A plan to rework the legacy infrastructure that plagues D.C.?s John F. Kennedy Center.
By Stassa Edwards
An aerial rendering of the National Capital Planning Commission?s design vision. Courtesy of Dariushwatercolors.com.
The John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., is usually photographed from its ?good? side. That side sits along the Potomac River, and its glowing, modernist architecture gives the impression of an island of culture, placidly surrounded by nature. But that image is deceptive. The street-facing entrance of the Kennedy Center is a chaotic jumble of traffic as Interstate 66, a multilane highway, runs almost directly in front of the building, severing it from the city?s nearby neighborhoods, including the National Mall and the monumental core. Visitors to the Kennedy Center can see it, but ?walking there on foot is nearly impossible, and it?s incredibly unsafe,? says Marc Gazda, a manager at the Urban Land Institute?s Washington district council (ULI Washington). A recent report from ULI Washington, the Kennedy Center Cultural District Land Use Action Plan, outlines how to rethink the area, reconnecting the Kennedy Center with its surrounding neighborhoods and making it part of the legible visual storytelling that defines the National Mall. That includes making the area more accessible to pedestrians and cyclists, reconfiguring I-66, providing the Kennedy Center (and other major buildings such as the U.S. Department of State) a ?front door? by establishing ...