Letter
Dear Mr. Albert:
In its meeting of 20 September, the Commission of Fine Arts reviewed the concept design for Diamond Teague Park, located south of the intersection of First Street and Potomac Avenue, SE, on the banks of the Anacostia River. The Commission stated its strong support for the development of waterfront parks and the siting of this park along the Anacostia River.
The Commission questioned the appropriateness of the small-scale features of the park design, particularly in relation to the grand stair of the new baseball stadium that is under construction across the street. The Commission members commented that the park should be designed to accommodate large groups arriving or departing the stadium and recommended that the open spaces and internal connections be larger in scale. In the proposed scheme, the small triangular subdivisions and narrow walkways to the floating docks appeared to be fussy and timid and not in scale with the stadium and its visual connection to the river; they recommended that simplifying and strengthening these features would improve the design. The Commission supported the concept of maintaining the existing line of the riverbank on the site and did not object to the type and configuration of the proposed piers and floating docks.
The Commission did not take a formal action on the submission, but requested that the design team return with a new concept design which responds to the context of the stadium and the new developments along this portion of the river that will eventually surround the park. Please coordinate with staff for the next submission.
Sincerely,
/s/
Thomas E. Luebke, AIA
Secretary
Neil O. Albert, Deputy Mayor
Government of The District of Columbia
Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development
The John A. Wilson Building
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 317
Washington, DC 20004
cc: Judith C. Greenberg, Office of the Deputy Mayor
Jonathan Fitch, Landscape Architecture Bureau, LLC