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CHEVY CHASE BANK - CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS BETHESDA, MD
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Based on an established working relationship with the project developer, LAPIERRE STUDIO participated in initial project master planning and design development for this major commercial complex located at the heart of Bethesda’s Metro business district. The project development program involved rezoning and optional site plan review procedures in order to allow the maximum recommended development. Accordingly, the plan includes the provision of several complex and unique public amenities including full public access to private plaza and garden spaces, creation of a 400 seat live-stage theatre with outdoor plazas, and extensive streetscape enhancements. While responding to neighborhood concerns regarding appropriate building massing and inclusion of street-friendly retail facilities, the developer presented a plan that expands the pedestrian streetscape network of Bethesda, and provides two unique new places of special interest. Landscape engineering involved the creation of a substantial landscape soils biomass, an extensive subsurface and surface drainage system, lighting, and irrigation, atop a 100 % structured site with multilevel subsurface parking. Notably large tree plantings, a sequenced water feature and customized garden urns and seating elements created an immediate "established" green urban plaza, thus providing the long sought-after public park for central Bethesda. A strong pedestrian promenade with extensive planting and seating options links the plaza to the new home of the Roundhouse Theatre Company, with its own arrival and intermission plazas. Service access drives were designed as extensions of the adjacent public streetscape and thus provide convenient and attractive crosscutting options for neighboring residents. |
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