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![]() September 15, 2010 |
A look at firms competing for the project
By KATIE ZEMTSEFF Journal Staff Reporter Four teams shortlisted to design the Central Waterfront project will make their public presentations today.
This is an opportunity for people to submit questions about the teams’ experience and general approach, and for the city to see how each team interacts with the public. Here are the four team leaders: Seattle-based Gustafson Guthrie Nichol, New York City-based James Corner Field Operations, Brooklyn-based Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates and Philadelphia-based Wallace Roberts & Todd. They all have local firms on their teams. The project is expected to transform Seattle’s downtown and is said to be one of the most important urban design projects in the country today. Mark Reddington, who is a partner at LMN Architects, a member of the Central Waterfront Partnerships Committee and co-chair of the AIA Waterfront Task Force, said, “It’s huge. It will completely change the organization and sensibility of public open space in the city.” The city received 30 proposals from local, national and international firms. The team that is ultimately selected will lead the process for designing more than nine acres of public waterfront space and a new surface street on Alaskan Way. The design team will be selected shortly after this week’s presentations and will help the city choose an engineering team. The city received six proposals for engineering work. That team should be selected by the end of September. Design will begin in October and run until 2015. Construction is scheduled to start in 2016 and be completed in 2018. The design and engineering teams will work closely with a team led by Tetra Tech that is providing consultant services for the seawall replacement. Seattle Planning Director Marshall Foster said redesign of the central waterfront is the city’s biggest project in decades in terms of the opportunities it will create. The budget for phase one design work, which will stretch over two years, is expected to be about $6 million. The estimated budget for planning and design of the entire project is between $50 million and $70 million.
Katie Zemtseff can be reached at katiez@djc.com or at (206) 622-8272. |
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Here are the four teams:
MVVA designs Brooklyn Bridge Park
James Corner Field Operations led the team for NYC’s High Line
Gustafson Guthrie Nichol designed garden at Chicago’s Millennium Park
Wallace Roberts & Todd has a plan to connect Philadelphia to its waterfront |