The 6-Point Visual Check applies lessons learned from places like Galena, Illinois (often cited as one of the most beautiful Main Streets) to improve podium building performance. Photo courtesy of Street Design, by Victor Dover and John Massengale.

Design

Six-point visual check for a better downtown

When looking at façades, six questions asked together can point you toward new buildings that increase downtown vibrancy.

ADAM BONOSKY FEB. 24, 2025

Our downtowns are seeing more and more podium buildings (4 over 1’s, 5 over 1’s, pedestal buildings). Given building codes, the demand for housing, and financing it is easy to see why. The problem with a vast majority of what we are seeing is that the buildings are needlessly underperforming. They might be in the right place, but they aren’t interesting; they could be anywhere. They aren’t buildings that make streets worth handing off to future generations.

A majority of podium buildings are needlessly underperforming and are not making worthwhile places.

There are municipalities, developers, and architects who are trying to address this. Municipalities have tried to remedy the situation by making use of certain regulations or guidelines. The problem is that these types of requirements have been used in the past and they are the same ones that have contributed to this situation.

Developers and architects who care are trying to make better performing buildings, but are unsure of where to start. The common denominator with these groups is that their efforts are all coming from good intentions, but they are focusing on the wrong elements.

The good news is that it is possible to remedy this through the 6-Point Visual Check. When looking at a façade, there are six questions we should ask ourselves. These questions, and the ways they are answered can point us in the right direction toward making podium buildings that add to our downtowns.

To only focus on one check or leave one out is not enough to get better façades. Each is related to the other and each check needs to be considered, or the exercise will be a waste of time.

This approach can also be used to improve our entire downtowns by considering façades together as part of a whole composition rather than separate buildings.

So what is the 6-Point Visual check and what does it look like? This approach is outlined below, along with example images to show how this can be done for any main street.

Check 1: Are there many simple, distinct façades?

This is one is relatively easy to tell. Does it appear that that are multiple buildings with simple volumes that make up the street, or is it one large, long façade that tries to use color, materials, and a lot of pushing and pulling of the building volume or complicated shapes to try to make it interesting? If there appear to be many distinct façades that are made up of simple volumes, then you are in good shape.

In this example, there are few, distinct façades. Attempts were made by pushing and pulling the façade volume and colors, but these do not create distinct façades.

Check 2: Do façades have a base-middle-top?

When you look at the façades on the street, do they have an easily identifiable base, middle, and top, or does the façade look more like spaghetti? I love pasta, but it does not make good façades. A base-middle-top organization is a simple approach that nonetheless helps the street walls feel more cohesive.

The building on the right is more spaghetti than a base-middle-top organization, making the experience on the street confusing.

Check 3: Are there vertically-oriented, and aligned openings?

Openings are anything that creates an opening in the façade such as windows, doors, storefronts, etc. A vast majority of windows in sought-out streets are oriented vertically and align vertically as well. Differences in the patterns that the openings make, their proportions, sizes, shapes, etc. help emphasize the distinct façades. Are the openings on the façades in your downtown vertically oriented, are they vertically aligned, and do they help emphasize the distinct façades?

Here the windows do have some vertical orientation and alignment, but there are no patterns to help emphasize distinct façades.

Check 4: Do façades spend more energy on major details than façade volumes?

Major details are the framing of the façade and its details. These can be columns, beams, posts, the outlines of cornices, window sills, opening headers, caps, and awnings. Places that are more dynamic and vibrant have building façades that spend more time (read more money) designing these types of details than time (and money) on façade volumes that push and pull and have many angles.

While checking for major details, notice when they have direct relationships between other facades. This could be a cap detail, the top of a storefront, or a shadow line that aligns with other similar details on the neighboring façade. Vibrant streets tend to have few of these relationships, but when they do occur, they tend to be horizontal and at the top and bottom of façades and a few at places like storefronts or shadow lines. Does your downtown have these? Are there few of them? Are they mostly horizontal? And do the tops and bottoms of building façades tend to align while other relationships break and change, or do the buildings push and pull too much or does everything align?

There are very few major details here. Most of the design energy (and cost) has been focused on pushing and pulling façades and applying elements for a spaghetti organization. There are too many direct relationships, they tend to be vertical rather than horizontal, and nearly everything aligns.

Check 5: Do façades spend more energy on fine details than façade volumes and major details?

Fine details are the details that are typically contained within the major details. These can be ornamental carvings, brick patterns, mouldings, brackets, window details, etc. Do you see much more design time (and money) spent on the fine details than on façade volumes and major details?

There is significantly less attention to design time (and money) on fine details than façade volume and a spaghetti organization.

Check 6: Are there moments of pause or focus in your view?

Having a moment of pause or focus enhances a sense of place. In grid street patterns, this may be in the form of a plaza in front of a tower on an important building or a pattern of grid that breaks up the monotony. In more organic patterns this may be at a bend in the street that highlights a significant building. You can tell if you have this if you look at the skyline on your street. If you look at the street skyline, can you pinpoint a shape that draws your focus? Are there very few of them, or are there too many?

While grids can make it difficult to create a moment of focus, opportunities to do so are not used here.

Wrapping It Up

Podium buildings have become a ubiquitous tool in addressing housing needs, however they tend to detract from the potential of our downtown streets. Responses to this, while well-intentioned, are partly responsible for the problem in the first place. If we want to add to the vibrancy of our streets and public spaces, then we need to reconsider how we evaluate our façades as part of a whole. The 6-Point Visual Check provides a way for us to build more interesting, unique, and vibrant downtowns.

The image on the left shows the street as it exists. The image on the right applies the principles from the 6-Point Visual Check to improve the building on the right of the scene.

Adam is a certified planner, licensed architect, and Urban Guild member focusing on neighborhood revitalization, TOD, suburban retrofit, highways to boulevards, and more with SWBR in Rochester, NY. He is an elected village trustee in Fairport, NY.

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