Moya Design Partners Provides Editorial, Illustration, and Digital Platform Design for DowntownDC BID’s Vision 2027

In focus: transportation, economy, the public realm, and human services

For the MOYA team, the highlights of the campaign are the seven distinctive illustrations we created for the Vision 2027’s cover and for each of its four main topics: transportation, the economy, the public realm, and human services. The illustrations feature plenty of green space with themes of diversity and placemaking. The trees have a slight move of air, while people walk along D.C.’s streets and boulevards. The reader can envision lights turning on and off, concert lights moving up and down, people jumping onto the concert one, and cyclists passing by — all the vibrant movements of a healthy, dynamic city.

Transportation

According to the DowntownDC BID, downtown’s location at the center of the region’s transit network is a tremendous asset, offering access to the broadest possible portion of the regional labor market. The central location provides access to key institutions, access to the core of the Metrorail system, strong infrastructure connections, and a walkable grid of streets inherited from previous planning.

‘Transportation’: Illustration by Moya Design Partners for the DowntownDC BID’s Vision 2027

This year, the DowntownDC BID made five major recommendations to build on downtown’s transportation assets. MOYA’s accompanying illustration highlights the diversity of D.C.’s transportation network and promotes sustainable, green, safe, and walkable streets:

• Getting WMATA on track: Improving Metrorail service reliability, rebuilding the Metro’s operational and safety culture, restoring late-night service, and establishing a regional dedicated funding source

• Prioritizing surface transit: Building the K Street transitway and improving coordination and infrastructure investments

• Speeding up bus operation: Redesigning the District’s bus network to emphasize all-day, high-frequency service and changing fare payment systems

• Rethinking streets: Reducing on-street parking and creating a more efficient schedule and system for delivery trucks and motor coaches

• Reducing traffic congestion:

  Expanding on strategies to incentivize behavior that results in less traffic

Economy

The DowntownDC BID promotes downtown D.C. as the largest and most diverse job center in the region. It is home to 186,000 jobs, 11,000 hotel rooms, 160 destination restaurants, 66 destination stores, 10 museums, eight performing arts venues, two cinemas and one sports arena. These destinations sit within a compact, walkable, and dense urban environment (DowntownDC BID).

‘Economy’: Illustrations by Moya Design Partners for the DowntownDC BID’s Vision 2027

This year, the DowntownDC BID made four main recommendations for growing downtown’s economy. MOYA’s accompanying illustrations show activated streetscapes by day and by night in a healthy and well-planned economic area:

• Office to residential conversion: Implementing an incentive program to encourage residential redevelopment of 400,000 square feet (SF) of outdated office buildings

• Supporting major redevelopment projects: Timely redevelopment of the headquarters buildings for the FBI, WMATA, and Department of Labor, the Daly Building, Federal City Shelter, and Union Station

• Creating a regional shopping destination: Growing downtown destination shopping from 740,000 SF to 1.2 million SF, including developing the public realm and a marketing strategy for downtown shopping

• Supporting culture and entertainment: Keeping the Capital One Arena downtown, incorporating cultural and entertainment uses into several redevelopment projects, and restoring late-night Metrorail service

Public Realm

The DowntownDC BID defines the public realm as the public right-of-way, parks, public space, open space, green space and more. The public realm and the built environment together contribute to a sense of place. Strong and positive placemaking is a competitive advantage for attracting and maintaining investment downtown.

‘Public Realm’: Illustrations by Moya Design Partners for the DowntownDC BID’s Vision 2027

This year, the DowntownDC BID made four recommendations for downtown D.C.’s public realm. MOYA’s visual design team again chose themes of day and night, showing residents, workers, and visitors engaged in pedestrian activity, outdoor entertainment, and shopping:

• Transfer jurisdiction of parks: Work with congress and the D.C. government to transfer parks and reservations to the city

• Renovate and activate public spaces: Program and manage parks and public spaces in partnership with the National Park Service, the BID and the D.C. government

• Establish a BID-affiliated nonprofit: Establish a nonprofit to fundraise for an enhanced downtown public realm

• Redesign Pennsylvania Avenue: Create a 21^st-century design with federal partners to create a vibrant, active corridor attracting retail

Human Services

At the outset of Vision 2027, the BID noted that according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, in 2016 there were 12,215 homeless individuals in the Washington D.C. Metro Area. According to the BID’s own 2016 count, of those, 126 were living on the streets downtown. Nearly half of individuals experiencing homelessness suffer from mental illness, substance abuse, or other chronic health/disability issues that can make finding essential services challenging.

‘Human Services’: Illustrations by Moya Design Partners for the DowntownDC BID’s Vision 2027

This year, the DowntownDC BID made four major recommendations to improve human services. MOYA’s accompanying illustrations promote diversity and dialogue in an interior setting reminiscent of the BID’s widely acclaimed, MOYA-designed, new DowntownDC Day Services Center for people experiencing homelessness:

• Expand permanent supportive housing: Increase the number of permanent supportive housing units available to individuals experiencing homelessness.

• Redevelop CCNV: Build partnerships to redevelop the site of the Community for Creative Non-Violence and provide better housing solutions and services for residents.

• Reestablish daytime services: Work with government and nonprofit partners to implement effective social services for people experiencing homelessness.

• Accelerate transfers to housing: Reduce the average timeframe to get individuals experiencing homelessness into permanent supportive housing.

Washington D.C. is unique among America’s cities. It’s a geopolitical power center, the keeper of our nation’s history, and a global economic engine in its own right. The DowntownDC BID believes D.C’s continued growth will be measured by how these strengths align with collaborative efforts in sustainability, resiliency, efficiency, and innovation. Moya Design Partners’ visual design team is proud of our contribution to this year’s Vision 2027 report. We look forward to continuing to help the BID design our city’s “Vision for the Future.”