420 (like a college course, but with more urban design fun!).

The Court Entertainment District is already a vibrant urban space in our city (home to great public events including the farmer’s market), so how should the current entertainment + residential zones engage + build upon each other?

URBAN ZONING

The best way to develop + maintain a stable + healthy entertainment district is to have plenty of connected residential units that take ownership of the district + feed a more responsible user group into the district.  Entertainment districts that lack their own built in residential component struggle with questions of “who’s district is it?” and “will people act responsibly?”.

Critical to the success of our 420 project is how we support + strengthen the existing residences on 4th street + the historic Depot.  Currently there is one side of a walkable residential neighborhood street along 4th between Court and the railroad.  The proposed design will enhance + complete this by providing additional walk up residences on 4th + also by locating the main parking garage new entrance off of 5th.  In order to properly respect, enjoy + engage the historic Depot to the south, our design creates a pedestrian-scale, single lane, neighborhood street which will promote balanced activity between the depot + new residences.

Existing Neighborhood Street

Proposed Neighborhood Street

We believe that completing this neighborhood street will stitch together the urban fabric at the south end of the block.  The scale and proportion of the walkable street need to build off of the 4th Street Condos across the street.  When we met with the SoCo condo association, they were excited to add on to their neighborhood experience + hoped that for-sale product could also work on the west side of the street.  Though market conditions are currently unfavorable for condo development, our solution incorporates 2 story walk up units at the ground level on 4th street which will be well suited to convert to a condo regime once the market shifts in favor of for-sale product.  We strive to get these big picture urban moves right so the the fabric of our city benefits for 100 to 200 years.

Urban design/planning decisions impact quality of life for 100 to 200 years…building/architecture decisions impact for 50 to 100 years…program decisions impact for 10 to 20 years.  Make good urban design decisions first, then look to architecture and program.

– Dennis Reynolds, Reynolds Urban Design

CAS 420 is an opportunity to step into the SSA ‘war room’ where urban diagrams, placemaking ideas + urban living drove the design for our submission to the City of Des Moines for the project located at 420 Court Avenue.  Hubbell Realty Company, Slingshot Architecture + Reynolds Urban Design teamed up to propose a thoughtful solution derived from a regionalist connection.  Please comment + share with your friends.