urban values & visionfor downtown harrisonburg

EUGENE STOLTZFUS ARCHITECTS

by Eugene Stoltzfus

www.eugenestoltzfus.com

Printed in Harrisonburg,VA

Preface

This book is the printed version of

Urban Values and Vision for DowntownHarrisonburg

, a project commissionedby the Economic DevelopmentCommittee of Harrisonburg DowntownRenaissance. The full project includesan image-based live presentation using

photographs, gure/ground studies,

and digital 3D modeling including virtual

y-overs, and virtual drive-throughs.

The 3D base model allows real-timeinteractive exploration of the downtown. The full project developed from an earlierproject which grew out of conversationsamong a number of us working downtownwho realized we needed to developvisual imagery representing the city andrepresenting our ideas. In the spring of 2007, at the suggestion of Jim Barnes,I developed a Powerpoint presentationcalled

Urban Design Tools and Valuesfor Downtown Harrisonburg.

This earlierproject was built on the virtual 3Ddatabase of exisitng Harrisonburg thatRandy Seitz and Ron Davenport of BlueRidge Design Studio started to build in2005, and which Jim and I then helpedto fund, with Adam Steiniger doing thedata entry and computer modeling. The

Tools and Values

study was very wellreceived at the dozen or more presentationswe made to city administrators anddepartment heads, county administrators,realtors, developers, and a large numberof interested individuals. As a result,

Urban Values and Vision for DowntownHarrisonburg

was subsequentlycommissioned by Eddie Bumbaugh andBrian Shull of the Economic DevelopmentCommittee of Harrisonburg DowntownRenaissance to further develop ideasthat came to light in the

Tools and Values

study. We offer our work as a contributionto the ongoing exploration of ideas for therevitalization of downtown Harrisonburg.Eugene Stoltzfus AIA A study of urban values and vision for the downtown- of Harrisonburg, Virginia