Conference/Public Meeting Agendas/Documents — Packet

front, not only from a detailing point of view but also because of the discontinuity of apparent scale that would result. Often, when a person wishes to make a storefront more important or impressive, some "big building" details result. Making a small building look larger is a fundamentally inappropriate architectural approach and should be avoided. Doors, hardware, roof overhangs, sidings, moldings, light fixtures and details easily affect the scale of buildings and should be considered carefully. h. Signage. Signage can also influence the scale of the building, or its apparent size. A large sign on a small building front has the effect of making the facade seem even smaller than it may be. So, a large sign designed to impress can result in an opposite effect -- that of a very small business trying to look bigger than it is. i. Texture and Patterns. The building surfaces along Main Street are largely composed of textures and patterns. The play of light and shadow on these textures and the color created by architectural patterns create great surface interest on building facades. Texture is the visual and tactile degree of roughness and smoothness of surfaces. From glass to stonework all materials have a texture that can be used to blend or contract and enhance a building design. Pattern is a regular repetition of a design, shape, form or void. Pattern creates a visual texture at a certain scale. Bricks form a pattern of repeated rectangles separated by regular widths of mortar. At a distance this pattern creates a visual texture. Pattern should be used as carefully as texture to enhance a design and give interest to surfaces as needed. A predominant pattern on Main Street is created by brick masonry. One appropriate approach for new construction to relate to older patterns would be to use brick. Some buildings have portions of textures and patterns covered over or destroyed. Rather than introducing a totally new design element a better approach would be to uncover or replace the existing textures and patterns. j. Applied Textures. The stamped steel Victorian Fronts of some Main Street buildings although applique in nature, do not look "stuck on." This is because each piece was considered part of a whole integrated building front

steel Victorian Fronts of some Main Street buildings although applique in nature, do not look "stuck on." This is because each piece was considered part of a whole integrated building front sensitive to proportion, scale, texture and pattern. Sensitivity to these relationships will minimize superficial or cosmetic solutions. During the 1940's and 1950's slick materials with jazzy textures such as uncoated aluminum and glass curtain walls were promoted and used as remodeling dream materials. Another inappropriate contrast is the use of rustic shingles on an urban street. All these only serve to cover-up good honest masonry and other perfectly good surfaces. k. Line. The term "line" refers to the vertical and horizontal alignment of architectural features that occur on individual building fronts and on consecutive building fronts. Line may be the uppermost edge of a series of cornices on a row of buildings. The line may also be created by a series of window sills, building to building. The consistent termination of the first floor levels of a series of buildings forms a horizontal alignment. These lines or alignments serve to unify and formalize the building fronts along Main Street. All efforts should be made to reinforce these lines and alignments in work carried out on Main Street building fronts. The careful consideration of linear alignments is especially important with relations to new construction. A new building or new facade must conform to the major alignments suggested by flanking buildings to insure continuity of the storefronts along Main Street. (Ord. No. 904-88 § 25-5.10G) 68