Room With a View (of a room)

Wow. Somewhere in the development process someone is to blame for screwing up. Probably the responsibility lies with the building department, but the proposal should never have come to the table. The developer AND architect really should not have put money before impact... The other day I was walking around Seattle and found this little gem of lame planning:



Look at how close these two buildings are together! The completed one has been occupied for a few years now. Not sure if the building under construction was recorded/planned before people purchased their units in the condo tower, certainly I hope those buyers researched before signing. Either way, there a few along the way who should have stopped this mammoth screw up.


I'm thinking the buildings are no more that 9 feet apart at their closest, which is probably some ridiculous minimum in the code book - but that doesn't mean you should take advantage in this way. It's not good for the condo owners, it's not good for the future owners of the new building, and it's not good for anyone who even has to look at this failure.


I'm sure there are tons of dialogue and posts and news bits regarding this particular debacle. Another great post regarding a similar theme can be found here at hugeasscity.com. For sure, density is fundamental for a city to thrive. Though with density should come a heightened sensitivity to the space a building will occupy... with its neighbors.

Pike Pine Triangle Construction Updates

I've been taking advantage of Seattle's sunny warm weather as of late by walking around the neighborhood to capture images of the local construction projects. And there are many. But I'll focus on just two, with both of the following developments having previous posts in this blog. Please view those posts as well for my original missives. The first project is the Eleven Eleven East Pike development, designed by Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects.

What's great about this one is the use of materials and colors in combination with the architectural design elements, which together are stated to give homage to the automotive and industrial businesses that used to adorn the neighborhood. I'm also excited to see a block that is made up of many buildings, all with varying heights and styles. There are enough big-box entire block projects, so a balance is much appreciated.


As you can see from these images, they are super close to being finished. I'm pretty happy being that they've had the north sidewalk on Pike Street closed for far too long with this project. And with the completion of this project, the block is now home to four new developments all completed within the last couple years. A way different place than before, full of vibrant retail, eateries, and residents. Fortunately, there are still plenty of old buildings surrounding all the new ones, and they really add to the character and history of Capitol Hill.

The second project I wrote about in a post titled, "Designing Plazas and Public Spaces in Big Box Architecture" in which I gave my opinions on developments in which no public space is provided. This one balances in a middle ground, with a big-box footprint that still provides some off-sidewalk spaces. Designed by Runberg Architecture Group, and developed by barrientos, The Chloe is almost ready to top-off the framing...
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You'll notice how the footprint of the main building is "L" shaped, with the open space facing the street rather than the interior, thereby creating a nice pedestrian friendly presence. This approach creates the appearance of multiple buildings, yet still shares the same structure and facilities. And it brings a one story building into the fold, removing the looming large mass above and bringing the building down to human scale. Additionally, they've created a plaza-like space between the buildings, allowing for people to gather and socialize off-street.

Being only two blocks away from the Eleven Eleven development and its revitalized block means the neighborhood is starting to reach critical mass. There are a handful of other developments that have also recently been completed, or are in the early phases, all within the Pike Pine Triangle. Fortunately my house and office are just a couple blocks away as well, and I get my architectural eye candy. Who doesn't love construction?

Keeping Building Facades

This post is a follow up to my previous Keeping History from November 14, 2008. In that post I spoke about how the definition of historic (or what is deemed as historic) is directly tied to location and surroundings. With that comes the value of preserving what you can, and how you apply the historic notion to development. The Packard Building is a fine example of keeping something questionably historic in greater terms, but certainly worthy to be deemed historic based on the added value stemming from maintaining the character of a neighborhood.

I was walking by the project site the other day, so grabbed a few images showing the construction progress. From what I can tell, a fair amount of the below-grade work is complete. Soon we will start seeing the new structure rise behind the saved facade. It's a great time to view the site, as the old building facade seems to be balanced on not very much. Probably a bad time for an earthquake.

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On a sunny day the sun pierces through the openings where the windows once resided. On any day you can look through the openings and see the crane lowering and rising with rebar and concrete.

