Omaha by Design -Neighborhood Omaha

American Institute of Architects and
Benson Merchants Association Planning Charrette

On Saturday April 2, 2005, American Institute of Architects and University of Nebraska at Lincoln architecture and design students joined forces at the Benson American Legion for a planning charrette sponsored by the Benson Merchants Association and Omaha By Design. Five teams of architects and designers spend the day developing concepts and drawing designs based on the Place Game conducted in Benson in July of 2004. Click here to see the Place Game results

Dozens of sketches were made and several key ideas came to life through discussion and drawings made by the talented students and professionals who graciously volunteered their time.

The Place Game always generates great ideas to improve public space. In many cases, the community can improve the area with their own hands, particularly in the short term. When a public space needs more extensive resources and expertise, Omaha By Design helps with the vital link between generating a vision and implementing that vision. In order to seek funding for implementation, it is often necessary to build a comprehensive definition of the project.

Omaha By design facilitates that process through the Place Definition Process and planning charrettes that help visualize how brainstorming ideas will look and feel once completed. This requires the skill and talent of professionals who can convert the vision of what a place can be into a design philosophy and put those ideas on paper in the form of drawings and sketches, in a kind of visual brainstorming.

The five teams assembled for the charrette defined the issues and produced very creative solutions for the Benson corridor. Team one saw a lack of continuity in storefront repair and renovation and thought transportation and pedestrian friendly enhancements would benefit the district.

They sought to strengthen existing assets particularly with addition of anchors and signage such as vertical landmarks at entrances to invite visitors into the area.

Pedestrian stopping places or “social nodes” with street furniture as a unifying feature along corridor were used to develop a city within a city atmosphere. The team saw business development that would serve resident’s daily needs and amenities such as “Benson” (double B) benches, 40’s era lighting and a compact walking area, suitable for use by the neighborhood’s elders.

Team 2 focused on making Maple Street more pedestrian-friendly. They advocated for removing the center lane, keeping the parallel parking, and widening the sidewalks. Binney Street live/work units or townhouses were also in their plan to extend the Benson character to Binney. The team liked the Post Office entrance and argued for repetition of the colonnade as well as repeating the kiosk shape and brickwork plus customized awnings for businesses.

On the streets they wanted to green up the Northwest Radial Highway to make it a true boulevard and to re-introduce and re-emphasize old Benson street names.

Team 3 focused on two goals, first to make the area more pedestrian friendly, and second to strengthen the district’s identity.

To improve the area for pedestrians they recommended reducing the speed limit from 30 to 20 mph, replacing traffic signals with 4-way stop signs and removing the center lane and routing trucks back to the alleys.

They proposed three options to make the sidewalks more comfortable for people on foot:

8’ sidewalk with same lanes and median
parallel parking with no center lane and wider sidewalks, or
diagonal parking one side, parallel parking other side with 8’ sidewalk

Ideas for giving Benson a distinct identity included removing the “suburban” style and scale lighting, using distinctive paving at alley entrances and crosswalks and replacing the car dealer with a village green area.

Team 4 began by suggesting a solution to the traffic issues in the Benson business core by redirecting Highway 64 to the Northwest Radial returning to maple west of the core and adding traffic signals at the Northwest entryway.

They sought to revitalize Military Avenue as a convertible street that could be used as event space with cinema, restaurants, etc. Removing a building would create a usable passageway from the alley to Maple Street.

The design also calls for residential development on Binney to create a market for new business with high density townhouses. Team 4 also recommended restorations of storefronts where the original facades have been covered with other materials.

Team 5’s theme was “Transitions” from high speed to lower speed, residential to commercial, car to pedestrian. They recommended a 10’ minimum for sidewalks with priority given to walking, standing and sitting along the street.

Creating a physical “heart of Benson” would be done by making an entrance from southern neighborhoods that maintains comfortable streets, trees, etc.

They felt that redevelopment opportunities could be fine tuned along Binney Street with mixed use development or townhouses and that parking should be concentrated around entrances to emphasize walking in the center.

Team 5 also advocated for more and better pedestrian signage and design guidelines for surface parking consistent with the area.

We are extremely grateful to the American Institute of Architects and the Architecture College of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln for their help taking the ideas from the Place Game and making them a tangible vision for the future of Benson.

Here are the teams in action.

Team 1 at work on their plans.

Team 2 shows off one of their drawings .

Team 3 describes their plan.

Team 4 discusses their ideas.

Team 5 poses with their plan.

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