CNU DC's Katrina Cottage Tour

Friday, December 15, 2006 at 12:00 Noon
Coffield Community Center
2450 Lyttonsville Road, Silver Spring, Maryland



The Katrina Cottage DC (KC-DC) is complete, furnished and ready for visiting. Architect Steve Mouzon will speak about the KC-DC's expandability, efficient design, and other advanced features that are central to the strategy of "smaller but smarter."

The 523-square-foot "kernel" cottage was originally highlighted as part of USA Weekend's Making a Difference Day. The cottage will be donated to a mother and daughter in the neighborhood who have qualified for a Montgomery Housing replacement housing program.

Please come if you're available and want to know the full story of this cottage. Individuals who are hosting KC-DC open houses will also benefit from learning about the building's features in more detail.

The tour is free and open to all. The KC-DC is wheelchair-accessible. Click here for directions to the Coffield Community Center.

CNU DC's TND Walking Tour Series: Maple Lawn

Saturday, September 30th, 2006
10:30 am – 12:30 pm

Cecily Bedwell of Design Collective will lead a study tour of this 507-acre mixed-use community in Howard County. The plan of Maple Lawn combines 1.2 million square feet of commercial and retail space with 1,116 dwelling units including apartments, live-work units, townhomes, cottages, villas, manors, and estates.

The plan includes four distinct residential neighborhoods, each with an identifiable urban center and green and transitions outward to the rural edge. A network of streets reconnects the adjacent residential developments to the broader community while reducing the need for arterials, collectors, and dead-end cul-de-sacs. The efficiency of the plan allows for numerous plazas, greens, squares, and parks within each neighborhood while preserving nearly 200 acres of sensitive environmental areas.

Urban designer Colin Green will join the tour as a resident and TND expert. The final half-hour will be a discussion and critique of the development.

Tour admission fee is $10. RSVP to Lee Sobel -- send an

Directions from Washington, DC: Take I-95 North toward Baltimore; proceed 8 miles to MD Route 216 West (toward Scaggsville); proceed 1.2 miles and turn right onto Leishear Road; after 0.8 miles, turn left on to Gorman Rd; proceed 0.7 miles, cross traffic circle and bridge over U.S. Route 29; road name changes to Johns Hopkins Road. Continue for 0.6 miles to a left into Maple Lawn, on Midtown Road. Proceed 0.25 miles to the community center.

Directions from Baltimore: Take I-95 South; from the Baltimore Beltway (I-695) intersection travel 13 miles to Columbia exit (MD Route 32 West); proceed 2.5 miles to Washington DC exit (U.S. Route 29 South); proceed 1.5 miles to Johns Hopkins Road; exit on to Johns Hopkins Road; continue for approximately 0.6 miles to a left into Maple Lawn, on Midtown Road. Proceed 0.25 miles to the community center.

You're invited to a brownbag discussion of
Clarksburg Town Center: A Case Study
Truth and consequences related to planning and implementation

Friday, August 18, 2006
12:00 noon

After nearly a year of highly publicized charges, the residents of Clarksburg Town Center and its developer reached a mediated agreement to restore some of the neighborhood's original new urban design concepts.

These events have had repercussions throughout the region. Join us for a discussion that will explore the story behind the agreement and the lessons it holds for all new urban developments. Invited speakers include Amy Presley, Lynn Fantle and Kim Shiley of the Clarksburg Town Center Advisory Committee.

Background information:

The developer's website

Newspaper coverage of the mediated agreement from April 7, April 20, and July 19.

Meeting location:

APHA Building, First Floor Conference Room, 800 Eye Street NW, Washington DC (near the Gallery Place Metro station).

Please RSVP to . Space is limited so chairs will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis.  There is standing room. Bring your own lunch.

CNU DC's TND Walking Tour Series: Belmont Bay

Saturday, July 29th
10:00 am – 12:30 pm

Jim Epstein of EFO Capital Management will lead a walking tour of Belmont Bay's village center, located on the banks of the Occoquan River in Woodbridge, Virginia. The village center broke ground in 2000; by 2002, its shorefront condos were the fastest-selling projects in the DC region. Belmont Bay's first condo was the largest in Prince William County, superseded only by the nine-story condo built one block away. For more details about Belmont Bay, see this critique of the development.

Mr. Epstein will discuss the project's background and the techniques used to develop it. The final half hour will be a discussion and critique.

