Charrette

Building on the input gained during the pre-Charrette discovery process (the existing conditions analysis, stakeholder interviews, public workshops, and discussions with City and agency staff), the consultant team led a week-long Charrette to translate the recommendations and desires of the City, the stakeholders, and the community into a physical plan. The work produced at the end of the Charrette will form the basis and structure for the Specific Plan document.

Each day of the Charrette, the consultant team (a cross-disciplinary team of architects, urbanists, landscape architects, civil and traffic engineers, and museum and historic preservation experts) worked together to solve the various components of the plan. As needed, the consultant team met with various stakeholders and City and agency representatives to clarify and rectify issues and conflicts that arose during the Charrette.

Regarding community outreach, each day of the Charrette a member of the consultant team led a public lunch-time seminar in which they explained their associated technical specialty (Economics and Finance, Form-Based Code, Historic Preservation and Resources, Landscape, Hydrology, Infrastructure, Ecology, and Traffic and Transportation). At the end of each day, the consultant team presented the day’s progress to the community for review and comment. The consultant team incorporated each night’s community input into the next day’s work with each day building upon the previous. The Charrette concluded with a final presentation in which the consultant team presented to the community the entire plan and all its components.

The physical results of the design charrette (e.g., the illustrative plan and perspectives, the land use/regulating plan, the landscape/public realm plan, the street network plan, the form-based code) comprise most of the materials necessary to create the Specific Plan document.