DC of The Future
27 04 2009We aren’t saying it would be a good thing to eradicated the height restrictions for the District, but it sure is fun to see how an alternate future might look. Commenter John brought our attention to this stunning piece of work by artist James Clyne. We like how the inner core of the National Mall is completely unaltered, what do you think?
[Rendering: James Clyne]
Here’s the direct URL to that picture (took a while to find it!):
http://www.jamesclyne.com/image.php?gallery_id=282&art_id=3309
BTW, this from the same movie (Minority Report) is one of my favorite sci-fi vehicles of all time:
http://www.jamesclyne.com/image.php?gallery_id=282&art_id=3313
I totally want one of those (though I’d settle for the jetpack)!
Not that the image looks good to me, but we do need to lift the height restriction outside of the federal core or whatever you want to call it.
@Vik - What in the world could be your justification for lifting the height restrictions? They have helped define our city not to mention the numerous benefits of encouraging responsible density growth of the core of our city.
Fantastic! When can they start?
I assume the flying cars will replace Metro, whose Board I’m sure will be that afternoon proposing a resolution to study a plan to consider a measure that might lengthen trains to 8 cars throughout the system by 2060….
Looks great from the top view, but the view from the actual visitor to the mall would be awful. the whole point of the mall is to allow one to focus on the momunent, memorials and grand axes/vistas. Surrounding them with towers would destroy it all.
Looks very cool albeit dystopian.
Vik, I agree about the height moratorium although I don’t think we need 60 story buildings here.
Steven Sorrel, you’re are bing facitious I hope?
Hideous.
Personally, I’d like to see the ban lifted purely from a growth standpoint. I don’t want to see “downtown” spread out so far in the distant future. I like the mix that we have with lowrise and rowhome residential neighborhoods that are close to the action. Also, I’d like to see prices for housing come down in the city. I think concentrating more people downtown and along certain corridors, even within DC is the best way to go. I think certain areas, like out near Nats Park would have been a good place for highrises for example. And I’m also aware that there’s plenty of space before we are truly built out and short on supply of residential units. It all depends on implementation, I’d never want it as tacky as that future pic.
But, it’s just a preference. No need to get hysterical about it. MoCo and Arlington/Alexandria are better candidates to push up the height limits right now though.
I hope people read into my comment the sarcasm I had intended. And as a PS, I’d really urge DC Metrocentric to link all of its photos to the original source, so readers like Sean don’t have to go looking.
By the way, the original DCM post discussed a concept to build dense, high-rise development on Roosevelt Island. However, Clyne’s future DC keeps almost the entire “monumental core” reasonably low-rise, and his Roosevelt Island remains pristine:
See http://www.jamesclyne.com/image.php?gallery_id=282&art_id=3310
HAHA! Riiight. Like all the skyscrapers would be 4 or 5 times as tall as the Washington Monument. As a new urbanist, I am in favor of lifting the ban except for a radius around the mall. But the fears of a Chicago or Manhattanization of D.C. are misplaced. Except for a random skyscraper here and there, the era of the massive skyscraper in the West is over. We’re over it. The petrostates and the far east do that stuff now.
Hey John, since the link to the photo was already in your comment we figured that was enough, plus the artist James Clyne, who we spoke with, asked the link go to his home page.
But isn’t a little photo safari fun sometimes?
exactly why we have height restrictions and should fight to keep them.
Lifting the height restriction anywhere in DC is not a wise idea. It’s a persistent myth that cities must be tall in order to be dense. Towers are only built in response to extreme situations of economic concentration, and DC doesn’t have nearly enough to justify anything more than a few limpid ego projects. I’ve written more at length here. t
Vik, if you want to preserve the density of townhouse neighborhoods, I’m all for that. If you want to preserve the density of the Palisades, then I think you need to reconsider the social and economic costs of all that commuting between what are basically suburbs or office parks. I don’t think there have to be buildings higher than 5-7 stories, which are quite comfortable and still let in more than enough light for trees. Add some 10-14 story buildings around major transit routes, and that’s all anywhere ever needs to go.
Furthermore, the architect/sociologist Oscar Newman has shown the concentration of poverty is the most consistent factor for an increased crime and murder rate. Keeping densities in the middle range and mixing incomes is the most surefire way, he argues, to keep low-income neighborhoods safe and stable, even reducing the high school dropout rate.
Forget the height restrictions - I’m impressed with the rotation of the city to have the sun set in today’s south!
ugly AND frightening. Not to mention the shadows of the fantasy structures enroaching.
Jason, it’s not setting in the South, it’s rising.
Seriously, if you squint past the dystopic highrises, what I really like about this photo is how it emphasizes the fact that the Capitol Hill neighborhoods all the way out to Hill East really want to be river communities.
Let’s get the Barrack’s Row organization to start lobbying the US Navy for a bike/walk path at the bottom of 8th Street down to the water. On Nats game days, the cool kids will know you don’t park by the stadium–you park under the overpass at 8th Street, enjoy a Barrack’s Row restaurant meal, then stroll down 8th Street through the Navy Yard walkway to Ray Mabus Point on the water, then turn right and stroll 6-7 blocks through the park along the river to the stadium.
Ray Mabus Point–our generation’s gift to Capitol Hill.
No one commented on how the seat of Congress has been turned into a giant phallus. Perhaps it goes without saying?