crosscut.com : Architecture / Design

The Olympics, Seattle-style

Crosscut — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 19:00:01 PDT

Maybe what we need around here, to unstick our sluggish planning and get some major projects built, is a Summer Olympics. Or, better, a Phantom Olympics that delivers the benefits but without the Olympics. Calm down, and let me try a mostly-in-jest thought-experiment.

A suburban sucker's bet

Crosscut — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:46:01 PDT

An interesting follow-up to my story last week on the future of suburbia is a profile of Merced, Calif., in the Aug. 24 issue of The New York Times. Skeptical that some burbs might become the new ghost towns? Check out the picture of the Riverstone housing development that accompanies this story, of an unfinished project baking in the sun and dirty air of a boomtown gone bust.

Lake Union Park: a first assessment

Crosscut — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 04:00:01 PDT

Only a small part is done, and there are some missed opportunities. But the way South Lake Union opens up from the edges of the park is stunning and bold. The design pulls off the difficult trick of incorporating a working waterfront with a public park.

The future of 'nowhere'

Crosscut — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 05:00:01 PDT

Urban planners love to hate the suburbs, but what's going to become of them? Will Bellevue eventually become a post-carbon ghost town or a new urban hybrid? Some reflections on the urban/suburban debate.

LEED-ing the way to sustainability

Crosscut — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 05:00:01 PDT

It seems like every month, a new trend or concept emerges in Seattle's green scene. But what does Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design have to do with the building boom in Seattle, and how does it work? Consider this the everyman's guide to the LEED process.

Seattle has a streetcar named Desired

Crosscut — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:00:01 PDT

Minneapolis is the latest city to develop Portland-envy and, thanks to the Portland-imitating Seattle Streetcar, a little Seattle-envy as well. Minneapolis is now considering a starter-streetcar line, with maybe six more to follow. Minnpost.com writer Steve Berg recently visited the Northwest cities, rode and praised the streetcars, and was "reminded again how far behind downtown Minneapolis has fallen."

Seattle Public Schools flunks civics

Crosscut — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 05:01:01 PDT

What does it teach kids to slaughter a grove of mature trees in a city whose urban forest is already in crisis? A city which will need a new generation to help fix serious environmental problems like cleaning up Puget Sound and dealing with cancer-causing pollution?

Bellevue's 'Little Eichmann'

Crosscut — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 05:00:01 PDT

Finding the banality of Nazi evil close to home.

Walkability is nice, but it's not making us skinny

Crosscut — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 10:49:01 PDT

Current theory says that a city's walkability promotes health and will impact the fight against obesity. The claim is that America's weight problem can be helped by making cities more pedestrian-friendly. It should follow, then, that our most dense and walkable cities are where the skinny people are, right? Well, not really.

To lower housing prices, look at Chicago

Crosscut — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 17:31:01 PDT

Median condominium prices in Chicago, notes Harvard urban economist Edward Glaeser, are $232,000. That's very low, even a shade under those in Trenton, N.J. (The King County median price for condos is $285,000.) What do those smart urbanists in Chicago know about affordability?

A building worthy of greenery

Crosscut — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 05:00:01 PDT

Vancouver's in-city oasis, VanDusen Botanical Garden, hopes to go green big-time with a $23 million visitor center that could be the region's first structure to meet the most rigid sustainability standards.

Sausage Links, tree-cutting edition

Crosscut — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:09:01 PDT

Timber! The Seattle Times has a series of special reports about the lack of oversight in the logging industry and the cost to state taxpayers. According to the report, no one checked when Weyerhaeuser started clear-cutting unstable slopes, some of which eventually slid and cost millions of dollars to clean up. Naturally, David Goldstein at Horse's Ass blames Republican-led deregulation. ...

Googie resurrected in Ballard?

Crosscut — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 09:00:01 PDT

The group Sustainable Ballard is sponsoring a bike rack design contest. The winners will have their racks made and installed at key neighborhood locations. Sustainable Ballard says there is a "dearth" of bike racks in Square Head City. Winners of the competition will be announced at the Ballard SeafoodFest July 26-27.

Little boxes, crammed together

Crosscut — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 05:00:01 PDT

Like the skinny houses of two decades ago, dense townhouse projects seem to be everywhere, and they look terrible. An architect and former Seattle City Council member says Seattle can do better.

A design-savvy city defined

Crosscut — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 05:00:01 PDT

A report lays out a road map, backed by polling that revealed surprising attitudes of Seattleites and Portlanders about their hometown architecture.

Last stand for the Alaskan Way Viaduct

Crosscut — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 20:00:01 PDT

As the process to replace or remove Seattle's elevated waterfront freeway grinds on, a last-ditch pitch is being made to keep it standing.

Go, Nuke Building!

Crosscut — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:37:01 PDT

The University of Washington's More Hall Annex, aka the Nuclear Reactor Building, has become a cause celeb for fans of mid-century modern architecture and atomic history. The UW is planning to demolish the building, but a graduate student, Abby Martin, has mounted an effort to get the structure listed on the National Historic Register of Historic Places. Time seemed to be running out, but it ain't over yet.

The Rose City blooms while the Emerald City fades

Crosscut — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 05:00:01 PDT

Portland and Seattle are among the top 10 "best-designed" urban areas, but Seattle ranks lower in part because of its record on historic preservation.

The 100-year gamble to save our quality of life

Crosscut — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 05:00:01 PDT

A close look at the ambitious "Cascade Agenda," which hopes to preserve the central Puget Sound region's natural systems from a Pugetopolis that sprawls all the way to the Cascades. The mechanisms are known, but it's not clear they can work well enough or soon enough.

When it comes to energy consumption, what really drives change?

Crosscut — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:00:01 PDT

A global lecture series sponsored by design consulting firm Arup, "Drivers of Change," examines what life would be like in 2050, and what that means for the current energy crisis.