Is it good architecture? Yes, very. The UW is joining the larger corporate and scientific world, and the Life Sciences Building is what it does. It makes knowledge workers happy and productive.
What's new is the way the museum now opens up to views of the park. The addition stands behind and to one side, taking advantage of a dip in the ground level on the east side.
“The execution of I-5 was a mistake. The challenge before us is to maintain the vital connection I-5 provides, but also heal the damage [on Seattle] its construction inflicted.”
Thanks to neighborhood resistance, the city added crippling requirements to the law that made it impractical and maddeningly complex for existing owners to finance and build these auxiliary units.
Going to the new Burke is like sneaking into the back of a factory in full swing—except this one has glass walls, lots of animal bones and fur and color.
Walker got caught up in the mystique of the legendary Northwest style, also called “stick modern” because of expressed wood structures. He came to Seattle and moved easily among the architects who were putting the city on the map in the 1960s.
In his important new book, The Urban Fix: Resilient Cities in the War Against Climate Change, Heat Islands and Overpopulation (Routledge, 2019),Douglas Kelbaugh, formerly chair of the architecture department...