Baseball is a game of perpetual possibility, especially Double-A ball.  One reason we love baseball is its eternal ability to bring people together.  People of all stripes.  To play, to watch, to cheer for the sake of cheering, simply to be present.  Our vital aspiration in the Diamond District is to build a great ballpark and a great neighborhood, bringing people together, physically and socially, fostering and deepening community and sense of place.  This project is an incredible chance to expand the geography of opportunity, benefitting the social and urban fabric of Richmond at scale.  The extraordinary and appropriately ambitious Richmond 300 framework compels and inspires us to maximize the potential of this key node in the city’s vision.

A great challenge and opportunity of the Diamond District is to find the grain of the site, and stitch together disparate adjacent neighborhoods, improving flow and interconnectivity, the lifeblood of successful urban neighborhoods.  Wide and high-speed arterial roads, an elevated freeway, rail lines and other infrastructure have left the site isolated.  Accessible but disconnected, central but peripheral.  The rigorous street grids of Richmond melt away here, with few through-streets to extend and connect.  Our site strategy derives not from imposing a new formal geometry upon the site, but finding what is there, even hidden, to work with, reinforce, connect, amplify.  What is the right scale and rhythm of block to encourage walkability?  We review local precedent and extrapolate, mending the fabric of the city. We extend a bridge over the rails, connect with the bike network.

The ground plane is critical to great urban experience. Thoughtful and nuanced program, scale, material and detail are essential.  We envision an active street level–porous, accessible, legible, transparent, diverse, enticing.  Deft massing, inviting spaces, engaging sequences, beautiful, creative, unusual and attuned architecture encourage walking and interaction, facilitating hives of activity at all times of day.

The ballpark must be the hub of a vibrant urban district.  How can this district and the city feed off the energy of the game?  Every homer, every stolen base, every mascot shuffle, every Wave that makes it around the field.  Imagine if that Wave kept going–over the fences, past the gates, into the streets beyond, a palpable energy infusing the neighborhood.

Located at the heart of the new district, the ballpark is radically open and inviting, visually connected and transparent, a civic asset.  Sunken field allows the seating rake to descend from street level, providing sightlines in and out.  Thin, floating deck accommodates boxes and event spaces above.  Roof canopy frames views and extends outward, providing generous shade, like the brim of a baseball cap.  PVs above capture solar energy to power the ballpark.  Concessions areas can serve spectators and passing pedestrians. Opaque and back-of-house functions are concentrated below the seating rake, freeing up the ground plane. Entry plaza, surrounding streetscape and retail entertainment encourage gathering and lingering, feeding off and reinforcing the vibrant ballpark.

A generously wide open park welcomes all Richmonders.  Flowing north from the ballpark’s outfield, berm seating can double as additional parkland.  Flexible open space and embedded infrastructure can accommodate large events of all kinds.  Pedestrian promenades extend connectivity to the newly-mended street grid and built environs, while softscape prevails over hardscape.  Distinct, native vegetation contributes to unique local ecosystem, requires little to no irrigation, and retains stormwater runoff.  Shade trees and water features beckon on a hot day.  A trellised pavilion houses recreational programming and equipment, and maintenance needs.  The neighborhood frames the park and the ballpark, visible in the distance.  The park is a lung for the city, mitigating urban heat island and retaining stormwater. Hardscape meets softscape, orthogonal meets organic, a push-pull that resolves in orchestrated equilibrium, a balance of formal and informal spaces. 

Development at this scale must be socially and ecologically regenerative.  Environmentally-sensitive and high-performance design is the baseline; beyond that we intend to develop efficient central district energy infrastructure including onsite renewables, pursue Enterprise Green Communities standard, incorporate RVAgreen 2050, prioritize local and low-carbon materials, and commit to aggressive energy use intensity targets (15-20 EUI residential, 30-35 EUI commercial, 40-50 EUI retail, 75-100 EUI lab/science).  

Phasing starts from the south, building off the energy of Scott’s Addition, continuing in parallel with the VCU athletic campus, and progressing northward, the park extending with each phase.