4.163 - Urban Design: D.C. Studio | Profs. John de Monchaux, Eran Ben-Joseph, Julian Beinart
With Basak Demires, Kavita Srinivasan, Pablo Rivera, and Yan Zhang
In 2000, the Fall Urban Design Studio at MIT's School of Architecture and Planning examined the future of the Southwest quadrant of Washington, D.C. This studio addressed issues of urban design and planning in this part of the nation's capital, and it published a book at its conclusion outlining its proposals for the future of Southwest.
Southwest D.C. is an economically poor area, but with a great deal of potential. My group focused on the center of Southwest, around Delaware Avenue. Our proposals, outlined in the four phases above, attempted to improve on the existing buildings and streets, without any major overhaul. The emphasis was on re-knitting the urban fabric and bringing back a sense of community to an area that had once been vital, some fifty years ago.
Click here to see the book published by the studio. Caution: 1.5 MB .pdf file.