The Metro Center district, the gateway to Silver Spring, has the potential to be a connective area with its dense concentration of residents and businesses and forthcoming connection to the Purple Line. However, the district is not efficiently organized. It lacks clear transportation infrastructure and a welcoming public realm. Our forward-looking vision, titled The Emerald Plateau, creates a vibrant and verdant heart for Silver Spring, one that embodies a new synthesis of landscape and urbanism.
The plans feature a constructed hillside that envelops the Sarbanes Transit Center, lending organization and identity to the district. The scheme provides a regionally scaled public realm, culminating in a gracious terrace. Transportation infrastructure, high-rise development, public spaces, and natural systems form a synergistic whole. Our scheme communicates the spirit and ethos of the robustly sustainable urbanism that will define the district's future. The plan is connected and dense, supporting the 15-minute Community model for reduced transport energy and social cohesion. The buildings are carbon positive, utilizing mass timber construction, ample renewables, and onsite waste-to-reuse systems. Landscape, including topography, vegetation, and water is deeply integrated with the architecture at all levels. Public art will also be featured at the scale of the district.
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