“Dear PoPville,
My colleagues and I were wondering if there’s more information about the deck over project at Dupont Circle that’s about to start soon (our office is right on Connecticut Ave. and will overlook the construction, so we are curious).
The plans from DDOT show no trees slated for the plaza,
but the renderings show vague trees in planters and a sea of pavers with no real integrated designs for seating (besides flimsy cafe furniture) or other parts of civic life (why not a bandstand?). Is there a landscape architect associated with this project? If so, who? Why is there a big hole in the middle of the plan down to view the traffic from above (why would anyone want that)?
The project is a great opportunity to activate the urban space north of the circle for pedestrians, but right now the designs are pretty underwhelming. Based on the current plans, it seems like the streetscape proposal is a bit of a missed opportunity for excellent design that’s a value-add, not just neutral / bland. Thinking of cool projects like this in Copenhagen or even DC’s own Franklin Square which got a recent upgrade.”