Seattle’s design reviews can be a mystery but a compromise decision reached by the East Design Review Board in June might have produced one of the most unusual design solutions in the history of the process.
Work was recently completed on a big new mural on the west-facing wall of the surface parking lot neighboring E Madison’s Broadcast Apartments. Designed by artist Sarah Robbins, the retaining wall mural was a solution approved by the board earlier this summer in a dispute over the use of the wrong color siding during the construction of the six-story mixed-use apartment building. In the end, the board split with one member pushing for the replacement of the siding fins but the rest of the board deciding the mural would do the job.
Building developer Trent Mummery of Trent Development, Inc. tells CHS his project “wanted to work with a local group” to create the art and connected with Urban Artworks to find Robbins.
A mural is not sufficient mitigation for violating the design review process, and making no attempt to go back to the Board when circumstances changed. A substantial fine would be a compromise. The Design Review Board is toothless and so, why even bother with one?
(And it’s ugly, IMO. And it will be covered in graffiti and painted over by this time next year. And the builder gets away with it.)
Even if they had followed the original design, this building would be ugly.
It looks like graffiti already.
Is this missing the 2nd half of the article?
Short and sweet. What more you want to know?
I like it and I like murals in general. They had color and vitality to the neighborhood.