Beauty vs. Barricades
14 04 2009How can Washington, D.C. balance the need for security with accessibility, transparency, and aesthetics in its buildings? It is a big question that has huge impacts on developments all over our city. For us the ATF Headquarters building in NoMa is the most egregious offender and there has to be some type of middle ground where safety and aesthetics can meet.
In a recent Boston Globe article on the subject, Robert Campbell, an architecture critic, wrote “Dealing with security, with the threat of terrorism, is now an obsession in Washington, not only at the Capitol. Sometimes it’s done well. Landscape architect Laurie Olin, for example, has created a low car-bomb barrier that entirely circles the Washington Monument, but you never notice it because it also serves as a comfortable dark granite seating bench. And at the National Museum of the American Indian, vehicles are blocked at one corner by a handsome sculptural pile of ‘grandfather rocks’…that are an improvement on Jersey barriers and steel bollards.”
However even with the success of some projects, even the simplest option of replacing those ugly concrete Jersey barriers with more permanent decorative and functional pylons hasn’t been done in many areas (like the Jefferson above). So what’s the answer? Where is the happy medium? Any other sites around town that you think addresses the issue particularly well? or poorly?
If you are interested in hearing more from Campbell, he will be speaking today, April 14th at 6:30 at the National Building Museum on the subject.
[Photo: Mr. T in DC]
I actually like the ATF building. It’s almost like looking at tactical gear for a building.
Roy, really? To me it screams “Just TRY to crash an airplane into this building!”
I gotta go with Roy on this one. I live a few blocks from it and I really like it. It’s something different than the standard glass box you see all over town. I think it will fit in better once that NY/FL area is built up.
i agree as well. at first glance, it’s a bit jarring, but it grows on you after a while. the same architect is currently bldg the institute of peace, which promises to be another… “funky” bldg.
Yeah, gotta say I like the ATF building too! I think it has to do with it being “different”. In any case, it is a million times better than the Jersey barriers on the Jefferson. If we had gotten that stimulus $$ for the Mall, maybe all of this could have been addressed.
The ATF Building looks like a bunker - I hope they plant vines and ivy to cover the circular front part.
I’m glad to learn that I’m not the only person who doesn’t think the ATF building is as bad as some people scream about. It does take some getting used to, and there are details you don’t notice at first glance.