Takes on Presentation by Paul Goldberger, Pulitizer-Prize Winning Architect, on Reston Architecture and Planning, October 5, 2010

The Reston Patch has an excellent overview of Mr. Goldberger's presentation at the RCC-Hunters Woods theater on the evening of October 5.  Here are some key excerpts:

"This is [Reston's] greatest moment since its founding," he said. "It's an extraordinary time, and I do not say that lightly. . ."

With Simon listening in the first row, Goldberger spoke about the importance of architecture, design and urbanism in the context of the work of the task force.

"Reston is a success story,"  Goldberger said of the planned community.

When Reston was founded in the mid-1960s, its plan of working and living in the same place, with an integrated community and housing at many different price points was considered highy innovative.

"It is beyond amazing compared to other post-WWII development," he said. "For its time, it was an extraordinary statement."

Moving forward, he said, Reston has the potential to be the new model, particularly around Reston Town Center. The challenge is to integrate the reality of the automobile with the qualities that make a downtown viable, as well as integrating nature and open spaces.

For the rest of this excellent article, see "Pulitzer Prize-Winning Architecture Critic Takes a Look at Reston's Future," by Elizabeth Vandenburg.  

 

New Yorker architecture critic Paul Goldberg and 

Reston founder Robert E. Simon at RCC Tuesday.  

Credit Elizabeth Vandenburg, Reston Patch

Of course, Restonian has his own take on the presentation, including, 

Aside from addressing one of the many Metro elephants in the room (the distance from the Metro station to Town Center), Goldberger trashed the existing village center model -- "a commercial strip is not a village," he said. He also made some excellent points about the higher density coming to Reston -- at least assuming that it's done right, which remains an open question at this point. 

You can catch the rest of Restonian's commentary at Reston Parkway Metro: Fancypants Architecture Critic States the Obvious.