Connection & Circulation

Photo Diary: shared city 
Rao Fu, Tianshi Guo

Hi, great. here is the Harbor Steps. 

Located in the central downtown Seattle, Harbor steps is the popular residential area. Many apartments and companies settle down around the area. Our group went to there at Sunday morning; it is not a typical busy time as weekdays. But we still see and feel a quiet urban “corner garden” in busy Seattle.
Boundaries and connections
There is no clear boundary to define the open space, except the steps. Besides the Seattle historical area, facing to the Pike Market Place, Harbor steps stands as a symbol of modern Seattle. We started the observation from the high points, took stairs all the way down to waterfront.
Circulation and sharing city
The steps itself is the main path networking with the other part of the city. all kinds of people walking through the steps with all the purposes.


The white collars views this steps as the relax space besides their working places.
Visitors come to the steps as a scenic point in Seattle. Residents living there view the steps as their home. Based on our observation, children like this steps because the falling water go along the steps. Mosaic material and lovely water sounds not only attract children to play within it, but also attract adults to enjoy the rhythm of the water.

According to our experience, The Harbor steps worked as an “escape-garden”. Along the change of the stairs, the view of city changes. Down to the stairs, close view of the ferry station and Waterfront Park, it seems you standing at the lower part of the downtown. However, when you climb up to the high point of the steps, it is totally different view and experience of the city.

Treatment to the Chaos

Treatment to the chaos in Downtown Seattle

Project: Freeway Park

Location: Boundary North by Union and on the south by Spring Street. East to First Hill, west to the Seattle's financial center.

Observation time: 01/ 18, 2013, Friday, 10:00-12:00am

Participants: Dian (Nikky) Zhang, Xiaoyang Zhu, Yuan (Evan) Lin.

Observation:
1. Context: The park locates in the center of downtown Seattle. The !-5 Freeway and The 8th Ave go through the park. There is a large city-owned parking lot underneath the park. And the boundary is defined by Washington State Convention and Trade Center.
2. Activities: There are 2 main open spaces and many pedestrian made of concrete. in this park. the activities include waling, jogging, gathering, passing through and getting into the building.
3. Plants: In order to reduce the pollution from the freeway, the designer selected some native evergreen shrubs and trees which have a high ability to resist the toxic dirt and noise. There are some other colorful plants to indicate seasonal change.
4. Texture: The artificial part in this park is purely grey concrete, with some obvious red movable chair. Some of the plants would turn yellow and hard, which makes a big contrast between hard and soft. Aesthetically, the interact of each material is well presented.
5. Plans create the space: Most of the plants grow high and dense to enclose the road and define the boundary, while there are also some individual trees with beautiful appearance standing on a wide and flat grass field.

Conclusion:
Freeway Park is a wise design treating the complex context around. The freeway and other streets through the park can also be regarded as a mimic aspect of nature. The project blurs the boundary of what is natural process and what is urban.

On a Dark and Stormy Saturday Afternoon...

Matt S, Schell L, Seth D

Although we explored Seattle on a Saturday afternoon (1/19/2013, 1:30-4 pm), it was too cold for many people to be out and about. This limited us to looking for ways spaces were being shared without human interaction. We’re confident our pictures are quality examples of “city sharing”.

The weather in Seattle has a very direct effect on the utilization of its public spaces. The tendency for overcast weather means parks and recreational areas are subject to different uses. The climate here introduces an interesting method of sharing the city.

The first location was a mountain bike park under I-5, near the southbound exit 168. Originally used by homeless people, volunteers transformed the space into a place to ride without needing to drive out of the city. We noticed that it was clearly still used as sleeping place for some. This means the space beneath the freeway is used for sleeping and mountain biking.

We continued on to Capitol Hill, where we found a construction site bordering Carl Anderson Park. The entire perimeter of the park had a two story solid wall around it, on which was a mural of graffiti-style artwork. Since the site neighbors the park and several blocks of housing, the artwork helped mitigate the unpleasantness of being next to a large-scale construction site.

We took an obligatory picture of the Jimi Hendrix statue. We also found the Elvis Presley statue tucked away in a hotel lobby area. Although the location was probably public space, it struck us how hidden Elvis was compared to Jimi even though both were life-size bronze statues.

As we kept searching around Capitol Hill, we found a bike shop using the sidewalk to store some of its inventory. We wonder if they have ever been reprimanded for using public space for private property.

On the walk back to the car, we saw some BMX’ers using the plaza in front of Seattle Central Community College to practice riding. No one seemed to mind since it was a Saturday and the brick structures were perfect size for a skilled BMX rider.