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What's wrong with 'Metro Brown?'

Last week, the Washington Post featured a lengthy profile of WMATA’s head architect, the man behind the concepts in Metro’s recently unveiled ‘station of the future‘ concept. The article offers some insight into the thinking behind the proposed re-design of the Bethesda station, as well as some of the pushback Metro has received already from the

Continue reading What’s wrong with ‘Metro Brown?’

The future is now

From the 1100 block of 10th St, SE, Washington, DC. In the background, note the ongoing demolition of the Most Beautiful Bridge (elevated highways and viaducts category) of 1972. The demolition is part of the 11th Street Bridge project.

Wayfinding challenges for WMATA's Rush Plus

WMATA’s recent service change, branded as Rush Plus (probably over-promising things just a bit as “rush hour reinvented”), involved deviating from Metro’s fairly straightforward delineation of lines and services via color. Metro’s increasingly complicated service pattern is getting to the point of requiring a similarly robust nomenclature for services.

When a rider speaks of the Red Line, they

Continue reading Wayfinding challenges for WMATA’s Rush Plus

Observations from San Francisco

As a nice respite to DC’s heat, I was able to spend the last week in California – including several days in San Francisco. Some thoughts and observations from the trip:

Hills and Grids: Gridded streets have plenty of benefits, to be sure – but the downside is that they do not react to topography. San

Continue reading Observations from San Francisco

What’s wrong with ‘Metro Brown?’ (3)
- Payton: Whoops, clipboard error. Here’s the life post-stainless...
- Payton: Not to mention that stainless steel (a) requires polishing as...
- City Block: puts Metro’s recent discussions about moving away from...
Development costs and housing affordability (2)
- charlie: Must be an impressive fee if the market costs is 600K and the...
- Tony Daniels: Good argument. Some things stand out though. First –...
Norman Foster’s aerotropolis (5)
- Alex Block: For more on those photos from Boston dealing with their...
Capacity on the Northeast Corridor (2)
- Alex Block: So, FRA is trying to reassure everyone that this is OK:...
- Alon Levy: The FRA rule changes are mostly about cant deficiency and are...
Towards a DC S-Bahn, part 2 (3)
- City Block: are needed to allow for a combination of increased intercity...
Metro’s ‘station of the future’ – why mess with what works? (1)
- Michael: “Metro Brown” works well with the red tiles and...

City Block

What's wrong with 'Metro Brown?'

The future is now

Wayfinding challenges for WMATA's Rush Plus

Observations from San Francisco

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