One of the Metro station ideas presented during a Tysons Corner Metro design workshop June 4. Photo by Reena Singh.
Hands flew over tracing paper, creating colorful geometric lines that turned into streets, structures, landscapes and art.
Architects, artists, lighting designers and marketers were invited to a design workshop at the Tysons Sheraton Premiere on June 4 to find a way to make the area around the Metrorail concrete trestles a little more dressed up.
What many of them found was that it would be better to leave the trestles alone and surround the pedestrian areas with green space, elevated walkways and sculptures.
“We want it to be consistent with the vision of Tysons to enhance the guideways along the Silver Line,” said county Community Revitalization representative Barbara Byron.
Four groups were in charge of each Metro station, but she emphasized that these creations would need to be looked into further with a budget in mind before a decision was made.
“This is day one,” she said. “This is the beginning.”
The concept of a green, elevated ribbon-like walkway was a common idea in some of the designs.
“It can be a bicycle and pedestrian path that touches down at different points,” said SmithGroup JJR urban designer Merrill St. Leger, discussing ideas for the Spring Hill station. “At different points, there could be seating where there’s a view or a special moment to celebrate.”
The Greensboro Station team toyed with the idea of adding a walkway over Route 7, creating a tunnel-like effect for the major roadway.
“What is the big issue in Tysons Corner,” asked Davis Carter Scott Principal Douglas Carter. “Traffic! I know someone who was stuck in traffic today.”
He said adding retail around the station would only add more traffic to the area. Rather, he wanted to put in dense foliage in the area and illuminate the station windows with color.
“It would give Route 7 some real drama as you go along,” he said. “That’s jewelry that can be added to the guideway without damaging what’s there.”
The Tysons Station group called the station “the pulse” of the urban center.
“We’re adding a log more positive energy, I think, from the ground plan,” said CGLA Principal Bruno Carvalho.
They wanted to create a vibrating energy through colorful fiber optic elements that criss-crossed through the corridor. He said popup retail space and art studios would create a constantly changing interest point for the station.
The McLean Station group wanted to use some of the natural elements of the stations surroundings to its advantages, but also wanted to add playful elements.
“We want a painter to do something to portray that the stream is an important feature,” said Rhodeside and Harwell urban planner Meredith Judy.
The group toyed with the idea of solar panels and wind turbines to make the station as self-sufficient as possible. Additionally, nostalgic sculptures made with crushed cars and car parts - like a pyramid of tires - would symbolize the decline of personal vehicles due to the Silver Line.
“It’s becoming a community movement to implement beautification at the metro,” said Tysons Partnership Executive Director Michael Caplin. “Properly done, it can become another magnet for Tysons.”