Capitol Mall Sacramento

How do we enrich the urban vitality of Capitol Mall?
By the configuration and magnitude of streets, Sacramento is divided at its center. Walkable circulation is encumbered east and west by the Tower Bridge vehicular junction and north and south by Capitol Mall Boulevard. The boulevard’s grassed median, an island surrounded by traffic flow, is a component of the greater Capitol Mall opportunity - to unify the California State Capitol to the urban fabric of Sacramento. The Capitol Rainbow masterplan connects the capitol to the city with a pedestrian interchange, a bike and pedestrian plaza establishing north-south continuity and creating a walkable east-west corridor between the Capitol Building and Old Sacramento. The City of Sacramento and State Capitol are brought together with an interwoven network of bike, pedestrian, and vehicular circulation. The planning takes programming cues from 3 contextual zones neighboring it, a historic/cultural district inclusive of Old Sacramento and The Crocker Art Museum, a business/governmental district created by the high-rise corridor along Capitol Mall Boulevard, and a civic/political district inclusive of the state capitol and other civic buildings. In concert with new programmatic pieces set in this context, the multi-modal circulation network activates the Capitol Mall. The crowning point of reference is a manmade rainbow, an icon under which the view corridor passes, dissolving and expressing itself in different forms and orientations throughout the mall.


THE CAPITOL RAINBOW : SACRAMENTO LOCATION: SACRAMENTO, CA : YEAR: 2011 CLIENT: THE CITY OF SACRAMENTO Initiated by the City of Sacramento and the American Institute of Architects, the Capitol Mall Design Competition was created to find forward-thinking, innovative, and implementable urban and architectural designs for the capitol mall corridor. The City aims to activate the mall through a sustainable design concept providing linkages and walkability, an extension of Sacramento's urban tree canopy, spaces for event gathering, and a reinforcement of the existing view corridor to the State Capitol Building.	How do we enrich the urban vitality of Capitol Mall? By the configuration and magnitude of streets, Sacramento is divided at its center. Walkable circulation is encumbered east and west by the Tower Bridge vehicular junction and north and south by Capitol Mall Boulevard. The boulevard’s grassed median, an island surrounded by traffic flow, is a component of the greater Capitol Mall opportunity - to unify the California State Capitol to the urban fabric of Sacramento. The Capitol Rainbow masterplan connects the capitol to the city with a pedestrian interchange, a bike and pedestrian plaza establishing north-south continuity and creating a walkable east-west corridor between the Capitol Building and Old Sacramento. The City of Sacramento and State Capitol are brought together with an interwoven network of bike, pedestrian, and vehicular circulation. The planning takes programming cues from 3 contextual zones neighboring it, a historic/cultural district inclusive of Old Sacramento and The Crocker Art Museum, a business/governmental district created by the high-rise corridor along Capitol Mall Boulevard, and a civic/political district inclusive of the state capitol and other civic buildings. In concert with new programmatic pieces set in this context, the multi-modal circulation network activates the Capitol Mall. The crowning point of reference is a manmade rainbow, an icon under which the view corridor passes, dissolving and expressing itself in different forms and orientations throughout the mall.