Hello Seattle,
For my final two terms at the University of Oregon, I am working on the design for the new Bullitt Foundation Headquarters on Capital Hill. We are working with Miller Hulll Architects and Point32 in the new design at 1501 E Madison St. The building will also include residential, commercial and retail space. The entire design will meet the Living Building challenge and it is our goal to produce a net-zero building.
I have done a fair amount of research and learned quite a bit from articles online, but I don’t haven’t heard much from residents living in the area. Being that I live in Eugene and can only visit Seattle, I don’t have a good sense of the communities view of the location or what is needed in the neighborhood. So I would like to ask for some honest feedback from anyone with an opinion, or anyone who is just interested in the project.
Do you know about the project? Do you live in the area? What would you like to see integrated into the design (e.g. Community rooms, public spaces, restaurants, urban gardens, etc.)? Have you frequented the bar that is currently on the site and do you have an opinion about its being moved?
Any other suggestions are appreciated!
I’ll be very disappointed.
I’ve heard snippets here and there about this project, but haven’t come across any specific community interaction on it. I didn’t have the idea any community interaction was wanted.
You might try hooking into existing community groups. The site is pretty close to the Miller Community Center, for example. You could set up a movable display about it in Madison Market, around Pike/Pine, maybe, and then up on 15th Ave E–any place with decent foot traffic–and get feedback that way. I’m less familiar w/ communities to the south anymore, although I used to live a few blocks south years ago and never really noticed the bar on the site–it wasn’t my crowd.
I am most specfically interested in the Living Building aspect of it. How can we in the neighborhood become educated about how such a building is designed and operated? How can the things you’re doing there apply to houses and buildings in the area? I wish the folks designing things like gray-water re-use, for example, would offer to retrofit houses on a discounted basis if several houses in a close radius would sign up to do it. This is how we get a Living Building to become an influence on something greater than its own footprint.
I’m excited to see this building happen. Congrats on being involved in such a project so early in your career. Please submit any upcoming community interaction opportunities to jseattle, who runs this website.
Jane
The students raise a good questions about replacing current bars and eating spots. As I remember reading the plans, the
Bullit building is now planned as all prime office space…. no housing, limited-small shop.
Of course there is a giant glut of that, office space, downtown. Also, the solar collect system drapes over the boxy building in what seemed a poorly designed perspective.
Actual building look is modern box…. OK but not a signature look at all.
“Not my crowd” from Jane above is exactly why the Queer community is concerned about all the changes on the Hill. I have been to many planning meetings, mostly Sound Transit, and never has the word queer, gay, or any other variant been mentioned from the podium – the invisible Hill dykes and fags. There is giant concern about the vanishing gay bar, which still perform an important function as meeting place, community supporters, and safe work space. (the thriving gay amateur athletic leagues, baseball, rugby, basketball, soccer, all are bar sponsored, 25-30 of them – the non profits don’t do sports I guess, even with lots of money compared to the small bars)
By the way at the Madison site, the gay bar stuff has been there for about 20 years, and Thumpers used to be across the street, a mini circuit…. bothe locations were been very community involved from way back.
Thanks for all the info. Yes, NOW is the time for input.
Mike
That part of the neighborhood could really use an infusion of nature. There are so many cars that the scale needs to be tipped in favor of pedestrians.
I haven’t seen the proposed design but I would suggest this would be a prime place for the inclusion of living walls and green roofs to add vegetation and help with noise.
The first floor must contain an “eyes on the street” type of business/tenant because there is significant crime along this corridor. I haven’t been to the current bar but I believe they have an exterior patio. It would be nice to include some outdoor dining space in the new project as well. Additionally, a series of canopies or a loggia would help establish a pedestrian friendly streetfront with protection from the almost always inclimate weather.
Capitol Hill is in desperate need of more P-Patch space. If you can’t provide one on-site, at least offer South and West facing balconies on the residential units that are large enough to grow a small container garden.
