Monday, November 29, 2010

veterans plaza = silver spring's high line?

What does downtown Silver Spring's Veterans Plaza and the High Line in New York have in common? I was looking through my photos yesterday and I noticed one big similarity:

Tables and Skaters, Veterans Plaza


Tables And Chairs On High Line


I don't know if there's some big street-furniture company that manufactures green tables and chairs, but clearly they must get a lot of business. So the next time you're enjoying the sweet, sanitized sound of silence in Veterans Plaza, imagine yourself instead on the gritty-but-gentrifying streets of New York's Meatpacking District.

4 comments:

perrik said...

Hey Dan -

I saw this article and immediately thought of you: http://www.smartplanet.com/business/blog/smart-takes/lost-in-a-building-design-can-affect-your-cognitive-map/12572/

(the original journal article is in the October 2010 issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science - I was able to access it through SAGE Online via my university's online library)

I've noticed a similar problem with architecturally "interesting" public spaces that are hard to navigate. I tend to navigate by landmarks, and get a bit befuddled in spaces that are low on both landmarks and signage. A decade ago, I spent a couple days in Toronto's underground walkway (PATH). It has probably changed since then, but at the time there were few landmarks and not a lot of signage. I spent most of that vacation lost!

Generic green patio furniture doesn't help! I've seen those same chairs and tables everywhere.

WashingtonGardener said...

Both of these site designers copycated Bryant Park - see http://www.ny-photos.com/images/bryant_park/goethe_9855_550wm.jpg
no surprise, google Bryant Park and man of the references are about its tremendous success as a public space

WashingtonGardener said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Yeah. Looks like they are the trend? There are a lot of nice patio furniture that could be used instead of these sets. They would be beautiful and attractive too for patrons. Most probably, they gave discount for those green sets, thus the choice for them.