July 17, 2020

SAF goes small and virtual as it celebrates its 30th year of architectural tours amid pandemic

Photo by Alice Hammond [enlarge]

Architecture industry veteran Bill Strong leads SAF’s Federal Avenue tour last summer.

Bill Strong had been leading architecture tours for over 15 years through the Kansas City, Missouri, chapter of The American Institute of Architects when he moved to Seattle in 1987.

He wanted to do that here, too. So in 1988 he was part of a task force that formed Seattle Architecture Foundation's tours program. When it launched in 1990, it offered only two downtown tours — of the newly opened bus tunnel stations and of the University of Washington-owned Metropolitan Tract. A little over 200 people total showed for the tours in the first year. “We didn't know if we could only get 10 people to sign up,” said Strong, who has been in the architecture business for 47 years.

SAF is celebrating its 30th year of offering architectural tours in the city. It now does about 13 different ones for around 2,000 people a year, said Stacy Segal, executive director of the foundation, which educates the public on the architecture, design and history of Seattle.

“People really want to learn about their communities and their neighborhoods and learn about how their neighborhoods were built,” she said.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a recalibration for the nonprofit: This year small and virtual are in.

SAF is offering, for $50, Friends & Family tours for five or fewer people on pre-scheduled dates and, for $100, private tours on a theme that guests choose. Here is the link: tinyurl.com/y8ucwox6/.

It plans to soon launch a free mobile walking guide to downtown Seattle, building on the popularity of “Seattle Architecture: A Walking Guide to Downtown Seattle,” written by Maureen R. Elenga and published by SAF. The initial version of the app features over 200 sites and immersive maps and pages highlighting buildings, architects and cultural influences from the city's founding on. SAF said its “on demand” flexibility lets participants visit tour stops at their leisure and cafes and shops along the way. It is optimized for platforms that include IOS, Android and the web, and can be used by locals and visitors.

Segal said SAF hopes it will help it expand its audience. While some of the cafes may be closed now, Segal said the app is apropos for the times as “you can do it on your own.'' To sponsor or advertise in it, you can email her at Stacy@seattlearchitecture.org.

SAF's Friends & Family tours are in lieu of its traditional season launch, which Segal said should start during Phase 3 of the COVID-19 reopening with a weekend of free tours. The organization will also offer these new tours: “From Stone to Steel: Seattle Style From Then 'Til Now” and “Columbia City: Expect Random Encounters.”

All will be for 10 or fewer people. Everyone will wear masks and guides will use a microphone device for distancing.

The foundation's tours may focus on an architectural style or theme, such as buildings that were significant for their time, but they also weave in the story of how neighborhoods were built.

Harvard Belmont District, which explores the early 20th century architecture of the landmark district on Capitol Hill, is one of the most popular neighborhood tours, and a tour of art deco buildings that includes Seattle Tower is a popular downtown offering, Segal said.

Not all buildings on the tours are historic, however. The newer ones include City Hall, F5 Tower, the Amazon Spheres and Seattle Central Library, which Herbert Muschamp in 2004 in The New York Times said was “the most exciting new building it has been my honor to review.”

The tours also look at how landscape architecture at the base of buildings contributes to community life, with the Amazon campuses in South Lake Union and the Denny Triangle being the best new examples, Segal said. “I think architects and designers have started to pay more attention to those spaces and not just the buildings,” she said.

That's in contrast to the public spaces at Rainier Tower and the IBM Building downtown, which are rarely used, she said.

SAF, originally a committee of AIA Seattle, was established in 1982 by architects. It is funded through donations and program revenue.

Its model exhibit, scheduled for Aug. 12, can to be viewed online, or in person by appointment. The last of its 2020 Design in Depth lectures, talks and panel discussions on architectural topics was held virtually. On hold is its Design Soiree series, which gives a behind-the-scenes view of projects.

Segal has been SAF's executive director for eight years and has a background in the nonprofit sector. Her husband, Jim Goodspeed, is an architect and a volunteer SAF tour guide, “so I've learned quite a bit about architecture and design,” she said.

She said the goal of the tours is to get people to advocate for their neighborhoods and buildings — to encourage them to be involved in shaping the city.

A SAF committee decides which tours to offer based on guest surveys and input from guides, who create the scripts.

To commemorate the 30th season, the nonprofit has compiled profiles of some of its current volunteer guides and founding guides. Many of the founders are local architects, and the current guides include lawyers and retired teachers, and people in marketing, real estate, engineering and architecture.

Bill Strong said he worked with Seattle architect Bill Gaylord to help form SAF's tours program, and with Larry Kreisman, a local architectural historian, author and preservation consultant, who wrote the scripts. Over the years more people got involved, and more tours were created.

Strong owns Bill Strong Consulting, a Seattle marketing and management firm for the architecture, engineering and construction industry, and was a principal at Mahlum Architects.

He said the public wants to learn about architectural history “and why things are the way they are.” People's eyes light up, for instance, when he explains the difference between Doric, Ionic and Corinthian columns. “They just love to learn a lot of the detail stuff,” he said.

They like the Harvard Belmont tour because of the mansions and beautiful examples of architectural styles, from Beaux-Arts to Tudor, and the Queen Anne tour, which shows not just the houses of the rich but the bungalows and apartment buildings of the middle class.

Among the new Seattle buildings Strong admires are the library and Nexus condos, with its cubes that are twisted as it goes up. He also has high hopes that the 59-story Rainier Square tower, now under construction, is going to be striking.

Strong was on the SAF board for 12 years and still leads five or six tours a year. The organization annually bestows the Bill Strong Award for Volunteer Excellence.

He said the foundation tries to include the whole built environment — from the street lighting to pocket parks and landscaping — in tours so guests can understand that the built environment “needs to make us feel better” and that they can have a voice in what comes next. “That's what I want,” he said.