I appreciate your opinions and am excited to start discussing these issues with fellow classmates and professors. Even if this is only a design class we will have multiple opportunities to discuss goals and objectives with Miller Hull Architects and having peoples input to work with will make my design arguments much stronger.
I will be in Seattle to visit the site and speak with a number of businesses and architects in 2 weeks. As Jane suggested earlier with local community groups such as Miller Community Center, I would like to hear what people have to say about the area or what they like about the neighborhood. Does anyone have any suggestions of places to visit while I am in Seattle?
It would be great to host a community Charette in which people can give their opinions, similar to the way this forum is setup, but in a larger more public setting. I will let you know if something like this happens in this next month.
Thanks again for the help.
Thanks for seeking input from the local community as you design what sounds like an exciting project. I live a block from the site, and am psyched that we’ll have an environmentally commendable building in place there.
We’ve had a lot of construction in our immediate neighborhood in the past few years. The disappointment many of us have is that most of the units in these buildings are too expensive for the neighborhood’s traditional residents. We’re also awash in studio and one-bedroom units, with few two- and three-bedroom apartments and condos available for families.
The corner of 15th & Madison is an unusual and highly visible location. I agree with the desire for eyes on the street (though not with the characterization of a high-crime corridor), and with the recognition of the queer community – whether it’s in the form of a bar or public art or something else. But I’m most interested in the building, with its environmental features, being truly integrated with the surrounding community. Too often, we’re told that buildings will have open space, which turns out only to be unused patios available only to the building’s residents. Meeting rooms available to the community, P-Patch gardens, truly public courtyards with outdoor seating from cafes, and businesses that encourage people moving in and out of the space are all possible ways to make the building part of the neighborhood, rather than simply in it. There are many ways to make that happen, I’m sure.
Additionally, the triangular park across 15th may provide an interesting opportunity. It’s just a swath of grass with large trees planted around the border. Something that ties the new building in with that very green area could be cool.
Please do knock on residential doors in the neighboring blocks when you’re in town — or invite us to an open house or something. The living building idea is certain to generate excitement.
thx,
b
As you’ve gotten a sense, we are a very dedicated community committed to making our neighborhoods the best places they can be. I helped pull together a public design charrette for the TOD sites, and am also involved in some other local initiatives. Feel free to drop me an email and we can chat a bit more about your work,
Mike Mariano
Schemata Workshop
[email protected]
v 206 285 1589
In terms of businesses we can really use, a bakery in the space would be ideal. If you read Capitol Hill Seattle blog and forums, you will read a lot of support for another bakery on the south side of cap hill / north side of central district.
As a small builder in Seattle trying to get the financial community to understand what net zero building is, its nice to hear that the Bullitt Foundation wants a net zero building. It might give me something to tell them about while I’m begging for funding.
I hope the foundation has deep pockets with all of the ‘it would be nice to haves’ coming from the community.
To the nice person who wanted a green roof – green roofs and net zero don’t happen on the same building at this latitude – you need every square foot of space for PV panels.
I wish you and Miller Hull and the Bullitt Foundation all the luck in the world with your project and with trying to meet the living building challenge under the current building codes.
I have lived in the yellow stucco condo building on the Pike St. side of the same block as this future building. I have lived here since 1994. My condo faces directly west so I will be looking at the back of your design, probably for the rest of my life. Your building is going to wipe away my view of the Space Needle, Downtown, the lush green tops of the trees in the park, and most of the only sunlight I currently get only during the summer. I actually don’t see this as a positive, go figure, but recognize there is nothing to be done about it illustrated by the multiple variances this building has needed and received in order to get built. My wish is that you make the back side of the building something that I and the other residents in my building, as well as the residents in the apartment building your building will abut, can enjoy looking at. Too often, buildings will look great from the street side/s and like crap from the rest. It would be wonderful if it could reflect light in some manner. It would also be nice to once again have an affordable restaurant serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner in that space as the Cadillac Grill was there for years and was quite popular.