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In an announcement video released last week, Andrew Grant Houston introduced himself as a “queer Black and Latino architect.” He is a regular fixture on Twitter as Ace the Architect where he covered this summer’s protests and meticulously picked apart the city’s budget. He frequently switches hats […] And now he’s running for mayor. — The Urbanist
Andrew Grant Houston's success can be drawn in part to his use of a "democracy voucher" program that has garnered more than $350,000 in donations for his upstart campaign thus far. His message has focused a lot on zoning laws and affordable housing and has drawn superlatives in a field packed with... View full entry
Native Americans have been systematically dispossessed of their ancestral lands for more than a century, thanks to federal land management policies. But a spate of new real estate projects highlights efforts to reclaim that territory, as tribes invest in land development in an effort to diversify their revenue base and support their members. — The Seattle Times
Only a handful of tribes have pursued ventures involving commercial property outside of gambling and many still reside in poverty-stricken reservations in the U.S. and Canada. A group from the Squamish Nation is behind Canada's largest development in Vancouver while others have made... View full entry
Controversy over the former Weyerhaeuser campus in Federal Way continues, as those interested in preserving the historical site urge for “responsible” development while the owners hold firm to current development designs.
The site [...] was purchased by Industrial Realty Group in 2016 for $70 million. [...] the nonprofit Save Weyerhaeuser Campus organization has advocated for environmental and historical preservation of the campus.
— Kent Reporter
Completed in 1972, the Weyerhaeuser Company's iconic former corporate campus in Federal Way, WA was designed by landscape architect Peter Walker, founding principal of Sasaki, Walker and Associates (SWA) and PWP Landscape Architecture, and Edward Charles Bassett, partner at Skidmore, Owings &... View full entry
For its tenth anniversary, the Seattle Design Festival, presented by Design in Public and AIA Seattle, will be held from August 15th to the 23rd. The nine-day festival regularly hosts over 30,000 visitors, including architects, designers, and business and civic leaders. The event explores how... View full entry
Architecture firms Weber Thompson of Seattle and MZA of Bellevue are helping supply face shields and goggles to fight the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic locally.
Over a two-week period, Weber Thompson plans to print 100 bands — the rigid plastic piece to which the clear face shield attaches to protect the wearer. The bands will be delivered to Seattle Makers, which will attach them and distribute the shields.
— Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce
According to the Seattle DJC, the group's goal is to provide 5,000 shields for "local hospitals, essential businesses and facilities, homeless shelter workers, and others fighting COVID-19. Weber Thompson is using their 3D printer to create the bands for the face shields, each takes... View full entry
A temporary field hospital for use by people unable to isolate and recover from COVID-19 in their own homes will be located at a soccer field in Shoreline, a city spokesman said.
The Shoreline Temporary Field Hospital, at 19030 First Ave N.E., will provide up to 200 beds, according to the city’s website. It will house “people exposed to, at risk of exposure, or becoming ill with the novel coronavirus..."
— The Seattle Times
According to The Seattle Times, the hospital will be on a turf soccer field that is on a school district property that is leased to the city. King County is creating temporary field hospitals at a number of locations for people who cannot remain in their homes or do not have a... View full entry
On Saturday, the Seattle Asian Art Museum will reopen after a two-year, $56 million restoration and renovation, unveiling new and modern spaces to share its extensive collection. The building is one of three associated with the Seattle Art Museum, and except for some minor additions, has not had a major renovation since its construction in 1933. — The New York Times
Aerial view of the museum in Seattle's Volunteer Park. Photo: © Tim Griffith Seattle-based firm LMN Architects, in collaboration with landscape architect Walker Macy, was in charge of the $56 million, 24-month-long renovation and expansion which includes a new glass-enclosed park lobby, a new... View full entry
This post is brought to you by Microsol Resources Microsol Resources, an Autodesk Platinum Partner and a premier provider of technology solutions to the building industry, will host its TECH Perspectives conference at the Seattle Art Museum on February 11, 2020. TECH Perspectives is Microsol... View full entry
Seattle-based Olson Kundig has unveiled new images of the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture in Seattle. Opened late last fall, the project challenges the traditional approach to museum design. Instead of concealing back-of-house operations, the design team, led by Tom Kundig, FAIA, RIBA... View full entry
At the direction of Mayor Jenny Durkan, the city’s Human Services Department is studying the possibility of mandatory biometric screening of homeless shelter and service clients, using fingerprints or other biometric markers to track the city’s homeless population as they move through the homelessness system. — C is for Crank
Independent journalist Erica Barnett reports on an ongoing study being undertaken by municipal officials in Seattle, where efforts to resolve the city's ongoing homelessness crisis could include using biometric tracking systems to log how individuals make use of public services. View full entry
A jury has awarded the Washington State Department of Transportation $57.2 million in damages, after a two-month trial over delays in the downtown Seattle Highway 99 tunnel project.
The verdict, reached Friday against the tunnel contractors in Thurston County Superior Court in Olympia, represents the entire amount the state requested at trial.
— Seattle Times
Remember Bertha, once the world's largest tunnel-boring machine which, very inconveniently, broke down in 2013 after hitting a pipe while digging the Seattle Tunnel, delaying the megaproject for more than two years? A jury just sided with the Washington State Department of Transportation that the... View full entry
Tall buildings do more than just help shape skylines. The architects who design these buildings, for example, often strive to create the most "alluring" structures using sometimes mind-boggling structural feats. The corporations and developers who commission these towers, on the other hand, seek... View full entry
Since April, the gates have been locked against the city and its contractors, and only a few people let in. The case manager’s office has sat empty since Aug. 5, and no one has left the village for permanent housing since at least July.
Now, after an almost seven-month stalemate, the city announced Tuesday it won’t fund the village after December, saying it’s out of compliance with its contract.
— The Seattle Times
In a city-issued press release, Seattle spokesperson Will Lemke writes, “The village will no longer operate after Dec. 31, 2019, and the property will be returned to Seattle City Light.” City officials, according to The Seattle Times, will help offer “new shelter or housing... View full entry
Living in a smart home neighborhood, the Fergusons experience both convenience and surveillance. And that's typical in Black Diamond, where Lennar Homes offers smart homes as part of a 4,800 unit development that includes other builders. This neighborhood isn't a one off. There are smart home developments in suburbs outside of cities such as Miami and San Francisco. Lennar is making Amazon tech standard on each of the 45,000 homes it builds this year. — NPR
Families in a Lennar Homes development in the Seattle suburb of Black Diamond are settling into their newly built and Amazon smart technology-equipped homes — some to their excitement, others fearing constant surveillance. "In this community, there are smart homes on one side of the street... View full entry
With Seattle's housing costs increasingly out of reach, it's no surprise that Amazon, one of Seattle's largest employers, is dabbling in housing issues itself. According to a recent article by Aria Bendix of Business Insider, Amazon is following through in a surprising way: By building a homeless... View full entry
