THE SOUTHWEST CAMPUS TAKES SHAPE

THE SOUTHWEST CAMPUS TAKES SHAPE

By LISA CORRY and BARBARA SWIFT
Swift and Company

The University of Washington is several steps closer to implementing its Southwest Campus master plan with site designs for two public open spaces linked with the new Oceanography and Fisheries buildings.

While accommodating two new academic facilities, the purpose of the plan is to maintain public and university access to open space, the waterfront and city streets -- and to make additions responsive to the gothic character of the central campus and the marine tradition of nearby Portage Bay.

Swift and Company Landscape Architects, working closely with architects Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, is developing designs for the open spaces. Arlington Virginia landscape architect Michael Verguson joined the team through design development.

Located at opposite ends of the Southwest Campus, the Oceanography and Fisheries buildings bring important opportunities to realize the university's intent for the character and form of the campus. The choice of a single design team for both buildings allows them to become "cousins" with similar design vocabularies. Their commonalties establish a palette from which future southwest campus development can draw.

Like the grander Rainier Vista, the new Portage Bay Vista provides the University Community with a connection to the city and region. Through the new Southwest Campus, the upper campus will have visual and physical access to the working waterfront.
Known for site-sensitive designs, architects Bohlin Cywinski Jackson (BCJ) have a refreshing appreciation for the contributions landscape architects bring to a project.

A favorite aphorism of principal Peter Bohlin sums it up: "It's not a matter of this or that, but of this and that."

The shared vision and pooled sensibilities on the project has resulted in a more cohesive and functional site design for both buildings.

A blended approach to design is useful in developing the transition between the upper (main) campus, and the working waterfront.

The Fisheries and Oceanography projects must relate to the working waterfront on Portage Bay, which is visually complex and human-scaled. The larger academic buildings are situated on Boat Street at the toe of a southern facing slope in close proximity to the waterfront.

The Portage Bay Vista, the first part of which will be built with the Oceanography Building, will go a long way in helping make that transition.

The Vista will become a major public open space which offers views of the water as it descends from the southern edge of the upper campus at Northeast Pacific Street to Northeast Boat Street. It will consist of a campus-like lawn framed by existing and proposed buildings and their associated plantings, walkways, and lighting. The Vista will have clearly defined pedestrian and bicycle access and will incorporate the east-west pedestrian corridor which will link the south and southwest campus areas.

The Oceanography Building will have an entry plaza which will span the width of the Vista and define its lower edge with a series of stairs designed as a comfortable place to experience the warmth and light of the southern exposure and the views of Portage Bay below.

Site design along the eastern-most edge of the site provides connection to the existing health sciences complex using features such as paving and plant materials that unite with the existing campus. Additional site amenities include covered bicycle parking, benches, parking for the disabled, plantings with irrigation, and a site for outdoor sculpture.

This view of the Fisheries Building includes the lowest in a series of pools in the landscape. The pools flow toward the waterfront to connect the courtyard with the future fish rearing ponds and the public amphitheater on Portage Bay.
In addition to the and the Oceanography Building, several current and future projects will create this new space. Current projects include the Southwest Campus street relocation, Southwest Campus utility tunnel extension, and the Vista demolition and grading project,

On the Fisheries Building site, landscape and building are also closely related. According to project architect Roxanne Sherbeck, "The building is highly dependent on the Fisheries courtyard for the qualities of life that it adds. The architecture is intended to be a backdrop and enhance the landscape elements as much as the landscape is intended to enhance the building."

The central focus of the Fisheries Courtyard will be a series of verdant pools fed by naturally occurring artesian water. While coordinating the work of hydrologists and engineers, Swift and Company devised a low maintenance pool system which allows the untreated water to return to Portage Bay, thereby functionally and perceptually connecting the open space with the waterfront.

The design team was interested in creating a place with dreamlike qualities. The pools and plantings become an abstracted natural oasis, intended to evoke atavistic memories. The plant palette enforces this, and includes ancient species ranging from horsetail to dawn redwood.

The courtyard is spatially simple to accommodate its use as a pedestrian crossroads and public gathering area for both the public and University communities. Plantings frame spaces and allow clear visual and physical access as part of the circulation system.

The three slowly moving water pools are intended to shallowly float upon the courtyard paving, which slowly dips and breaks beneath the surface. The pool bottoms will have rippled concrete
The Portage Bay Vista is envisioned at the concept stage of design.
Drawings by Don Carruthers
pavers which catch the light and create waved shadow patterns.

In an effort to smudge the line between the Fisheries Building and site, the courtyard pavement will slide into the building under a glassed facade to pave the public convening spaces of the interior. Building materials inside and out have been carefully chosen for their cumulative effect. The courtyard pavement is demarcated by concrete "spines" which extend from the interior of the building through the courtyard, and disappear in the pool and planting areas. This treatment allows the pool and plants to become the dominant site features. Some pool edges will be retained by a gunite bank supporting plant beds with distinctive water-associated species.

To further the perception of water on the site, a "sound hole" will punctuate the paving to produce the sound of falling water as an element of surprise in an highly traveled area near a building entrance. The water, while being piped below ground between two pools, will drop through a two-chambered vault to create the sound of rushing water. A decorative metal grate in the pavement will allow the sound to rise and be heard by the pedestrians above.

Other site amenities include ample seating and gathering areas amid trees and low plantings, a covered bicycle shelter, a roof garden, and a 60-car public parking lot. The parking lot maintains public parking at the existing level to mitigate the loss of public on-street parking.

Swift and Company, currently in the construction document phase of design, will continue with the Fisheries and Oceanography projects through construction administration.

Lisa Corry is a project manager and Barbara Swift a principal with Swift and Company.

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