Fairfax, Virgina, located just outside Washington, D.C. is one of the largest growing suburban areas in the country. In older parts of Fairfax County, you can find pockets of residential neighborhoods amongst shopping centers and commercial areas. Further out, residential areas grow larger and are grouped together, more separated from shopping centers and commercial areas. In essence, the zoning becomes larger and more separated and sprawled. This sprawl makes it very difficult to go from residential areas to shopping centers by means of anything but a car. Shopping centers also grow in size and cluster together as well; therefore a person intending to shop would only have to drive to one area to get their shopping done. However, within these areas, shopping centers are sprawled apart so one still has to drive short distances between them.
A study of an aerial of Fairfax shows these pockets of zones and destinations.
In Fairfax, Fair Oaks Mall was one of the first one-stop shopping places. Following this development was Fair Lakes Shopping Center, the biggest big box store strip malls in the region, only five minutes away. Over time, othe retail strip malls started popping up connecting these two main centers. There is no way to travel within this region without a car.
Fairfax Corner, a new urban lifestyle center built in the past six years, is an innovative new concept. It is located in a urban area of Fairfax (5 minutes from both Fair Lakes Shopping Center and Fair Oaks Mall) within walking distance from nearby apartment complexes. As most of its visitors come by car, Fairfax Corner provides consolidated parking lots located close to entry/exit roadways, but within walking distance to a myriad of program: retail, restaurants, residential, commercial, and entertainment. It has enough programmatic elements to keep one busy for a whole day. This idea that a solution to suburban sprawl are regionalized long-term destinations for visitors is expressed through a weaving model.
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