|
Invitation to All Atherton Residents
Help Choose Architect for New Town Center Project |
|
Dear Atherton Neighbor,
Two "conceptual" drawings of a proposed new Town Center -- Police Department, Administration, Building and Public Works building -- have been created for us at no cost by two award-winning architecture firms: Nichols Melburg & Rossetto and Siegel & Strain.
The conceptual drawings are posted in the Town Council Chambers and will remain up until the end of the year for you to view.
Or, you can go to the Town's website: www.ci.atherton.ca.us and click on the "Town Center Task Force" link to view the Conceptual Drawing presentations.
The Town Center Task Force has created a scoring Matrix to evaluate which firm will be recommended to Council for approval at the January 2011 council meeting.
Complete the scoring MATRIX below and return to the Town's City Clerk to voice your opinion on which architect you think understands the needs and vision of our Town.
Please see more details below:
|
|
MATRIX FOR CONCEPTUAL DESIGN PHASE
Quality Weight .000 .25 .50 .75 .80 1.00
DESIGN PHASE GUIDELINES: VALUE ASSIGNED
1) SITE PLANS 15
Building(s), Parking, Landscape & Traffic on Property
2) MASSING 15
Actual Shape, Height, Configuration of Building(s)
3) ELEVATIONS 15
The Exterior Look of the Building(s)
4) CONCEPT IN THREE DIMENSIONS 10
5) COMMENTARY 45
a) VISION = 15 points
Architect's ability to articulate present/future needs
b) PROCESS AND PUBLIC OUTREACH = 30 POINTS
Ability to Listen and incorporate Public Comments
_________________________________________________________________________
TOTAL POINTS 100 |
|
We hope you will take a moment to participate in this very important -- once-in-a-lifetime -- opportunity of helping create Atherton's new civic buildings. The TCTF will be making its recommendation to Council at the January 18, 2011 meeting.
Please accept our apologies for any duplication of emails being sent to you. There are several lists being used to get this message out to everyone in Atherton and you may be on more than one list.
Sincerely yours,
Elizabeth Lewis
TCTF Chair and Atherton Town Council Member
650-533-8830 cell phone
lizlew08@gmail.com
|
|
|
|
[Posted from message forwarded to Councilmember Lewis. This message contained diagram formats that did not come through.]
ReplyDeleteDear Ms Lewis,
I welcome your request for public comment on the selection of an architectural firm to design a new town center. Considering that the two firms included different town departments in their proposals it seems that they were not given the same instructions. Also the committee apparently asked them to ignore the elephant in the room, the high speed railway. Perhaps the committee also instructed them to not abandoning the present council chamber even though the building constitutes an earthquake hazard. Without information about the instructions given these companies and how those instructions differ, their specific proposals which represent 55% of your evaluation cannot be properly assessed. An evaluation can only be made of vision and process, and only Siegel & Strain addresses these matters.
Without knowing if the new building is going to be facing a 20 foot berm, or if a portion of the site is going to become railroad right of way, or knowing if there will even be a train station with its associated parking requirements, an interim plan is needed. Any general plan may turn out to be impractical to implement unless it can be designed around these uncertainties.
A parting thought: The railway is not going away. Why not consider integrating the railway station and parking and town center design instead of pretending that the railroad does not exist? The new building could face away from the railroad instead of toward it thereby providing attractive facilities required for a train station and more importantly improving the size and attractiveness of the public space in front of the building. Note that neither architectural firm dared to show the less than ideal scenes in which the railroad could be seen. See attachment for a rough and very incomplete illustration of this idea based on the Siegel & Strain plan.
Sincerely
Ted Ullman