§ 20-1068. Facade transparency.

Fifty percent of the first floor facade that is viewed by the public shall be designed to include transparent windows and/or doors to minimize expanses of blank walls. (Reflective glass is not permitted.) If the building is a one-story design and the first floor elevation exceeds 12 feet, then only the first 12 feet in building height shall be included in calculating the facade area.

The remaining 50 percent of the first floor facade that is viewed by the public shall be designed to include any or all of the following:

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Landscape materials (plant material, vertical trellis with vines, planter boxes, etc.).

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Architectural detailing and articulation that provides texture on the facade and/or parking structure openings.

Facade Transparency

For buildings with a use or function that does not readily allow windows, e.g., cooler or freezer areas, mechanical rooms, security areas, storage areas or warehouse or manufacturing space in commercial or industrial buildings, the fenestration standards may be reduced. However, the architecture detailing must be provided by the use of upper level windows, the use of spandrel glass or architectural detailing which provides arches, patterning, recesses and shadowing that provide aesthetic interest.

Architectural detailing may include such things as change in materials, change in color, and other significant visual relief provided in a manner or at intervals in keeping with the size, mass, and scale of the wall. Architectural detailing may include arcades, arches, bosses, buttresses, clerestories, colonnades, columns, corbeling, loggias, pilasters, portals, quoins, silos, tiling and towers. Additional architectural elements may include the use of awnings, canopies, embrasures, lunettes, plant boxes, recesses and shutters.

For buildings that were built prior to September 24, 2001, the city will encourage the use of transparent windows or doors as part of any building expansion. However provided the expansion, at a minimum, maintains the existing patterns and details of the existing building architecture, the proposed expansion would not be required to meet the 50 percent transparency requirement.

(Ord. No. 327, § 1, 9-24-01; Ord. No. 377, § 128, 5-24-04; Ord. No. 452, § 2, 7-9-07)