LASN is a photographically oriented, professional journal featuring topics of concern and state-of-the-art projects designed or influenced by registered Landscape Architects.
Issue link: https://landscapearchitect.epubxp.com/i/150657
The landscape architects developed two levels of streetscape design—"standard" and "premium" zones, whose amenities varied according to maintenance, budget and future redevelopment concerns. suspended over the plantings and finished with a custom tree ring collar and electrical bracket. Conventional installation details had to be modified to withstand Denver's harsh freezethaw cycles, while accommodating flexible outdoor functional uses and providing ADA accessibility. The design produced a new, state-of-the-art suspended paver grating system, promoting sustainable practices and assuring a thriving urban landscape for generations to come. The monumental scale of the existing utility infrastructure – some parts more than a century old – had to be carefully integrated, block-by-block, into the design, despite major space challenges, code restrictions, and budget constraints. The streetscape design had to be adapted to each unique block, each undetected utility and every individual property's condition. Sustainability 14th Street has become a "must-see" destination and a high 42 Landscape Architect and Specifier News watermark in the evolution of the city's downtown environmental, social, and economic achievements. The design incorporates extensive infrastructure development, site construction materials, and water conservation efforts that have established 14th Street as the first streetscape in the United States to receive "Greenroads" certification. The effort to achieve such recognition is unprecedented in contemporary streetscape design, and required a significant amount of coordination between the design, management, and construction teams. "Place-Making" Within the redeveloped 12-block corridor are the Denver Convention Center; a principal municipal building; the city's largest hotel, and the world-class Center for Performing and Cultural Arts Complex; the University of Colorado at Denver; the historic Larimer Square retail center; upscale boutique hotels; numerous local businesses, commercial offices, and nearly 3,000 residential units.