CHS Schemata | Meany’s understated elegance

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThe parlance of architecture is filled with jargon, especially about Modernism and its consequent ‘isms’; less is more, less is a bore. Being firmly rooted in the former, I have been captivated by Meany Middle School’s understated elegance since I arrived on the Hill some 13 years ago. For me, its simple forms and restrained detailing (less is more) speak volumes to many of modernism’s most successful pursuits: economy of form, subtractive design, and the harnessing of daylight — a great benefit during the Hill’s rather gloomy winter months. As fortune (and a little planning) would have, the day I explored Meany was a sunny winter day whose resulting deep shadows proved well suited to best show off Meany’s qualities.

Meany’s most eye-catching feature is its saw-tooth roof. Such roofs originated in factory or assembly buildings in the latter half of the 19th century and persisted well into the early 20th. One we have lost –- such as on the re-developed Sunset Electric -– was a fine example of this typology. The advent of inexpensive gas or electric light spelled the demise of such welcome features, until they were resurrected by modernists who were not only captivated by their ability to foster better day-lighting but were also doubtlessly a fan of their rigorous, platonic forms. Meany’s roof readily displays those qualities, while adding its own take; for instance, the clear delineation of the concrete frame and infill as well as the continuous sunshade that provide a clean break from the saw-tooth form and the lower mass of the building, emphasizing the saw-tooth mass even more. Although not requisite in achieving elegance, the repeating of the saw-tooth nine times amplifies its desirable traits.OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

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CHS Schemata | Bellevue, Bellevue, and Bellevue — Part 2

(Images: John Feit/Schemata Workshop)

(Images: John Feit/Schemata Workshop)

The first tour of the northwest corner of Capitol Hill focused on the distant and rich landscape views that the area proximate to Bellevue, Bellevue, and Bellevue provides. In Part 2, the focus will be on this area’s more intimate landscapes which are shaped by both its geography and culture.

The Ben Lomond is an appropriate starting point; its oblique position on the street grid is the result of its being on the edge a steep hill. It is not often that buildings on Capitol Hill deviate from the incessant and dominant street grid. Here, there is a relatively slight skew of the Ben Lomond to Belmont, lending greater prominence to the building and landscape than they would otherwise have. The gently angled Lomond provides a mini piazza of sorts, reminding one of pre-industrial cities and their more organic roots. Instead of asphalt and concrete one could imagine a landscape paved in stone and low landscaped walls affording a quiet place within which to enjoy a sunny day. Continue reading

CHS Schemata | Bellevue, Bellevue, and Bellevue — Part 1

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(Images: John Feit)

Buildings are relatively simple to write about.

They are objects within the landscape and as such are easy to quantitatively define easing the path to a qualitative assessment. Landscapes, on the other hand, can be more challenging as they are often composed of a seemingly infinite number of parts. The relative position between landscape and viewer can present challenges as well. Buildings typically has a front, back, and sides. The main facade, often where the entry is, usually grabs the most attention and is the view seen in glossy magazines. Landscape lacks such frontal qualities. What tree, hill, river, or plaza has a defined front (or back, for that matter)? While there are certainly advantageous views that elicit feelings of lesser or greater satisfaction, landscape’s ensemble of vegetation, geography, geology, buildings, and other characteristics make it more challenging to succinctly describe; yet, it is these very qualities that also make it more satisfying and emotionally evocative than most buildings.

It is these multifaceted and often elusive qualities that keep me writing about what I enjoy most about Capitol Hill, the amazing variety of landscapes both architectural and otherwise. Landscape is all encompassing, yet hard to distill to key points that are succinctly shared.

With landscapes as diverse as Pike/Pine and Volunteer Park, one would have to put conditions on what constitutes one’s favorite Capitol Hill landscape, such as: which is my favorite commercial street, distant view, or verdant park? Despite this inexorable taxonomical quandary, Bellevue, Bellevue, and Bellevue, on the northwest corner of the Hill, certainly presents opportunities to engage landscapes that are among the Hill’s finest.

Its charms are many — too many for just one post — so I start with with that quality which I think is the most noteworthy: the combination of both close-in and distant vistas as well as the variety of both natural and created landscapes that are all available for enjoyment within a two or three block area. Continue reading

CHS Schemata | The Capitol Hill architectural assembly of Seattle Prep

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAFor a number of reasons, campuses merit special attention from the fan of architecture, including how — in a concise venue — differing design approaches can be observed. The earliest academic campuses include those of the medieval universities in northern Italy and in England, with Cambridge and Oxford setting the strongest precedents for what has become known as collegiate Gothic. Those of Italian influence (Padua and Bologna for instance) also served as models, but in a Renaissance flavor. These divergent sources from the North Atlantic to the Mediterranean created a menu of architectural styles for institutions that followed; one pick one’s campus style, as it were, to be either pointy (Gothic) or round (Renaissance). A splendid example of the former is found just to the north of Capitol Hill on the University of Washington campus, whose historic core abounds with buildings of the collegiate Gothic flavor.

