Old Webster Repeats Old Mistakes

Opened a few years ago, the Old Webster development provided parking, retain and office space for downtown Webster Groves. In the big picture I have no complaints. But a closer look reveals some old mistakes I’ve reviewed before. Common mistakes that show an underlying misunderstanding of urbanity.

The entrance is a bit too hard for my taste as a pedestrian. Entrance sidewalks are accessories to the entry drive – almost an afterthought.

A small left over parcel as you enter off of Lockwood is supposed to be an appealing place to sit and relax. You get a great view of the public parking entrace. This is not good open space. Good open space draws people in which this does not. A note to designers – stop placing benches in your left over parcels. Instead, a small news stand or similar small retail space could have created an interesting addition to street life.

At the end of the sidewalk you are just dumped onto a vast sea of concrete where the cars come and go. Not at all friendly. The goods news is you can look at the fountain ahead has you get run over.

If you survive crossing the great divide you actually seen an area with reasonable scale and care in detailing.

Well, not all the detailing is so good. This vent for the garage below is located next to the stop sign post. It is hard to tell from the grade material if a wheelchair can easily navigate without getting stuck. Most likely it can but it would have been nice to provide the vent somewhere where it wouldn’t be squeezed next to a sign post.

But look straight ahead in the picture. Planters in front of a cross walk?

Yes, the logical straight path in this nearly new development is blocked by store signage and planters. The painted crosswalk is lacking curb cuts on both sides of the “street.”

From the opposite side looking back where we had just come from you can see the lack of curb cuts and how much of the sidewalk is blocked. The crosswalk going to the right was seemingly planned as it has a curb cut.

Surely the designers expected people to be able to cross from one side to the other? Walking a few car spaces to the left reveals the original intent.

Here we see the curb cuts that really should have been at the corner. The car is legally parked – a space has been designated in front of the curb cut that provides ADA compliance.

Same is true for the opposite side of the “street” with a parking space blocking the accessible route. The center of the building in the background is lined up with the office building entrance behind me. On paper someone thought it would be wise to connect the two.

Designers, architects, planners, developers, retailers, and elected officials can all fall prey to looking at ideas on paper without realizing in reality the concepts don’t follow basic human nature. So much work has been done on the habits of humans in urban environments a mistake like this should not have made it past a first draft sketch. Clearly after being built someone realize people were crossing at the corner (duh) so it was stripped as such.

– Steve