November 8, 1999

Imagine a new Seattle

By SAM BENNETT
Journal Staff reporter

In all his travels, Roger Gula has never seen anything like Seattle.

"I've never encountered a city that has a bay, islands in the bay and is surrounded by mountains and hills," said Gula.

But as an architect and relative newcomer to Seattle, Gula said he is confounded by the city's lack of vision in the area of urban development. "When it comes to vision, something is missing," he said. "How did we lose our connection to nature?"

To help remedy that, Gula last year revived Action: Better City (A:BC), an organization established in 1968. Founded by Seattle architect Fred Bassetti, A:BC consisted of architects and urban planners who dreamed of projects, such as reviving Pioneer Square and Gas Works Park, as ways to improve the urban landscape and re-connect the city to its natural environment.

One architect says Seattle has a history of "lynching" visionaries, such as Virgil Bogue who in 1911 came up with plans for a new Beaux Arts civic center at Fourth and Blanchard, on the flat space created by regrading Denny Hill. Bogue's plan used Paris and Antwerp as models for a new Seattle, but was defeated by those who said it was too far from the downtown core. Sketch from the book "Building Washington"

Gula hopes to breathe new life into that cause by rallying the architecture, urban planning and development communities. As part of AIA Seattle Architecture Week '99, A:BC will host a $5 forum at 7 tonight at On The Boards, 100 W. Roy St. The forum will include a video presentation and a panel discussion including Gula, former mayor Charles Royer, developer Bruce Lorig and architect Peter Bohlin, whose firm is designing Seattle's new City Hall.

"Seattle is pretty good when it comes to strong engineering, but it's that unique vision that hasn't come about," said Gula. "That's what we do. We're good at showing people what could be."

From the failed Seattle Commons to Virgil Bogue's 1911 proposal for a Beaux Arts city centered at Fourth and Blanchard, Seattleites have a reputation for "lynching" visionaries, Gula said.

While Paul Allen continues to develop distinct structures like the Experience Music Project, A:BC hopes to see developments through public-private partnerships in areas of the city that most need them.

For example, the group proposes re-connecting downtown to South Lake Union by reducing Westlake to two lanes and making it more inviting to pedestrians by installing a green median with a stream as well as bike lanes.

A:BC would also like to see the connection between Capitol Hill and the downtown core improved with more pedestrian friendly bridges in the the Pike-Pine corridor. The Alaskan Way Viaduct could be converted into a "huge linear park, covered with greenery," Gula said. To the south, A:BC proposes making the International District a more inviting site for people unfamiliar with the area "to live, work, play and consume," he said.

A 20-minute video shown tonight will illustrate A:BC's visions for these four projects. The video and the forum came about as a response to panel discussions Gula organized last year. Gula said the reaction to last year's A:BC forum was so positive that he immediately began organizing support for the group, which has about 30 members.

He said A:BC was not formed to dictate design standards or how urban spaces should be improved. Instead, Gula hopes to inspire architects, planners and developers to "improve both the physical and emotional connections of Seattle while fostering a better relationship with the natural environment."

"I can't live in this city and lack inspiration," he said.