Framing the urban design issue

The world's largest foundation, The Gates Foundation, is starting to plan a new headquarters on twelve acres of very central urban Seattle. Its headquarters could become — both because of the prominent location and also the cachet of the Gates Foundation — a model for institutional urban redevelopment. Its headquarters could and should manifest the goals of the Foundation in its very design. To me that means it should be a part of the city fabric, not merely located in the city as an applique.

Locals are starting to anticipate the design with only tepid curiousity. (Read the comments.)

But will Seattleites understand the importance of framing the design goal? As either producing a "campus," isolated from the city, or better, a new urban neighborhood heavily-influenced by one institution? Not likely. I blogged about the question here: Why call it a campus? and I recommend that you follow the links.

Comments

[five toed sloth]

It seems to me that that particular location is a very tough place to join the urban fabric as there isn't one there to begin with. There are walls to east and west - Hwy. 99 and Seattle Center - which limit the growth of a dense urban feel around that lot. There's a dream scenario where the Gates Foundation becomes the anchor of a "corridor" of urban life from Denny to Mercer between those two barriers, but it would be a long time before that change would be complete. Of course, if anyone has the resources to acheive it, it would be Gates.

However, that doesn't appear to be their goal. Take a look a couple of their nine design principles:

• the edges of the campus must be well defined and landscaped
  
• the design must create a sense of place that reflects the foundation’s work in health and learning
  

Looks like they have already explicitly opted for the "remote campus" feel.

[KIETH Nissen]

Good Comments, both David and 5TS. The parking garage is not encouraging; more of the "unrelated
curve element" that has seized the architectural imagination the past few years. If they get some big trees on it I think it will look OK.