Historic post preservation: the Ronald Reagan Building
[Autoposted while I’m in France]
Three years ago, I was in DC for a conference at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. Here’s what I wrote:
Five Things Not To Do When Building A Convention Center
1. Surround your building with an imposing stone facade that completely isolates it from the nearby street. Place no cafes or other businesses on the street, no places to sit, or anything to engage pedestrians.
2. Place doors at frequent intervals along the exterior, but then lock almost all of them.
3. Make your building extremely confusing to navigate.
4. Fill your building with large marble rooms that are completely devoid of furniture, forcing people to sit on the stairs or marble ledges.
They can afford this funky neon stuff, but apparently not any benches
for the people sitting at the right.
5. Name your building after Ronald Reagan.
If you follow these simple steps, you too can have as wonderful a conference center as the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, DC!
This building is still just as awful. Recently I was down at the Wilson Building, and wanted to get some food. There are big signs that say “FOOD COURT” up on the street, in a clear attempt to try to get people to go to their food court. But (unless I was being totally blind, and I don’t think I was), once you get into the main area, there’s no sign saying where the food actually is. I think it’s down in that well, but then there are still no signs, and instead are forbidding metal detector-guarded entrances. I ended up giving up and walking up to eat on F Street.
Many DC buildings do it, but putting food in the center of a building is not the way to go. When stores are along the street, people can walk around and find something they like. When they’re buried, even with big signs, it can work okay for people who work in the area every day, but prevents lively street activity and is extremely frustrating for the casual visitor.