Events

Placemaking Workshop

	Denverites meet April 9, 2005 at the Tattered Cover to brainstorm creative uses for the space fronting Union Station. Photo courtesy of Diane Huntress (www.dianehuntressphoto.com).

Background

On April 9, 2005, approximately 200 Denver area citizens met to discuss possible ways to create a great public space at Union Station. The event was called a Placemaking Workshop. The all day process, facilitated by Project for Public Spaces (PPS) and hosted by Civic Results, Inc., focused on the potential uses and activities of the space between 16th and 18th along the Wynkoop Street side of the station. Friends of Union Station was one of several sponsors of the event.

Workshop Report

In August 2005, PPS published a report of the Workshop findings with their recommendations. The report is called The Rebirth of Union Station, A Vision for the Plaza. Please access the full report at The City and County of Denver website.

The following are excerpts from the report.
Please note, "---" signifies text omitted for readability and clarity of context.

Executive Summary:

The renovation of Union Station as a multi-modal transit center that will serve Denver and the region as the core of the regional transportation system, for commuters and visitors alike, may be one of the most ambitious such projects in the world.

Unlike other stations where the entrance is dominated by traffic, the plans for Union Station allow the plaza to become more than a great transit-related space; it has the potential to play a significant role as a major public space in the heart of the city.

At a Placemaking Workshop, held on April 9, 2005, participants demonstrated keen interest in the future of the plaza and strong support for transforming, even in the short term, what is now a parking lot into a vibrant public space. They envisioned an active urban square, surrounded by pedestrian-oriented streets that will become one of the principal destinations in downtown Denver.

Workshop participants envisioned a place where people can retreat, meet friends, eat a take-out lunch or read a book while waiting for a train, as well as a place with more active uses such as markets, fairs, performances and sport-related activities. The buildings surrounding the plaza should provide an active edge – a “front porch” with uses that spill out onto the plaza – from which diners and shoppers can observe or participate in the life of the plaza. The plaza space should feel like it extends across Wynkoop Street and, on weekends or for special events, the street could even be closed to traffic.

Introduction:

Background: The plaza --- has the opportunity to become more than a front door to the station. While it may still serve the important function of welcoming commuters and visitors entering and leaving the station, the plaza can also become the major public space in Lower Downtown Denver, serving local residents, shoppers, local employees and baseball fans as a center for public gatherings, cultural events and civic activities.

The Placemaking Process: The purpose of the workshop was to generate a vision for a new Union Station Plaza, both for the short-term and for the long-term when the station has been transformed into a major transit center for the Denver metropolitan region.

The workshop involved an evaluation of the “ground floor” around the station – the streets, sidewalks, parks and buildings – and how they could invite greater interaction between people and foster a healthier, more sociable community in LoDo. The workshop participants focused on brainstorming the essential elements of a great public space: activities and uses, comfort and image, sociability, and access and linkages.

The Vision for the Plaza:

Union Station has the potential to become a major destination in Denver.

Recommendations for Places: As the central square for the community, it should offer the places and activities that will draw people to it on a daily basis. PPS believes that the activities and uses described below, drawn from suggestions made at the workshop, have the potential to create these special places (see numbered elements keyed to drawings in Appendix B).

1. A Focal Point at the Entrance to the Station: Provide a focal point at the entrance to the station that also gives a strong identity to the plaza.
2. An Information Kiosk: Greet visitors with an information kiosk or welcome center offering a wide variety of services. It should provide visitors with an inviting glimpse of the natural and historic resources available in Colorado through interpretive displays, partnerships with local museums and historic reenactments.
   Retail Opportunities: Concentrate a variety of retail options on the south side of the plaza. The presence of outdoor cafes and restaurants, which are already an important attraction in LoDo, would establish a lively presence on the plaza and enhance the area as a destination for Denver residents on evenings and weekends.
3. Food Kiosk(s)
4. A Book and Newsstand Kiosk
5. Recreational Rentals: With its close proximity to the Platte River and Cherry Creek bike trails, bicycle rentals at the station would provide a retail use with a recreational flavor. In-line skates and other self-powered vehicles could also be available.
6. A Public Market/Farmers Market:
   • Participants were strongly in favor of a farmers market or public market on the plaza ---.
   • One example of a market that serves both local residential customers and commuters is the food market in Grand Central Station in New York City, which was planned to provide prepared meals and gourmet items for busy commuter. Surveys have shown that it now serves the local resident population to an even greater extent.
   • Other possibilities for markets (or fairs) include books, music, crafts, a garden show, food festivals, flea markets, etc. These could be held outside in good weather or under a heated tent in the winter.
7. An Urban Square:
   • Provide an event space or urban square at the south plaza, adjacent to the market space, that could be an open lawn with movable seating when it is not in use for a program. Programs could include:
     - Outdoor exhibitions and art fairs in the plaza would give the local museums and arts organizations increased exposure and potentially a new audience.
     - Concerts and theatrical performances could be produced here in conjunction with local performing arts companies.
     - Informal, low key entertainment, such as street performers, outdoor movies and a summer dance floor.
     - An ice skating rink in conjunction with a café.
   • Provide space for other activities around the event space that complement the programs offered there:
     - Interpretive displays focusing on Colorado and its “roots.”
     - Public art, sculpture, and water features.
     - --- comfortable sitting areas.
8. A Family Game Area: Develop an area and programs for recreational games and activities geared toward children and families at the north end of the plaza. Many of the family activities can be temporary such as regular and large-size chess, checkers, ping pong, horseshoes, bocce, a temporary netted-in driving range or batting cage, etc. Other uses could be more permanent, such as an adventure playground with a climbing wall and interactive play sculptures or water features.
9. A Garden Area: Develop garden areas at the north end of the plaza.
10. Active Building Edges: Extend the plaza to the buildings along the edges on every side of the plaza.
    • Consider ways to make the ground floor of the station a more active and friendly edge to the plaza.
    • New buildings should be designed to support the activities on the plaza.
11. Wynkoop Street – Extension of the Plaza:
    • Integrate Wynkoop Street into the plaza and make it more pedestrian friendly.
    
