Posts by Neil Flanagan — Contributor
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Residential on top of the MLK library just doesn’t work
The DC Public Library considered adding three floors of housing on top of the Martin Luther King, Jr. library, but recently backed off. Preservation concerns and opposition from activists were part of the reason, but the real issue was that the finances didn’t work. Keep reading…
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The Air and Space Museum needs a new skin
In the four decades after it opened, the National Air and Space Museum has become one of Washington’s most well-loved attractions. Its building hasn’t aged so well. The window walls are outdated, skylights leak, the mechanical systems are dying, and the terraces are leaking into the basement car storage. But much worse than that, the stones that clad the building… Keep reading…
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The Kennedy Center is isolated from the rest of DC, but it can’t fix the problem by itself
The Kennedy Center is getting a great addition, but the design throws a spotlight on the institution’s physical isolation from the rest of the city. Keep reading…
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New density will change the face of upper Northwest
Despite some bruising battles in Upper Northwest, big changes are underway. Over the next two years, a large number of residential buildings that are opening may change the area’s politics for good. Upper Northwest has a reputation for being full of people who hate new buildings, are suspicious of cyclists, and worry that students will die chasing ping-pong balls… Keep reading…
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In some DC neighborhood commission races, urbanism, walkability, and growth are the issues
Advisory Neighborhood Commissions (ANCs) in many DC neighborhoods have a reputation for just being obstacles to any change, but that’s not always true. In many parts of the District, ANCs have been a positive force for steps to improve communities. Will this election bring representatives who would continue or arrest those trends? Each ANC covers one or a few neighborhoods… Keep reading…
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The 11th Street Bridge Park gets a brilliant design. Will it succeed?
The organizers behind the 11th Street Bridge Park have picked a design that could be the city’s most brilliant piece of architecture in decades. Now comes the hard part: making this vision work in a spot surrounded by water rather than homes and businesses. Keep reading…
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Intelsat building gets a greener, but not more urban front
The former headquarters of Intelsat, a space-age building on Connecticut Avenue near the Van Ness Metro, will get a new entrance. The change will soften a harsh corner, but it won’t fully repair this non-urban building’s relationship to the street. Keep reading…
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Gehry trims Eisenhower Memorial tapestries
Architect Frank Gehry and the National Capital Planning Commission continue to tweak designs for the proposed Eisenhower Memorial. The latest change removes two of the three metal tapestries that had largely defined the original proposal. Keep reading…
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This federal building is missing a corner. Here’s why
The Department of Agriculture South Building an archetypal federal building: big, beige, and boxy. But it’s missing a corner. Why? The L’Enfant Plan and a street that no longer exists. Keep reading…
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Farming will replace parking on the Mall
What’s now an ad hoc landscape of parking lots and scruffy lawns could transform into the latest attraction on the National Mall. The US Department of Agriculture is planning to convert its grounds into an outdoor museum of cultivation. Keep reading…