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Commissioners press applicant to further reduce visual prominence of mechanical penthouse
Summary
While supporting the hospital expansion, commissioners repeatedly urged the applicant to study ways to minimize the visible mechanical screening and reconsider material choices that make the penthouse a dominant element on some elevations.
Commissioners who supported the Dublin Methodist Hospital expansion commended many of the applicant’s revisions but raised repeated concerns about the visual prominence of the mechanical penthouse and the choice of materials for the screening.
During questions and deliberation, multiple commissioners described the upper parapet and mechanical screening as visually dominant on some elevations and asked whether the penthouse could be moved or the screening treated with different materials. “The elevation is so dominated by that mechanical screening,” one commissioner said, urging the applicant to explore bringing masonry higher or otherwise integrating the screening into the architectural composition.
Architect Christina Bertucci said the team has raised parapets and wrapped brick asymmetrically to conceal the penthouse and that additional options were explored; she said moving the penthouse inward would be costly and constrained by stair and elevator locations. The project team told the commission it would study opportunities to reduce the metal appearance and work with staff at the permit stage.
The commission’s final motion to approve the amended final development plan included the direction that the applicant continue to work with planning and engineering on outstanding technical comments during the building permit process, which is the stage where detailed screening materials and final elevations will be resolved.