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Keeping History

Growing up in Boston means I'm used to lots of historical buildings making up a city. Living in Seattle means the city has to take what it can get. After all, when cities back East were building subway systems, Seattle in parts still had dirt roads. Urban renewal takes shape in many forms.

That said, there's still history in certain neighborhoods. Some younger than others, such as in Capitol Hill. A lot of the buildings that haven't been torn down for new construction stand about four stories tall, and are usually made of cmu and wood timber. There's a new development happening down the street from our offices, The Packard Building, and in a nice turn they are keeping the facade of the building. This is common when dealing with much older buildings, though not ones as young as this project... take a look below:


The old building beyond the face has been removed, and currently there's a large pit waiting to be shored and made into below grade parking. The new building will sit within the old building's facade, and rise above another few levels. I really like the look of the new building, and it fits in well with other recently completed projects in the neighborhood. I'm also a huge fan of setbacks, such as with the entrance courtyard shown in the photo to the right. You can currently see right through the large openings where the windows used to be, and see the clouds beyond. Hopefully we won't have an earthquake anytime soon!

Residential Style in Tower Form

Skipped a day of work recently during a perfect Seattle summer week and biked around the city. I had in mind my previous post, "Stuff I'm Digging (and not) ... Condo Tower Designs" regarding how a fair share of the new condo developments downtown are looking more like office buildings than residences. So as a quick follow up to the previous post I thought I'd add another project, one that I feel is very successful at creating the residential feel.

In the core of the city is rising the Escala condominium project. This tower is being developed by Lexas Companies of Seattle, and was designed by Thoryk Architecture of San Diego. Escala has been in the makings/construction for a long time. Perhaps due to the tight lot size being fully maximized, existing buildings in close proximity, and the extremely deep parking garage they had to dig and shore. They're now at the phase of the construction when the building shoots up quickly, that being the floors above the foundation and the retail - where each level repeats itself. The first thing you notice when you are at street level is the intimacy being created for the pedestrian. With the base is still covered in scaffolding, you can already start to feel the details and gathering spaces develop a sense of welcome. The picture shown here depicts a wide open space in front of the building, but in reality it's a fairly dense block and a relatively narrow street. Which I think makes the pedestrian consideration even more important to ground the building at street level and create a neighborhood feel (being that there are 30 plus stories looming above).

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The other aspect of the design helping to create the residential feel is the footprint of the building. Lots of balconies, curving faces, angled corners, and other details not found on office buildings. The building speaks residential. Hopefully they will tuck some cafes in the nooks and provide areas for outside eating. I found an old 2003 article written about urban living in Vancouver, Canada, detailing how the successful approach in the developments there was soon going to be adopted in US cities. We're now 5 years later, and certainly Seattle is benefiting from the lessons taught by Vancouver. Take a look at the article here. And please be sure to let me know your opinion about this post and the related previous... perhaps leave me a comment! Agree or disagree?

Our latest retail project is under construction

The upcoming retail store Bossi & Ich Ky is A Bollen Design's latest project. The store will be a high-end men's and women's fashion boutique. We're pretty excited as this is a very high profile project, and the client approved our entire design. Value engineering takes place when cuts are made to the best parts of plans (usually the most expensive) due to budget constraints. Clients want the moon, so you design it for them and they love it, but when they see how much it's going to cost they totally balk. Then when the project is complete, they moan about not having gone for it. Every once in a while you get a client like Bossi & Ich Ky that go for it, and everyone is rewarded!

When we started on the project we had a totally clean slate to work from. The only elements staying will be the spiral staircase and the upper loft area, which will become the office. We created a full set of construction documents (blueprints) full of details and lots of design elements. The space will be all custom built merchandisers and wall units, along with an eclectic mix of antique display tables, upholstered furniture for customers to sit on, an 18' tall fabric wall, and of course a few more surprises that you'll just have to see for yourself.

At time of this posting the demo work is long done, the lighting and electrical work have been completed (minus installing the fixtures), most of the merchandisers have been framed and drywall is being sanded. The custom cash wrap is next, then hardwood flooring, followed by a ton of finish work, paint, wallpaper, and a plethora of final details... We'll be off to the job site tomorrow for a site visit and will take some more progress photos to post.