    - Traffic Calmed Street. One alternative is to simply “traffic calm” Wynkoop Street so that traffic moves more slowly, pedestrians feel more comfortable, and stores and restaurants begin to use the sidewalk for their business.
    • Narrowing the street and widening the sidewalks on the east side of the street to allow sidewalk cafes, book kiosks and other retail activities that engage pedestrians to occur.
    • Adding sidewalk extensions or bump-outs at key intersections and at mid-block crossings to reduce crossing widths for pedestrians.
    • Extending the plaza paving material across the street to visually expand the plaza.
    • Adding attractive consistent street lights throughout the district.
    - Flexible Street: Wynkoop Street could also be designed so that vehicular traffic can be rerouted away from the plaza allowing the street to be closed for special events or during particular times of the week, such as on weekends.
12. 17th Street – Extension of Plaza: Connect 17th Street, the neighborhood’s “Main Street”, to the Plaza. This last block of 17th Street, like Wynkoop Street, should be considered an extension of the plaza and could even be considered the plaza’s gateway.

The Station Neighborhood

The streets and neighborhood surrounding and leading to the plaza should be viewed, together with the station and plaza, as a destination. The historic neighborhood, with handsome, mid-rise buildings, pedestrian-friendly streets and active ground-floor uses, can provide the appropriate context that will contribute to the identity and success of the plaza. The following are --- important to address in thinking about the improvement of the area in general.

• Enhance Building Facades and Storefronts
• Improve the Retail Mix: If the retail had a stronger presence, --- , there would be a greater sense of activity and economic vitality in the area in general.
• Improve the Pedestrian Environment
• Preserve View Corridors: In the workshop, views of Union Station from the surrounding streets were considered important to preserve as much as possible, as well as the distant views of the mountains. Care should be taken in locating trees and vertical elements on and around the plaza so that views of the station are not obstructed.
• Reduce the Impact of Parking
• Enhance Wayfinding Signage

Appendix B Concept Plans: The following conceptual drawings show four potential settings for activities and uses on the plaza:

1. Concept Plan for Union Station Plaza: Traffic-Calmed Street
   Scheme A illustrates Wynkoop Street open at all times with two-way traffic and parking on the east side of the street. The intersections are paved in a material that is similar to the plaza paving and the curbs are extended at the corners. The new buildings are shown as per the approved zoning. ---the new buildings as shown leave less space in the central plaza area where large gatherings would take place.
   
   
   
   View enlargement of Scheme A.
   
   
2. Concept Plan for Union Station Plaza: Flexible Street
   Scheme B illustrates Wynkoop Street as a flexible street: it can be easily closed for events and the plaza will then extend across the street. The new buildings are shown narrower than in Scheme A (the approved zoning envelope), enlarging the central plaza area for large public events. A smaller setback from Wynkoop Street, however, limits activity between the buildings and the streets.
   
   
   
   View enlargement of Scheme B
   
   
3. Concept Plan for Union Station Plaza: Flexible Street with No New Development on Plaza: No new buildings are shown flanking the plaza, thus opening up the plaza from 16th to 18th Streets for large gatherings and more programming.
   
   
   
   View enlargement of Scheme C.
   
   
4. Concept Plan for Union Station Plaza: Flexible Street with Extended New Development: Scheme D illustrates the proposed buildings extending to the sidewalk with no setback from the property line.
   
   
   
   View enlargement of Scheme D.
   

Conclusion: The optimum size and shape of the central plaza area should ultimately be determined by the uses that take place there. Adding new commercial buildings on the plaza, however, will not restrict its use. Indeed, their ground floors have the potential of energizing it and complementing its uses. PPS finds that the central plaza area is sufficient in both Schemes A and B for large gatherings and programming. We prefer the narrower buildings and smaller building setback in B, however, because it creates more intimate secondary spaces off the central plaza and increases the strong, active edge around the plaza.

Please see Future Direction to learn more about Friends of Union Station's plans for the Workshop report.

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