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November 30, 2016
Somewhere along the line, during planning and budgeting for Seattle's epic waterfront makeover, Pier 62/63 fell by the wayside.
Talk of a floating pool-barge and amphitheater got scrapped. The current $29 million plan is fairly modest: Rebuild Pier 62 first, add a floating dock on the south side, rebuild Pier 63 later.
The first phase of that project could start next fall and be done in about two years — likely before the Alaskan Way Viaduct is removed.
The project is relatively small and unglamorous compared to the overall $700 million waterfront scheme designed by James Corner Field Operations. But a student design exhibition, called Seattle Sublime, opens tomorrow and suggests a more ambitious, fanciful and entirely unfunded approach to the piers.
“We're kind of challenging James Corner,” said Owen O'Carroll, who organized the exhibition long distance — from Ahmedabad, India. He teaches there at CEPT University (aka the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology), and had six teams create blue-sky alternatives for Pier 62/63.
“We wanted to engage a bit of debate,” said O'Carroll. “We're kind of raising the game.”
Part of Corner's grand Overlook Stairs — which descend from the Pike Place Market — will lead to Pier 62/63, but O'Carroll said, “It doesn't make any connection, really.”
He calls the pier renovations “an afterthought.” The open expanse of wood will again be suitable for open-air concerts (as it was used from 1991-2005), but he said, “There's no destination that will take you in there during the fall.”
The six designs were critiqued by Matt Martenson of Berger Partnership, Mark Olthoff and Edward Lalonde of Olson Kundig, and Aimee O'Carroll and Jon Gentry of goCstudio.
The exhibition opens tomorrow at 5 p.m. during the First Thursday art walk at goCstudio (321 Third Ave. S., Suite 201) and runs through Wednesday, Dec. 14 with hours by appointment.
Brian Miller can be
reached by email at brian.miller@djc.com or by phone at (206) 219-6517.