Creating “green street edges” was the challenge presented by Seattle Public Utilities (SPU), with a long connective arterial in the Magnolia neighborhood as our testing ground.
The project included understanding and communicating the local watershed and neighborhood context, and then characterizing the various typical street conditions. UW landscape architecture and planning students developed prototypical proposals for treatment of the street and parking strips, addressing: pedestrian and bicycle transportation, rainwater harvesting, stormwater detention and treatment, urban forestry, community art, markers and gathering spaces, habitat features and local ecologies.
As a planning graduate student Heather Flint Chatto developed landscape and urban design interventions for the commercial entry to the Magnolia neighborhood corridor. Solutions integrated a phased approaches for easy, moderate and difficult alternatives to suit property owner budgets and conditions and provided the Client (Seattle Public Utilities) with a re-envisioned the project gateway highlighting vibrant green infrastructure, green roofs, stormwater planters, intersection art, permeable paving, central cistern for water capture and reuse supported by solar powered pumps atop streetlights. The project involved site visits, precedent studies, hydrology and grading analysis, community presentations, plant palette development, sections, site plans, prototype diagrams and a final report.
FORAGE DESIGN + PLANNING 