Tour admission fee is $10. RSVP by July 25 to Lee Sobel -- send an

Directions by carpool: Depart from 21 Dupont Circle at 9:30 sharp for those who wish to travel together. Nearest Metro station is Dupont Circle (south escalator).

Directions by car: Belmont Bay is 20 minutes south of DC. Take I-95 South from the Beltway, past Springfield. Proceed 8 miles. Take Exit 161 to Route 1 South, Woodbridge (left lane exit). Proceed on Route 1 for 1.7 miles, turn left on Dawson Beach Road, then an immediate left on Express Drive. Proceed 1 mile and turn left at the traffic circle. Go 0.25 mile to the Village Green Gazebo in front of the Harbor Marina.

CNU DC's TND Walking Tour Series: King Farm

Saturday, May 13th, 2006
11:00 am – 1:30 pm

Robert Goodill of Torti Gallas and Partners will lead CNU DC's first TND Walking Tour at King Farm, a traditional neighborhood development located in Rockville, Maryland. Mr. Goodill will discuss the history of the project and the urban design techniques that have helped make it a case study in new urbanism. King Farm is the recipient of a Congress for the New Urbanism Charter Award and an Honor Award from the Potomac Valley Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. At the conclusion of the tour, participants will share their views and critique the project.

• The tour will begin at the King Farm Village Center

• Tour admission fee: $10

• RSVP by May 12 to Lee Sobel -- send an

• Directions By Metro: Take the Red Line to the Shady Grove Station. Exit the station on the west side, then walk west to Rockville Pike. Cross Rockville Pike to King Farm Boulevard and walk three blocks west to the King Farm Village Center.

• By Car: Take 1-495 north to I-270 north, and exit at Shady Grove Road heading east. At Rockville Pike (355/Frederick Road) turn right. Make another right onto King Farm Boulevard and the village center will be three blocks ahead on the left side of the road. Others in the immediate vicinity may simply prefer to take Rockville Pike directly to King Farm Boulevard.

You're invited to a CNU-DC fundraiser:

An Afternoon with Andrés Duany
about recent work in the hurricane-devastated areas of Louisiana, and the principles of new urbanism.

Saturday April 8th, 2006
1:00 – 3:00 pm


APHA Building
First Floor Conference Room, 800 Eye Street NW (near the Gallery Place Metro station)

The cost is $30 per person to raise money for future events and can be paid by personal check at the door.

Please RSVP by Friday (7th) at noon to Sarah Lewis.

Space is limited to 32 people so attendance will be filled on a first
come, first served basis.

"The destruction created by [Hurricanes Katrina and Rita] has also brought along an unprecedented opportunity to not only rebuild Louisiana, but to rebuild it safer, stronger, and smarter. And it's with an eye towards a brighter tomorrow that the Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA) is spearheading Louisiana Speaks – a multifaceted planning process to help South Louisiana recover and heal."

- Introduction, LouisianaSpeaks.org

Brookhouse Street in Poundbury. Image courtesy The Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment.

New Urbanism Exhibition at the National Building Museum

Civitas: Traditional Urbanism in Contemporary Practice
November 5, 2005 – January 8, 2006

In conjunction with the presentation of the National Building Museum’s Vincent Scully Prize to His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, the Museum presents an exhibition organized by The Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment. Featuring sixteen groundbreaking examples of urban development from around the world, Civitas: Traditional Urbanism in Contemporary Practice explores the principles that underpin the traditional urbanism movement. The projects included in the exhibition are represented through models, photographs, and drawings, and range from urban infill to new towns. The exhibition as a whole gives insight into the challenges, solutions, and methodologies of urban development projects and how they can provide the key to turning government policy for future developments into the reality of flourishing settlements.

Concurrent with the "Civitas" exhibition is the exhibition A Building Tradition: The Work of the Prince's School of Traditional Arts. The Prince's School offers grounding in the philosophy and practical craft skills of the arts and architecture of Islam, as well as the traditional arts of other civilizations. Graduate courses combine theory and practice and include classes in geometry, Islamic architecture, icon painting, tilemaking, Islimi/Arabesque, stained glass, and mosaic craft. The school has also developed outreach programs for Muslim communities and younger people in particular -- both in the United Kingdom and in Muslim countries -- establishing vocational courses to teach craft and building links with universities and other institutions, especially in the Arab and Asian worlds.