homeWelcome, sign in or click here to subscribe.login
     


 

 

Snapshots


print  email to a friend  reprints add to mydjc  
Snapshot logo
 

July 14, 1999

Kenichi Nakano, Nakano Associates L.L.C.

By SAM BENNETT
Journal Staff reporter

Kenichi Nakano

Kenichi Nakano

Firm: Nakano Associates L.L.C.
Office: 300 E. Pike St.
Year founded: 1989
Staff size: 11
Recent local project: Downtown Wayfinding project

Q: How much of your work is public, and how much private?

A: This office works on about 75 percent public projects, and 25 percent private. Of the public projects, there are several categories: parks and rec master planning and design, campus planning and design, urban design and infrastructure design. The last is housing - we work on mostly affordable housing.

Q: What is your design philosophy?

A: Our philosophy is building a community. We like to draw a diagram, where the community is in the center, which appears like the Olympic rings. Project types such as housing, historical preservation and urban design those form the rings around the center. They are separate project types, but they are all interrelated.

Q: What are two projects you're proud of?

A: Certainly, the International Fountain at Seattle Center has been one of our most prestigious projects. For us it was a giant step. The first thing we had to do was renovate the fountain, but keep the historical context. Virginia Anderson [Seattle Center director] was encouraging us to allow the participants to interact with water. Before, they had roped the fountain off during major festivals because it was dangerous to children. To make the fountain more accessible, a 4 percent ramp was designed to allow people and even wheelchairs to access the floor of the fountain. That was the breakthrough in the design. The design approach was to retain the historical nature of the original fountain while upgrading the water and sound features with new technology.

Saddleback Park
Saddleback Park, a one-acre neighborhood park in Bellevue, features a childrens' play area in a natural setting.
The second one is the downtown Wayfinding demonstration project. For a landscape architect, this is cutting edge. We are working with three top graphic design firms: Maestri, Jon Bentz Design and Two Twelve Harakawa. There is this growing interest in improving our pedestrian environment, and part of this is the Wayfinding project, for tourists and local folks on how to get around. The signage will tell you where major events are held, and in key areas we would have signs that have a map of the downtown with a blow-up map of the area you're in. On the other side, we would have some historical information about the neighborhood you're in and describe major destinations and how far the walk would be. For me, it's a very exciting project, to be a landscape architect working on the urban design fabric of the city.

Q: With so much construction around town, what importance do you place on preserving open space?

The Dupen Fountain
The Dupen Fountain at Seattle Center features the original World's Fair sculptures.
A: We're going through this enormous growth and building boom right now. Improvements to the pedestrian environment need to catch up, because it's in the public realm. We have to plan for that or else it won't happen. It has to be a coordinated effort between the public and the private sectors to make the public spaces mature along with this building boom. I'm very hopeful that will happen. The whole open space system with better sidewalks, green streets and open courtyards has to be planned or else we will become a city with large buildings casting shadows on very cold environments.

Q: After teaching landscape architecture at the University of Washington for 20 years, why did you leave?

A: I always worked part-time while I was teaching. But when I opened this office, it took so much energy to do that I had to drop teaching. Teaching is my No. 1 love. Hopefully I will sometime in the future be able to go back to it maybe at a private school teaching young children.

Q: How did you become interested in landscape architecture?

Evergreen Park
Evergreen Park in Bellevue's Lake Hills neighborhood, uses natural materials in the childrens' play area.
A: My grandmother basically designed her own garden. She had a Japanese-style garden in Fife. I played in that garden until I was five years old, until we moved. It had a pond and an island and a bridge. Playing in that beautiful garden had a kind a subconscious influence on me. When I reflect back that was a real key.



Previous columns:



Email or user name:
Password:
 
Forgot password? Click here.