IMAGE © MITHUN
On the Seattle Center campus, which sees five million visitors each year, KCTS 9 will amplify its community-based mission with a site design that demonstrates best practices for urban agriculture, water, waste and energy systems.
One example is Mithun’s design for the streetscape of Taylor 28, a multi-family housing development in Seattle’s Denny Triangle neighborhood, which sets a new precedent for high performance urban streetscape design. The street was transformed into usable public open space through a collaborative process between the design team, city departments and the owner. The team coordinated a unique rainwater approach to the streetscape design by incorporating infiltration planting areas throughout, achieving the goal of zero-discharge for a 25-year storm event. The results are a stunning linear park that sets the standard for the next five blocks of redevelopment, providing a much-needed oasis for the many families who live in the building and employees who work nearby.1
free maintenance, are available for use and currently being piloted as a certification system that is likely to be managed by the same organization as LEED®. The Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITEStm) has devised a rating tool to outline these best practices, which have been vetted by national experts and public input over the last five years.2 Washington State is home to eleven SITES pilot projects, including two parks and several public spaces. KCTS 9, a public television station, is one of those pilot projects located at the edge of Seattle Center, one of Seattle’s largest urban public spaces. The project received a Kresge grant to explore how the site can expand on the station’s commitment to the community through its programs supporting local food and Puget Sound water quality. A rooftop organic garden will serve as a backdrop for cooking shows and interviews that overlook the new Gates Foundation Campus and the Space Needle. RESPONDING TO HEALTH NEEDS Apart from environmental and fiscal performance, parks are evolving into local foodsheds, as communities seek to mitigate the combined effect of fast food and soft drinks with increasing time spent by children doing sedentary activities. Type II diabetes3, overwhelming numbers of obesity4, and hours of daily “screen time”5 are becoming the nation’s top health issues, with children and teens making up the largest affected demographic. In response to these growing health issues, cities are partnering with social pioneers like Gary Nabhan, Richard Louv, and Robin Moore to enact local programs such as “Children’s Outdoor Bill of Rights” and the “No Child Left Inside” movement to encourage exercise and social cohesion while reversing the trend of disconnection with the outdoors and declining health.
Just as LEED® requirements for using FSC-certified wood or calculating the energy performance and the Parks not only serve a direct role in the fight to increase recycled content of materials slowly became our stanchildren’s level of exercise—they also help to mitigate dard operating procedure, best practices for sustainurban food deserts, a threat that occurs most often in able sites are gathering steam and influencing the market. These best practices, which address issues such as levels of biomass, soil volume per tree, and pesticide 2. www.sustainablesites.org 1. Details about Taylor 28’s performance and other case study examples can be found at www.lafoundation.org
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3. www.cdc.gov/diabetes/projects/cda2.htm 4. www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/obesity 5. www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/obesity/wecan/news-events/matte4.htm
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