The most popular ideas became the nucleus of the Charles Avenue Friendly Street

plan, which emphasized four street improvements: (1) Better-marked crosswalks at

busy intersections; (2) Traffic circles, which help slow the speed of vehicles
at low-volume intersections; (3) Medians and other modifications at busy interse
ctions, which provide refuge for pedestrians and bicyclists crossing the street;
(4) A raised intersection, and sidewalks bumping out into the streets at select
locations.
a land bridge, wider sidewalks and narrower car lanes, bike lanes, better winte
r maintenance, greater attention to disabled users, traffic calming, making it f
eel more like a public space, and adding a cultural wall to celebrate the histor
y and art of the Rondo community.
Here are the chief lessons of Friendly Streets Success, which can be applied in
other communities around the country.
Rethink community engagement. It s no longer good enough to simply present neighbo
rhood people with a plan, and ask them to approve it. Residents are the world s le
ading authorities on what their communities need. They must be involved in the p
lanning of a project from the very start. Their ideas and goals must be given se
rious consideration every step of the way.
Show how new ideas work. Installing temporary prototypes of proposed improvement
s lets everyone get a feel for how well they work. It can dispel unwarranted fea
rs and reveal potential problems.
Recognize how things are connected. Social, economic, cultural and psychological
issues are all linked. A better sidewalk or walking trail can boost economic op
portunity, racial inclusion and community aspirations as well as transportation.
When you understand all that is at play with a given project, you ll get more suc
cessful outcomes for everyone.
Take art seriously. Art is not a frill it s indispensible in helping everyone reimag
ine their communities, and discovering new approaches to old problems. Asking peo
ple to draw or paint or act out what they would like to see in their neighborhoo
d allows everyone to think differently and find new inspiration, notes Robyn Hend
rix, arts organizer for the Friendly Streets Initiative (FSI) from 2014 to 2016.
The arts activities brought kids and families out, and created a festival qualit
y that also drew more low-income people and people of color, adds FSI director La
rs Christiansen.
Work with the community. Find out who are the leaders, which may not be who you
expect. Learn about neighborhood concerns. Speak their language (literally and f
iguratively). Listen.
Be flexible. No community visioning method is universal. What works in one place
may flounder just a few blocks away. Discover the tools the community itself us
es.
Make it fun. A feeling of festivity, levity and wonder enliven the conversations
about public spaces, concludes Christiansen. You need a sense of play in everythin
g you do. FSI events have included mini-golf, living statues, chalk drawing, flag
making and lots of music and food.
http://www.pps.org/reference/livememtraffic/
http://www.pps.org/reference/the-power-of-10/
http://www.pps.org/projects/placemaking-at-the-middletown-riverfront/

February 14, 2008

Dead-end street to get an urban makeover

Yale Campus will focus on pedestrians, open space and enriching the environment
By NICK MCDANIEL
NBBJ
mug
McDaniel
How can we create an urban office campus that acts sustainably, improves the pub
lic realm and makes a beautiful workplace? This is the question that the Yale Ca
mpus development and design team asked itself at the beginning of the design pro
cess.
The Yale Campus is a 776,000-square-foot office, retail, biotech and life-scienc
es project in South Lake Union being developed by The Blume Co. The campus has t
wo parts. Yale Campus North will be located on two blocks between Eastlake and P
ontius avenues, north of Mercer Street. Yale Campus South will be located on the
full block bounded by Pontius, Mercer, Yale Avenue and Republican Street.
The project will provide 201,000 square feet of office space in two existing bui
ldings and 575,000 square feet of office and retail in four new buildings.
The design team developed three major strategies to create sustainable and beaut
iful designs that enrich the tenants, the buildings and the neighborhood.
Take back the street
Image courtesy of NBBJ/Crystal
Bioswales will flank the streets around Yale Campus South and filter stormwater
runoff. The swales also buffer the plaza and sidewalk from the street.
The Blume Co. embraced the concept that lively pedestrian-oriented streets are k
ey to making livable urban neighborhoods, and the Yale Campus will extend the vi
tal retail area that starts several blocks south at REI and Alley24.
Yale Campus North takes the transformation of the street one step further by cha
nging a dead-end block into a woonerf, which is a Dutch term that means a street fo
r living.
In a woonerf, pedestrians take precedence over cars. Speed limits, for example,
are set extremely low and other design features are intended to slow down cars.
The hard lines between the street and sidewalk blur, making the street into a la
rge plaza, integrating new construction with the existing campus buildings.
Because this block of Yale dead-ends into the Interstate 5 on-ramps and traffic
is limited, it creates an opportunity to transform the car-oriented street into
a beautiful woonerf or plaza. This strategy reflects Seattle Department of Trans
portation s recognition that streets serve more than cars
they serve people and ne
ighborhoods.
Interestingly, the design tactics that are being used to slow down the vehicular
traffic in the woonerf tie directly to the Yale Campus second big strategy, whic
h focuses on cleaning stormwater runoff through natural filtration.
Within the plaza cars are slowed down by a series of runnels
small troughs that
carry captured water from the adjacent building rooftops and paved surfaces. The
se runnels carry the water in the street to a number of large planting beds that
use plants to filter water.
The high-visibility striping of the runnels and the change in texture of the roa
d surface are among the important traffic-calming strategies of the woonerf.

swale

idea

Yale Campus South is also designed to add valuable open space to the neighborhoo
d.
Instead of a woonerf, a plaza cuts through the middle of the block from east to
west. Here again, water is collected from the rooftops of adjacent buildings and
the outdoor plaza and distributed to two bioswales (think of your old fashioned
drainage ditch with lovely plantings here).
The project will include two swales that run between the street and the sidewalk
along Yale and Pontius. With the help of the sun, the plants and grasses filter
out almost 95 percent of the suspended solids in the water before it is returne
d to Lake Union.
In addition to the sustainable benefit, the swales create a buffer that protects
the plaza and the sidewalk from the street, improving the pedestrian experience
and creating an urban oasis in the middle of South Lake Union.
The buffer both filters and cleans the street and building runoff, and helps the
public to understand how important our water really is.
Enriching experiences
If the first two strategies were focused on making walkable and livable streets
and plazas that give back to the neighborhood, the next strategy focuses on enri
ching the experiences of the tenants and users in the building.
Most people don t know that elevators consume about 10 percent of a building s energ
y. Buildings in turn represent 40 percent of the world s carbon footprint, making
elevators responsible for a whopping 4 percent of the world s carbon footprint.
In a four-story building, many people would take the stairs if only the stairs w
ere easily accessible, convenient and a pleasant experience. Few building owners
today can afford to provide all of the required exit stairs and an additional s
tair simply for comfort.
In the Yale Campus we have combined the two. Across from each elevator is an ope
n, glass-enclosed stair that puts a priority on giving people a convenient and p
leasant alternative to the elevator.
While there are a myriad of other sustainable features designed into the Yale Ca
mpus, these three ideas, through their simplicity and visibility, demonstrate ho
w a sustainable development approach can provide a vital and critical investment
in the future of our city.
http://www.djc.com/news/en/11197703.html