Like the other primary and secondary school campuses I have written about, Seattle Prep brings an important assembly of building and landscape to Capitol Hill. The school is unique among the three mentioned as it most closely resembles the traditional college campus. It is not associated with one splendid building as is Holy Names nor did it evolve in an organic and engaging manner as did Bertschi School. Seattle Prep is a planned campus of many buildings purposely built over time. Yet, within its planning, each building has it own unique identity and represents the prevailing tastes of its time, making the campus a great microcosm of larger architectural and academic trends. Continue reading

CHS Schemata | Capitol Hill’s grand dome

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(Images: John Feit)

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For more than 2000 years, the dome has held a privileged position in Western architecture. As the three dimensional expression of the circle, whose geometrical perfection is venerated by cultures world-wide, the dome symbolizes importance more than any other single architectural feature. One of the oldest domes — and perhaps the most famous — is the Pantheon in Rome, a temple built during the reign of Caesar Augustus (63 B.C. – 14 A.D.) in honor of twelve of Rome’s most important deities. Since then, the geometrically powerful form has lent its geometrical purity to convey importance to a variety of institutions, be they governmental (the Washington State Capitol, Olympia), academic (the Rotunda, the University of Virginia), or ecclesiastical (Saint Peter’s, Rome). And, why not? You see a dome on a building, and you know it means business.

One institution that was an early adopter of the dome was the nascent Catholic Church; and the dome, as it turned out, was conveniently at hand. Soon after Rome’s decline, the Church adopted the Pantheon as a Christian place of worship, and it became an important early church. The Pantheon (and the cachet of its dome) enabled the Church to associate itself with ancient Rome, Europe’s grandest civilization and greatest engineer-architects. In the following millennia, the dome has found home atop many Catholic institutions in dozens of countries, including Capitol Hill’s own Holy Names Academy, a Catholic girl’s high school and one of our neighborhood’s most splendid buildings. And while its dome may be the first architectural element to catch one’s eye, Holy Names’ classically inspired delights continue throughout its original building. Continue reading

CHS Schemata | Capitol Hill’s urban alleys

Capitol Hill is fortunate to have an extensive system of alleys. They provide a home for utilities, trash and recycling, garage entries, as well as alternative routes through which to get from here to there. Having previously written on Capitol Hill’s eastern, single-family-home dominated alleys, I decided to explore those on the Hill’s denser commercial and apartment building inhabited landscapes.

Although I was surprised — and somewhat disappointed — that the number of alleys were fewer than I had found on the Hill’s Eastern flanks, the west side’s more urban character and frequency of use — combined with a relative dearth of greenery and crisper, built boundaries — captivated me for the better part of a mid-winter morning and early afternoon. Another strikingly different character of these alleys from those to the east were their unobstructed and distant vistas, making them even more inviting than their eastern siblings.

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CHS Schemata | Group Health Capitol Hill’s hidden charms (and crazy slide)

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAHospitals typically are not architecturally endearing structures. A hospital campus can even less so. Designed by the same type of large, corporate architecture firms that reflect the organization of the hospitals themselves, this pair of leviathans typically has more pressing matters than fitting neatly into their surroundings. The demands of programmatic efficiencies and healthful interior environments makes the focus of such institutions decidedly inward, their mission dictating priorities that better serve their patients and staff, oftentimes at the expense of enhancing their surrounding exterior environment. This is not the case on Capitol Hill where our own Group Health Cooperative has (at least part of) its campus providing a genuine attempt to be a good neighbor.

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CHS Schemata | Marking time at Capitol Hill’s Bertschi School

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERABertschi School is a private K – Fifth grade school on 10th Avenue E, on the northern slopes of Capitol Hill. Founded in 1975, and steadily growing to its current enrollment of about 235 students, its measured and incremental growth on the Hill is a fascinating example of both architecture’s and landscape’s marking of time as well as the fulfillment of the vision of the school’s founder to support high quality and progressive design.

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CHS Schemata | A surprising loop through Saint Mark’s Greenbelt

(Images: John Feit)

(Images: John Feit)

After several unsuccessful years of hoping to come across the St Mark’s Greenbelt during one of my neighborhood walks, I resolved this past spring to make a dedicated effort to find it. Although I had yet to visit it, I imagined the Greenbelt would present a unique environment to enjoy Capitol Hill, and another pathway to connect the highlands of 10th Avenue with the lowlands of Lakeview Drive. Google maps revealed that the Greenbelt is between the Blaine Street hill-climb and St Mark’s Cathedral. I decided to make a bit on a loop of my search, and took the long drop down the Blaine Street hill-climb from 10th Avenue to Lakeview Boulevard, after which I planned to ascend back up to Tenth through the Greenbelt itself.

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CHS Schemata | 11th Ave’s eclectic mix

There is a collection of four apartment/condominium buildings on 11th Avenue just south of Volunteer Park that merit special attention from architecture and landscape buffs on Capitol Hill. While they all share fine materials, detailing, and wonderfully maintained landscapes, each has enough difference from one another – as well as from the typical Capitol Hill apartment building – that they simultaneously stand in distinction from our typical apartment flats and are yet simultaneously unified by their overall quality.

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