Comments on Towering Building; Empowering Building

I'm sure I speak for a considerable segment of the readership when I say this architecture shit is boring.

I disagree completely. Seattle's frenzied development is impossible to keep up with. Holden's posts are a boon for the laypeople who live and work among the fences and cranes.

That 505 Madison building looks a lot like the WaMu Center.

I love these posts. I like to see what's being built in Seattle. Awesome job to the Archdiocesan Housing Authority too.

Anything that replaces the College Club building can't be a bad thing.

Architecture posts rock!

I'll take a design that's a good neighbor (i.e., "neither awesome nor offensive") any day over the crap that constantly gets built in this town. Sure wish our design review boards had even more teeth.

I live on 3rd and Bell, and let me just tell you--the more the merrier. I would love to see more people like me (single women) living in that neighborhood, as opposed to just never-emerging condo-dwellers and the patrons of Kelly's. The streets are kind of sketchy at night, but I love the idea of more low to mid-income housing there. I live in an HRG building and I want to have some friends around!

The Design Review Board should have the power to order summary executions.

rooftop decks rule. so do architectural posts.

Not all stories are equal. forty stories of office might be 550 feet tall, compared to forty stories of apartments being about 420 and forty stories of hotel being more like 390.

i join the chorus of holden fans. nicely done, sir.

Andrew has a point, and there are many of us who love these architecture posts, even if we disagree on buildings.

I like the 40 story version we're seeing now, but the devils in the details. For example, the mix of uses, does it have daycare and small retail, what price ranges for apartments or are they condos - are we still building giant buildings for the ultra-rich to upper middle class or are these oriented to at least 50 percent median income for say 20-40 percent of the mix - and are they interleaved so we don't get "ghettos" ...

That's true, Andrew. But at 40 stories, it's unlikely to break 500 feet and thus stand out much. The building across the street, 901 Fifth Ave, is 536 feet with 42 stories, and it's only the 11th tallest building downtown. The design is still good enough, it's just not much of a statement in one of the few zones where developers are allowed to build as tall as they can.

Boring, but not hideous. I'd say a net win.

Looks like HalfLife's Citadel

Dang, I was trying to be slick.
Og well, here's the image:

http://www.ambientperformance.com/connection/archives/HalfLife2_Citadel-thumb.jpg

I love these posts, they really give a flavor of what's happening in Seattle and what our city is gonna look like in 2, 5, 10 years down the road, and as far as I can tell this is the only place in town to get this information. Several times Dom has scooped the big dailies and architecture mags on new development around the city.

As for both of these projects, yay!

"...watchful eyes of up to 90 full-time residents to a historically sketchy intersection."

Watchful eyes? It's transitional housing and a day shelter. Not sure how watchful those eyes will be.

Have to agree with @18 - if it wasn't for The Stranger, we'd get no local news at all about what our city is changing into.

I appreciate the posts, Dominique. Keep it up! ...While not striking, the tower is definitely an improvement over the current building.

The idea for this housing rocks, but I hope Wasabi bistro doesn't get knocked out of their space for this. The Beast rocks!

Man that's hideous.

The Archdiocese has been a good neighbor in Belltown and a lot Belltowners would welcome them expanding their efforts.
My question is why do so many of Seattle's other neighborhoods suck so completely at welcoming social services into their neighborhoods?

Nimbyism run amok is most of it.

architecture posts rule.