Patano Studio Architecture has created a proposal for a 45-acre, two-mile park spanning over the top of the Interstate-5 freeway in Seattle. Called C.A.P., the plan “proposes a city-wide architectural infrastructure solution to multiple issues facing the fast growing city.”
Over the past century and a half, the city has undergone major changes, transforming essentially from a forest into an urban center, largely by removing topography and relocating it to create a “more suitable environment for euro-centric city building.”
In the early 1990s, a proposal called the Seattle Commons called for the creation of a centralized park with development on its periphery, and was ultimately put to rest. Now, the C.A.P. proposal seeks to revitalize some of the ideas from this plan, with the hopes of creating a significant public green space, even through difficulties posed by the densification of the urban core.
The park would act as a cap over the freeway, in the hopes of reducing noise pollution, better connecting larger portions of the city, improving air quality, and providing more public space.
In addition to the park, the plan also includes two phases of expansion for the Washington State Convention Center. This expansion would feature a 20,000 seat hybrid arena and convention space “situated over an existing transit stop with connections to light rail. The arena will house both an NBA and NHL team and on off-nights it can be reconfigured into smaller spaces that can be utilized by the Convention Center,” all with the capability of being used for conventions for 75% of the year.
C.A.P. additionally includes some plans for mixed development, which will incorporate affordable housing.
The plan is currently still under discussion in Seattle. Learn more about the project here.
News via Patano Studio Architecture.
