Letter to the Editor: In Communion with Nature, Reston Connection, November 12, 2010, Kathy Kaplan

To the Editor:

The plaza next to the fountain in Town Center catches enough light and heat to make an effective heat trap. In the early spring I love to go and sit with my face to the sun and remember what winter isn't like. Except to go to the library or visit the doctor, I rarely go to Town Center. I like to go to Herndon and Vienna. Probably at the bottom of that choice is the lingering bitterness about the stretch of woodland that was lost when Town Center was built.

It has been suggested that Town Center is an example of world-class architecture. It is not. Even Paul Goldberger, the architecture critic for the New Yorker, said it wasn't. He came to give a talk to the Reston Master Plan Special Study Task Force. He said Town Center most resembled an uncovered mall. I do have hopes that the development coming to the Reston Parkway Station area will add something to the area that could be thought of as world-class---sumptuous open space with gracious plazas, a rich street life where a human being can feel at home.

Paul Goldberger in an email to me wrote, "Open space is critical to the future of Reston."

We do have something in Reston that does meet the threshold of world-class. Actually there are two things that are world-class in Reston: First, our open spaces and all the trees, the ones we own collectively (our private property) through Reston Association and those owned by our neighbors. Second, our neighborhoods. Our graceful, lovely, alpine-like clusters sheltered by the trees that have grown up around them are the heart of beauty in Reston. We in Reston live in communion with nature, sheltered by the trees that ground our experience in nature.

Should those clusters be stripped out and replaced with high-rises and Texas donuts, Reston will lose its world-class beauty. You don't know what a Texas donut is? They are five or six-story, wood frame constructions with a five to six-story cement parking garage in the center (the hole in the donut). The residential units wrap around the garage. If you haven't seen one, Camden Monument is a good example. It's on Camden Boulevard on the way to the Fair Oaks Mall. It is easily recognizable because of the 6-ft tall white limestone horse in front. There are others along Monroe Street in Herndon. They rise straight up out of the sidewalk like uncapped mushrooms. Modern tenements in the making.

Our clusters in Reston form the bedrock of our community. They are world-class and are worth preserving.


Kathy Kaplan
Reston