Reston Parkway Metro: Fancypants Architecture Critic States the Obvious

During a talk sponsored by the Reston Master Plan Special Study Task Force That Decided to Make Their Name Even Longer and More Impossible to Turn Into an Acronym (RMPSSTFTDMTNELMITIA) and the Reston Community Center, fancypants New Yorker architecture critic Paul Goldberger stated the obvious about the upcoming Targetville Reston Parkway Metro station -- namely, that it's not really near Reston Parkway, much less Reston Town Center.

Goldberger said the development of the Reston Parkway Metro station, which will be at the intersection of the Dulles Toll Road and Reston Parkway, is the critical issue facing the Task Force.

Calling it an awkward distance from the Reston Town Center, he cautioned the audience that there could be a successful connection or it would be seen as leftover, hanging out there, something that doesn't work.

"The most urgent need and the greatest priority are making a viable connection between the station and Reston Town Center," Goldberger said.

Cough cough monorail!

Aside from addressing one of the many Metro elephants in the room, 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.

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.

Goldberger agreed with Simon about how New Dominion Parkway was distressing, acting as a giant wall cutting Reston Town Center in half.

Goldberger noted several times during his question-and-answer period that what puts Reston so far ahead is the plethora of open space. He stressed the importance of building the urban core and that density was important to success.

"The denser the core the more protected is the land," he said. "What hurts land is the sprawl. Cities protect the land; sprawl is what damages it."

When an audience member expressed concern about the overall growth bringing more cars and terrible traffic, Goldberger cautioned that one look not at the number of cars but the number of car trips and usages. When it's dense at the core, the car use drops he said.

Goldberger also said that he thinks Grand Central Station is the greatest American building of all time, at least until the Wiehle Avenue Metro station opens, dazzling even the most jaded commuters with its rad '80s art. Actually, he didn't say that last part, but he probably meant to.