Street frontage and an urban setting

Renee Shirey

Stantec

LEEDuser Premium Member

283 thumbs up

October 30, 2013

Has anybody had success with this credit on a project in an urban setting? What about approaching it with an 'Alternative Compliance" path? Our project site is the entire block, and two of the four streets are one-way (thus are narrower than a two-way street). If we have to include all four streets as frontage, the height/width ratios will never be met. However, if we are able to treat one of the one-way streets as an "alleyway" (the building is pushed up to the siteline, has the service entrance and is the back of the building) I think we might have a chance. I think the INTENT is met, even if the parameters are not. Any feedback?

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Elise LaPaglia

Intern Architect

HKS, Inc.

LEEDuser Basic Member

1 thumbs up

Thu, 12/12/2013 - 23:33

Renee, Thank you for posting this question, it allowed our team a few moments of collaborating on our interpretation of that verbiage. We have concluded that considering the USGBC's intent for this credit, taller buildings in urban settings actually benefit from this credit. We figured out that (hypothetical numbers) if a street is 50' to its centerline, then the building must be a minimum of 75' tall. (1.5:1 ratio). The building can certainly be taller, but that ratio is just the minimum. We have achieved this credit in the past assuming that is the correct ratio It seems the ratio is reversed on the website. Otherwise USGBC would be encouraging vastly wide streets with horizontal buildings, which makes no sense. Can someone from USGBC please respond and verify?

Francis Chua

Associate

NK Architects

LEEDuser Basic Member

11 thumbs up

Wed, 04/22/2015 - 15:47

Elise, I do not believe the USGBC has the height ratio backwards. What you are proposing would make it impossible for many buildings to achieve this credit who do not have the budget to build a tall building. I believe the intent of the height to street ratio is not to have wide streets with horizontal buildings, but to have an appropriately shaped building set back from the street, to maybe form a plaza. Yes, this is a waste of real estate in a developer's eyes, especially in a dense urban setting.

Jaspreet Pahwa

LEEDuser Basic Member

0 thumbs up

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 15:54

In attempting this pilot credit, my take on the 'Minimum ratio' is that it encourages higher density and discourages infrastructure dedicated to vehicular traffic. A taller building equates to a higher density, and narrower non-motorized rights of way- which can also be used to satisfy credit requirements, encourage walkability and the minimum ratio translates to design informed by human scale.