This week we spent two days in the company of RDG staff and various guest liaisons from the Des Moines City Planning office.

Day 1: The first day was an adjustment. There was miscommunication on both ends as to what was needed and to be expected and so the meeting didn’t benefit all groups equally. Essentially, it was a series of presentations whereas we really wanted constructive feedback on our design not or concepts.

Day 2: The second meeting proved to be more beneficial. The morning started with a presentation over form-based code by a guest speaker. While we appreciated this it did prove to be slightly redundant as we had already performed research on this for our site.  Nevertheless, it was reassuring that we were on the right path and that we understood the nuances of it.

Shortly thereafter, we had trace and markers in hand and were rotating every 20 minutes between different liaisons. To clarify, we had split up into our individual teams,  presented short overviews of our projects, and went into receiving immediate feedback from the different professional expertise.

Pat Boddy, Sustainability Strategist

Mike Bell, Landscape Architect

Overall, we had positive reactions to both our concept and design scheme. The feedback that we received really just informed our decisions to make adjustments.

• Lighting feedback
  • Intergrate sensored lights with a centralized HVAC system hvacc
  • Intergrate light shelves and saw tooths directed at northern facade
• Interior feedback
  • In regards to the community garden make sure to render the greenery from the exterior
  • Consider redesigning the test kitchen so that its more group learning oriented rather than individualized learning  stations
  • Use the green wall concept in our retail space as an accent rather than a primary feature
• Urban planning feedback
  • Move the entire building and shade screen to the setback line
• Landscape
  • In regards to the plaza, consider using the grid to designate how the space will be occupied during events
  • Provide shading or solar shading
  • Carry the flora language (palm trees) on the sidewalk into the plaza or use inorganic sculptures that mimic flora.
•