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News & ArtsWednesday, February 18, 2009
Boom This Is How It’s Dunn
Posted by Dominic Holden on Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 3:26 PM
In a city where developers are building crap like this, there is another developer doing this:
Weinstein AU
Liz Dunn, a partner of Dunn & Hobbes development, will present plans to the city tonight for this third piece of a project in the Pike-Pine neighborhood. Spanning between 11th and 12th Avenue, the project comprises two other buildings: the Agnes Lofts (contemporary) and the renovated Piston and Ring Building, a 1926 concrete and wood warehouse home to Osteria La Spiga and Cafe Stellina. “A lot of developers would have bulldozed that thing right down,” says Lesley Bain, architect for Weinstein AU. The mid-block space between the buildings will create a public thoroughfare and courtyard lined with stores and restaurants:
The new building will contain 60 small studio apartments—between 300 and 500 square feet—geared toward affordability for Capitol Hill tenants. “This is not meant to be a big gentrification move,” Bain says.
2
"Mews" is cute. That's not a mews. It's a passageway, and probably a crime magnet. Is there any reason at all to believe that an alley restaurant will work here? Have any restaurateurs asked for such a space? What about the noise problem with tenants above? And speaking of those tenants, people generally don't like curtain windows that go all the way to the floor.
3
"Mews" = public urinal. Unless I missed something and there's going to be a bunch of raptors there.
4
But seriously, this looks awesome. The thoroughfare and courtyard is a great idea. Can we get this developer in touch with the cha-cha parking lot guy?
5
A mews is properly speaking an alleyway for access to the carriage houses behind rows of grand houses. You find them in London, England. Today these carriage houses have all been converted into extremely pricey little houses for people, not horses and carriages. Not too much public urination going on; they sell for millions of pounds.
Mews have identifying characteristics. Vehicle access, for one; small houses backing onto big ones, for another.
The fact that this architect chose to apply that word to this picture suggests a fundamentally dishonest approach to their work, which worries me more than the attractiveness of the design. It's like the supposed "woonerf" up in Greenwood -- it's another word for alleyway. Is it NECESSARY to lie on architectural marketing materials now?
Mews have identifying characteristics. Vehicle access, for one; small houses backing onto big ones, for another.
The fact that this architect chose to apply that word to this picture suggests a fundamentally dishonest approach to their work, which worries me more than the attractiveness of the design. It's like the supposed "woonerf" up in Greenwood -- it's another word for alleyway. Is it NECESSARY to lie on architectural marketing materials now?
6
2 and 3 are right. It's going to be a stinky alleyway that screams "Danger! Danger!" ...
Not a mews.
Not a mews.
7
That image is of a hideous condo that looks just like all the other hideous condos. Did the image files get mixed up somehow, or do you just have no taste?
8
@5 It's just an advertising gimmick, Fnarf. I think "suggests a fundamentally dishonest approach to their work" is a bit harsh. Few people are that obsessed with correct usage of European terminology. To most folks (read: non-Europhiles), using "mews" or "woonerf" as fancy terminology for some kind of alley just isn't a big deal.
10
The rendering reminds me of that lovely scene in Tati's "Playtime."
http://www.spaceandculture.org/uploaded_…
http://www.spaceandculture.org/uploaded_…
11
@10, I just saw that for the first time and my brain exploded. It might be my alltime favorite movie now. That, or "Young Girls of Rochefort".
12
I see a boring modern building on the street side. I'm glad they aren't demolishing an old building.
13
(@11: How can you like Rochefort over Umbrellas of Cherbourg?)
What does "geared toward affordability" mean? $200K for a 300 sq ft place is not affordable to many people.
What does "geared toward affordability" mean? $200K for a 300 sq ft place is not affordable to many people.
14
Tiny condos are great and all, but I'm curious what they'll sell for. I understand that cramming all the accouterments of a larger apartment into a smaller space raises the price-per-square foot, but from what I've seen, the ratio goes up exponentially for these little dorms. A $200,000ish unit would be great for a lot of prospective buyers, but $800 at a sq. ft., it's stupid.
It's a decent looking building, in the sense that it's not particularly ugly. Reminds me of the outskirts of Soho London (Goodge Street area) built in the 1980's.
Tangent: The #1 reason condos don't appeal to me is neighbor noise. Developers rarely address the issue, and I think it needs to be written into building codes. It'll come with a small cost, but if it's density we're aiming for, I think it's a legitimate public health issue that needs to be addressed in a serious way, just as you would HVAC and plumbing.
It's a decent looking building, in the sense that it's not particularly ugly. Reminds me of the outskirts of Soho London (Goodge Street area) built in the 1980's.
