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Figure 6.20
Houses on Park Avenue, Dilworth,
Charlotte, NC, late 1980s. These modern
reproductions of Victorian houses fit into the
neighborhood by maintaining a consistent setback
from the street.
Figure 6.21
Radcliffe on the Green, Charlotte, NC,
FMK architects, 2002. This block of luxury downtown
housing above offices and restaurants creates
complex rhythms and relationships to integrate a
wide range of architectural elements across the
façade.
Figure 6.19
Dilworth Crescent, Charlotte, NC, 1992.
The setbacks between each townhouse effectively
screen garage doors from view and establish a
separate architectural identity for each house in the
terrace.
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Our work in practice has taught us that some kind
of vertical articulation needs to happen approxi-
mately every 60 feet along a façade to create this
desired scale and human reference. The streetscapes
in older towns and cities that so many people admire
for their urban character and beauty follow this pat-
tern: they were usually constructed as a series of indi-
vidual buildings on relatively narrow and deep lots
that were similar in size, setting up a repetitive
rhythm of entrances and building mass. The build-
ings could differ in detailed respects but the ensemble
DESIGN FIRST: DESIGN-BASED PLANNING FOR COMMUNITIES
138
Figure 6.24
Hearst Plaza, Charlotte city centre, Shook
Kelley architects, 2003. This plaza has been inserted into
the existing city fabric as a new public urban space at
the foot of a large office tower. The walls of the new
low-rise buildings enclosing the space provide a
dynamic contrast with the older architecture without
overpowering the scale of the existing buildings.