Nestled in Downtown Westminster, Colorado, the Westminster Woonerf is a 30’-wide, 410’-long public corridor that serves as the adjacent townhomes’ front door and the residents’ exterior space for gathering and socializing. The north and south ends of the corridor provide alley connections to the surrounding public streets, while the middle of the corridor is the dedicated pedestrian space—the “woonerf.”

The woonerf divides into three zones: gateway, hallway, and central space, linked by their use of pavers with each zone individually characterized by the layout pattern and paver color mix. The gateway zone at each end of the woonerf are bookended by custom gateway structures that illuminate with a linear LED light strip on the inside faces and star the Downtown Westminster’s branding color palette. The hallway zone contains multiple pockets of seating on both sides, with festoon lighting that creates the essence of a ceiling and paver insets that demarcate cornhole boards. The central space is defined by a 24’ square shade structure, featuring retractable shade sails and an 8’x8’ chessboard paver inset centered below the structure.

The primary constraint was that the design needed to incorporate a myriad of utility infrastructure serving the adjacent townhomes as well as provide required clearances and criteria to allow for emergency and maintenance vehicles. Despite these constraints, we designed an intimate gathering space that feels appropriately scaled and pedestrian-first.