Outdoor Commercial Entertainment Malls: Disneyland or Genus Loci

Erin Berg

The West Coast population continues to grow and some of the most popular regions have become conglomerates of several auto-dominated municipalities that, from the eye of the driver, merge seamlessly. The backbones of these communities are freeways and the hearts of these communities are boulevards. Most of the time you leave your house, you are bound for your car door only to get out again when you have arrived at your specific destination. Therefore, a day-to-day experience involves little walking, only intended social encounters and a sensory experience limited to what is seen out of the windshield. Many people are not satisfied with this narrow experience and developers are recognizing a new market.
Outdoor commercial entertainment malls are gaining popularity and may soon pop up all over the country. The urban design techniques employed in these developments create a comfortable pedestrian experience and a vibrant urban landscape. They are places where you can park you car just one time, walk around, interact with other people, feel the sun, smell the restaurants and see the flowers. Santana Row is one of these developments. Although Santana Row shows us how good urban design can activate a place, it’s sense of place is contrived. Foreign imported artifacts create a Disneyland effect while the pear orchards previously on-site are forgotten with its authentic genus loci.

http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&rls=en-us&q=santana+row+map&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&split=0&gl=us&ei=n9u-SYNmivawA8zYxbYM&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&resnum=1&ct=image

University Heights Center for Community

Josho Somine
LARCH 598
Winter 2009
Final Site Assessment

Site Summary
The University Heights Center for Community (UHCC) occupies a full city block north and west of NE 50th St. and University Way NE in Seattle. A large old building, formerly an elementary school, occupies the center of the block, and is surrounded by parking lots and a variety of small open spaces. The building facilities are managed by a nonprofit organization, and several other organizations rent spaces inside. Some additional rooms are available for classes and events.
The spatial and temporal uses outside the building are similarly diverse. Paved parking makes up about 2/3 of all the open space, and has multiple tenants with jurisdiction over certain sections of the lots. One large lot is turned over to the district Farmers’ Market on Saturday mornings, which is heavily attended year-round. The site also contains 2 playgrounds, one private and one public, a community garden, a small enclosed lawn, and a public entrance plaza. (See site diagram and context diagram for details of the layout.)
The Center’s stated focus is “our local community, children, arts and education, and continuing education” , and they encourage a changeable variety of tenant organizations and activities. (See current list in Appendix A) Although there is an effort to be welcoming, there is also some conflict implicit with the “seedier” aspects of the adjoining neighborhood, which is reflected in an abundance of fencing and regulatory signage all around the site.

Slideshow:

Vacant Lots - Abandoned Potential

Leslie Batten

Vacant lots are scattered like patches throughout the city. Defined as "a lot with no permanent buildings", these lots take on any number of forms that allow for a variety of functions: habitat, garbage dump, exhibit space, water retention reservoir, community unifier, or just left over space. Most of us speed by without stopping to look, but with some exploration these spaces are more than just a lot devoid of a built structure. Each vacant space has a story to tell. They all have a history, an owner, passerby's and neighbors that shape these spaces. In turn, vacant spaces also influence their surroundings for better or worse. They are palimpsests of how we use the land over time, and allude to the future potential for urban renewal or redevelopment.

Many vacant lots are protected by a chain link fence that forms a barrier, as if to protect a valuable asset or to preserve its state of transition. While others remain open and unguarded. Some spaces indicate previous development with hints of foundations, or parking lots overgrown with grass and weeds. Others are neat, tidy spaces that look designed. In some cases these spaces provide a bit of nature in the midst of an otherwise built out and highly urban area. Others are in such a state of decay that they are wounds in the landscape and a source of outrage for their community. Still other vacant spaces provide for other temporary uses.

These are just a few vacant spaces scattered between Greenwood, Fremont, Ravenna and the University District. Many others with similar and unique traits are spread throughout the city, forming a connection between micro- and macro-urbanism. They too express a personality, a history, and hold a story that is more telling than just an empty lot.


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Tukwila: A River Runs Through It

Helen J. Wilson

For over 150 years, Tukwila has come of age around three themes: History, Transportation, and the Duwamish River. A panorama of the community’s past can be seen from the Interurban/Green River Bicycle Trail, which hugs the banks of the river as it loops and curves 13 miles through the heart of the city. Wayside markers, art installations, and parks commemorate successive waves of human arrival, and how they traveled through the landscape. In anticipation of its centennial in 2008, a historian was commissioned to record the city’s past for publication. On the trail with the book in hand, scene after scene comes alive with tribal legend, and stories of the early pioneers. As the inhabitants went from canoeing on the river to flying through on the interstate, different kinds of transportation modes have come and gone, leaving layers of artifacts to mark their passing. Tukwila has expended great effort to give voice to the myriad cultures that have influenced its landscape. As can be seen from the trail, it has fearlessly blended nature and industry to create a phenomenon that is part museum, part wilderness, and part art gallery. Come see landscape urbanism and historic preservation at its finest.


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Historic Façades Don’t Tell The Whole Story

Moghan Lyon

Locations: Cascade (South Lake Union), Queen Anne, Belltown


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Uniqueness, character and history are disappearing from the neighborhoods of Seattle. In the past, neighborhoods such as Cascade, Queen Anne and Belltown had such flavor and individuality; they are now being overrun by ordinary, mind-numbing buildings that are being built and found throughout the city and all over the country. Design originality is no longer as important as maximizing profit and space. The result of this development is the loss of historic layers which used to rekindle memories of stories and events that took place in these older neighborhoods long ago. The distinctiveness and inimitable icons of the diverse neighborhoods created an aggregate urbanism. A sense of ownership was created. These iconic neighborhoods, special in their own ways, came together like a puzzle to create the aggregate we know as Seattle. Seattle has always been considered a small city where differences were accepted and quirkiness was encouraged. Unfortunately, the aggregation of the neighborhoods and city have slowly dissolved. Development without thought of history and character has won out. Seattle is losing its appeal as a place where sticking out and standing apart from the rest of the crowd is no longer acceptable. Be bold, stand out, try something new and different!

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