Please join us in person for a member-driven workshop that follows on last month’s presentation by Elisa Mikiten and Ryan Call (Urban Field Studio) exploring New Development and Street Level Design Approaches.

Our objective will be to discuss appropriate guidance to the city as the corridor plans are developed.  From the October meeting we identified “best practices”, focusing on streetscape improvements (and advocating for a streetscape standards and plan) and providing examples of good streetscape.  The discussion also considered the overall scope of ground floor retail, with an acknowledgement that a retail nodes approach has potential, and consider where that approach is warranted versus those corridors where retail can/may/could be continuous.  

Our outcomes continue to be focused on:

• What design elements support great community and quality of life?

• Do we want to support further development of outdoor dining spaces?

• Transparency at ground floors?

• Since 100% retail on ground floors often exceeds demand, what other uses can we envision?

BDA members have considered these tradeoffs in the abstract over the last year when we discussed retail demand and saturation with Christine Firstenberg and then a few months ago when the City staff presented the status of Corridors Zoning Update.

With that background, BDA can consider recommendations on not just where retail should be located and how much, but how architectural and public realm design can lead to successful and active spaces.

 At the this meeting, we hope to answer the question: What will the BDA advocate for in this new “almost as-of-right” planning era?

Join us for the conversation.  Our members (that’s you!)  might generate a list of key design principles. It might become a seal of support we offer to developers. It might be a list of design concepts we share with City Hall.

Location: AIA East Bay Conference Room, Brower Center, 2150 Allston Way #310, Berkeley, CA 94709.

Many thanks to AIA East Bay for hosting this event!