Urban Design Committee

Serves as a forum for the exchange of ideas on Urban Design and architecture. Helps the public and private sectors deal with change brought about by Baltimore's renaissance. 

Baltimore Red Line: Connecting the Dots

The mere words infrastructure or transportation were wallflowers for decades, uttered only by policy wonks. Reducing congestion was the operative order and everyone knew how this was to be done: Build more and wider roads. This symbiotic alliance between car and road got whacked at least three times in recent years: first by abruptly higher gas prices, then by the recession, and then by the troubles of one after the other leading car brands worldwide.

In 2010, there are new slogans and new topics: high speed rail, transit, and TOD are terms that come over many lips easily right along with the words transportation, infrastructure and green economy.

Maryland is well-positioned in this shift of priorities. It has three “New-Starts” projects lined up, all three transit projects with about 50% federal funding share. Two projects fall into DC metro area (the Purple Line and the Corridor Cities Transit Way); one is planned right here in Baltimore: The $1.6 billion Red Line, a new light rail line, will run in a tunnel like a subway line under hilly Cooks Lane, congested downtown and under the narrow streets of Fells Point and on the surface in the rest of its 14-mile alignment from Woodlawn on the west to Hopkins Bayview campus on the east.

The line will connect employment centers such as the Social Security Headquarters in Woodlawn, downtown Baltimore or the Johns Hopkins Bayview Center with established, emerging and new residential neighborhoods and the growing list of downtown attractions. Most importantly, the Red Line will connect to the existing rail transit (Metro, MARC and Light Rail) in such a manner that all these can grow together as a true system.

Ridership estimates predict more than 50,000 riders a day which would match the ridership of the Baltimore Metro. And for the first time the planning of a new transit line here does not happen in isolation: MTA, the City of Baltimore and Baltimore County have joined together to make sure that this transit investment leverages improvements for the communities and neighborhoods along the line. A Community Compact was created and signed by over 70 institutions and organizations as a systematic effort of ensuring that this time around the transit line will not run through disinvested areas without bringing about progress or through affluent areas without having a stop. The Compact will also see to it that the transit line will be built utilizing the greenest technologies available.

With Cho, Wilks and Benn, I was a part of the 1990 design team for the existing light rail line and now with ArchPlan, I can apply the lessons learned. The architects’ involvement in this huge multidisciplinary planning and design effort goes beyond designing station shelters or subway “headhouses” on top of escalators. In 1990, land use and transit integration was still cutting edge and mostly practiced in Portland, Oregon. By 2010, this has become a central requirement of the Federal Transit Administration and, just recently, this connection was further emphasized by the Obama administration. Architects, urban designers and planners thus have a greater role to play and are looking way beyond the actual transit line to ensure that the entire area around each of the stations becomes transit supportive and fulfills the requirements of what is now known as “transit oriented development.” A community-based comprehensive station area planning effort is about to begin providing an ongoing opportunity for the community and stakeholders to have a strong voice. Transit today is much more than moving people, it is an important element of connecting the dots on the way to a sustainable city, as well as a sustainable and green future.

Klaus Philipsen, AIA, LEED AP, ArchPlan Inc.
Co-chairperson AIABaltimore Urban Design Committee

The Red Line by Numbers:

AIABaltimore has long believed that "Design Matters". We are now actively participating in an interdisciplinary approach towards the creation of a Baltimore Design Center. See what is happening and participate at : 

D: center Baltimore

Transform BALTIMORE: The AIA Perspective

Background and Main Procedural Changes:

The Urban Design Committee of AIABaltimore has promoted better zoning for many years. We have organized and attended public meetings and participate in the Zoning Action Committee (ZAC). The following is a synopsis of our comments sent to the City in response to their Preliminary Annotated Outline

As professionals concerned with the city’s physical character and form, we believe the rewrite of the City’s zoning ordinance is an opportunity to create a strong tool to encourage the desired patterns of development, to reinforce the place-making elements that define many of our existing neighborhoods, and to ensure new developments make equally good places. We consider transparency, predictability and efficiency good guiding principles for the new administrative procedures.

The proposed elimination of BMZA approvals for small infractions provides added efficiency and clearly defined acceptable ranges for minor variances.

Even with a new code the planned unit development (PUD) process remains important to promote innovative development that could not happen under standard zoning. We support efforts to streamline the PUD process by eliminating redundant steps which might make this process more equitable to developers. Requiring public amenities and benefits in exchange provides a balance for the community.

The proposed incorporation of site plan review procedures into the zoning ordinance will help to bring clarity and predictability to the process. We agree that the site plan review should address five major elements: land use, on-site and off-site circulation, utilities, public safety and public health and design character. Thus, the city can uphold urban design principles from the beginning. The Site Plan Review Committee (SPRC) should include representation from a design professional that understands the context and character of the site. SPRC and UDARP need to be a clearly delineated and objectives and outcomes clearly defined for each review.

Form Based Zoning:

The Urban Design Committee feels there still is insufficient information regarding how form-based regulations or urban design principals will be applied to the future zoning code. Based on the many educational sessions concerning form-based codes we expected more references to form-based regulations and design standards in the preliminary outline. We hope the amount of attention currently dedicated to use regulations is not an indication that form-based principles take once again a back seat to use.

Preservation and areas of stability: It will be necessary to carefully establish regulations to support the character of existing neighborhoods and secondly, verify the compatibility of these proposed regulations with their corresponding mapped districts.

Areas of change: More attention may be needed to address future density, growth, and their necessary urban characteristics. The City of Denver created a “blueprint”, a citizen-driven plan to guide the writing of their proposed form based code. Baltimore is not undergoing a similar process of visioning, which we consider essential to inform the zoning code. While codifying existing conditions may be all that is needed for preserving existing neighborhoods and historic districts, it would not suffice to direct change and new urban form for a city which is still in the process of redefining itself. A simple approach may be to delineate areas of change and growth from areas of stability or preservation and create blueprints for the growth districts, and then codify the visions into form-based code

The Comprehensive Plan indicates areas for growth, such as TOD areas, but does not provide a vision for the form and character of these places nor does it guide how much growth should occur and where it would be most desirable. .

All pieces need to add up to a convincing sum total. The new code needs to identify goals and tools for an overarching and connective physical urban condition including views, massing, corridors, open spaces and circulation.

Matthew Fitzsimmons, Associate AIA,  Klaus Philipsen, AIA.  •  ZAC Contact: Lee Driskill, AIA