Tangent: The #1 reason condos don't appeal to me is neighbor noise. Developers rarely address the issue, and I think it needs to be written into building codes. It'll come with a small cost, but if it's density we're aiming for, I think it's a legitimate public health issue that needs to be addressed in a serious way, just as you would HVAC and plumbing.
15
Hernandez, it's dishonest because it's dressing up something utilitarian and crusty (an alley) as something posh and Euro-sophisticated. It's not me trying to put the Euro gloss on, it's them. If they called this a "passageway" they'd get laughed at. But because Euro shit is always assumed to be glamorous and advanced, they give their bullshit a fancy name and get lauded for it.
Virtually all of the coverage of the Greenwood building, for example, has been about the supposed woonerf, and how sophisticated it is, and how they're everywhere in Holland or Denmark where people are so much more intelligent than stupid old we are.
But it's NOT a woonerf; it's NOT a mews. It's a lie. You think you're getting the trendy urban-design catch phrase of the month, but you're not; you're getting an alleyway reeking of piss with a desperate junkie in it. It's like the guys on Canal Street in New York who sell cut-rate "DVD players" that turn out to have nothing inside the box but a brick.
Virtually all of the coverage of the Greenwood building, for example, has been about the supposed woonerf, and how sophisticated it is, and how they're everywhere in Holland or Denmark where people are so much more intelligent than stupid old we are.
But it's NOT a woonerf; it's NOT a mews. It's a lie. You think you're getting the trendy urban-design catch phrase of the month, but you're not; you're getting an alleyway reeking of piss with a desperate junkie in it. It's like the guys on Canal Street in New York who sell cut-rate "DVD players" that turn out to have nothing inside the box but a brick.
16
Either way, eventually that "Mews" will be gated after business hours, probably at the insistence of both businesses and condo owners.
18
i love the idea that dunn is creating public space instead of more parking garages. think about it - she will own three buildings (this new one, agnes and the piston and ring bldg) and have only one curb cut on 11th for automobiles to enter. this is something that is rarely, if ever, undertaken by private developers. and, whether or not you call it a mews, what will make it public space and not a urinal will be the amount of people that hang out here. if she is successful in really creating a public space here, i don't think it will attract the level of nuisance that everyone above has commented about.
20
I appreciate what Dunn does. The architect is Tom Kundig, famous around here. I don't know if he's still on the project. I fear there have been some major issues with the buildout but won't go into the rumors here, since its none of my business, but I really hope the attention to the design details isn't an excuse to inflate the prices 4 times. It will probably have to go straight to rental like the Agnes did.
23
Are you guys going to write a story on the death of the Chop House, home to most of Capitol Hill's historic music scene? It is being torn down to make way for Dunn's development. It sure would be nice to see a media push for developers to make spaces for musicians on the hill...
25
@13: better music, better dancing, better story, more exciting color, Gene Kelly, George Chakiris, Françoise Dorléac. Peppy song-and-dance about murder. A transporter bridge (one of just five in use in the world today)!
Umbrellas is great, don't get me wrong, but Young Girls is mind-boggling. I could watch it ten times in a row. I'm listening to the soundtrack right now. It is probably my favorite music of all time as well.
Umbrellas is great, don't get me wrong, but Young Girls is mind-boggling. I could watch it ten times in a row. I'm listening to the soundtrack right now. It is probably my favorite music of all time as well.
28
OH, GOD - the house has river rock half pillars on the front porch
OH, GOD, only 760,000.00 - what a deal ...
OH, GOD, only 760,000.00 - what a deal ...
31
I love the idea, but is there anything more depressing than empty retail space? Honestly, is the foot traffic going to be so heavy through this "mews" that it will be able to support off the beaten path retail? I have no doubt that it will look amazing. I think Liz Dunn has done great things for that part of the hill, almost single-handedly. It's going to take a real quality merchant to be able to survive in a retail spot that has no street visibility.
34
Post Alley is right in the middle of the most touristy part of Seattle. Tourists provide a lot of foot traffic.
35
Post Alley is not safe from all those "dangerous" hobos by getting night time foot traffic from the tourists but from all the bars on it. All the bars in the area of this development suggests to me that the mews (or whatever) will be perfectly safe. It is capitol hill, not renton.
36
Just seeing the green community in action makes me confident of the future! Think of how far green building products have come and how far they will go in the future! http://sabinesgreenproducts.com
37
t seeing the green community in action makes me confident of the future! Think of how far green building products have come and how far they will go in the future! http://sabinesgreenproducts.com
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