master plan update - City of Boca Raton

SECTION CFRAMEWORKSdesign guidelinesAddison Mizner described one of hisdesign principles as follows: “Florida isflat as a pancake. You must build witha strong skyline to give your buildingcharacter.” This is evident in his drawingsfor Boca Raton and in the towersand fanciful roofscapes of his buildings.He would not be pleased with theresults of the present system of designguidelines. The combination of a rigidheight limit, standardized setbacks, andmarket pressure to maximize developmentwithin the standard envelope createdby the guidelines have resulted in aseries of large, bulky buildings of similarform. They have been described as havinga crew-cut look. The resulting skylinecould also be described as flat as apancake.During the public process, therewere widely varied views about buildingheight. On the one hand, there weresome who felt that no building should begreater than two stories, and others whofelt that buildings needed to be muchtaller to create the sense of a downtown.But most people felt that there wassomething wrong with the uniformityand lack of variety that is leading to aless personal character for Downtown.Therefore, in order to fulfill thevision for Downtown and create thequality of environment represented inthe images of the Master Plan Update,revisions to the current design guidelinesfor Downtown need to be made.We recommend that height bedefined by the number of stories ratherthan a fixed number of feet. The fixeddimension has led to squat floor-to-floorheights and makes it nearly impossibleto have the type of elements that areessential to creating the skyline Miznerwould have wanted. A full revision ofthe guidelines is beyond the scope ofthis Master Plan Update, but we suggesta more three-dimensional approach toresolving this issue. Pattern Books ratherthan Design Guidelines are often helpfulbecause they provide actual patternsrather than abstract formulas.We suggest an approach that beginswith the scale of the street. The presentdesign guidelines have the same setbackand height requirements, irrespectiveof where the site is or what the scaleof the street might be. We recommendthat large-scale, through-streets havemore vertical facades with taller buildingsvisible from the street. This can bean effective means of taming traffic. Ifdrivers feel that they are driving throughan ‘urban room’ they will slow down inways and places where they typically donot if the space feels suburban. Smallscaleintimate streets are often best if thebuildings that are visible from the streetare two to four stories in height. Thepresent guidelines result in a buildingdensity. By revising the setback requirements,we are suggesting that the existingamount of building be redistributed.In some cases, it may be desirable to permitparts of the buildings to be higherthan the present limit in exchange formore public open space and more complexbuilding forms. Each of the fourstreet types described previously shouldhave its own design guideline provisions.50'30' 20'6'14' 10'Diagrams of current design guidelinesThe four cross-sections and axonometricdiagrams on pages 35 and 36illustrate one way in which this could beaccomplished. In each case, the amountof development permitted would bebased on the current guidelines, but thephysical configuration would be modified.The red line in the section drawingrepresents the setback and height limitscalled for by the present guidelines.The plan on page 37 indicates thelocation for each type of street. Thiscreates a framework for determiningthe forms of buildings that will create adifferent character as appropriate for thescale of the space.34