To Boldly Go Beyond Vanilla

Arlington County wins raves across the country for its smart-growth strategy of concentrating development around Metro stations and encouraging a walkable lifestyle. But the design of its buildings can leave much to be desired.

From the canyon of stark gray high-rises in Crystal City to the monotonous beige wall of concrete that is Ballston, the county's architecture often doesn't reflect the area's national prominence.

"We need more buildings that sing," said Roberto Moranchel, the county's chief architect and urban designer. "We've got some now that barely talk."

"Look at this one," he said on a recent tour, pointing to Randolph Towers in Ballston, a beige high-rise apartment complex built in 1986. "It looks like something out of the Soviet Union."

So officials have embarked on a year-long mission to inject some distinctive style into the architecture of the 26-square-mile county of 200,000 residents. And they'd like residents to help make that happen.

The Arlington County Board is sponsoring a four-part series of speakers and public discussions on how to raise the bar on architectural design in the county.

The third installment of the series, "Making Green Beautiful," will be from 7 to 9 tonight at the Rosslyn Spectrum Theatre. Architects Travis Price III and Susan C. Piedmont-Palladino will kick off the public discussion by exploring how to make buildings environmentally friendly -- and pretty.

"We want people to be made aware of the different possibilities in architecture and design," County Board Chairman Paul Ferguson (D) said. "We want the community to push the developers to be bolder with their designs."

Ferguson said developers tend to be cautious -- and the results haven't always been to the county's liking.

"Some citizens like one style; others like another. So the developers play it safe and go with plain," Ferguson said. "We want our buildings to be more distinctive. We've got enough vanilla."

Ferguson said county officials would like to have community input early in the review process "because the applicants want to come to the board with something the community likes, with enthusiastic support, or at the very least, minimal opposition."

The well-traveled Moranchel, who said he doesn't understand why Arlington can't have some of the greatest architecture in the world, said part of the problem is that developers "don't want to spend more money."