UWAC/ULAC Design Guidance

205430 Population Health Facility

November 13, 2017

Overall the commissioners acknowledged that the team had made considerable progress addressing their past comments. The Landscape needs to catch up with the new massing details and be more coordinated.

Comments from architectural portion of presentation

Narrowing the mass of the upper floors is a nice move. Allows for greater opportunity for daylight.
Several suggested having an exterior stair at the north end to allow access to patio at level 2 from level 1 NE entrance. Could mirror interior stair. Others felt that it was better to encourage pedestrians to enter the building and engage in the interior program on their passage.
Need to coordinate landscape and architecture at the NW corner. One suggests hardscape and leads to considering a stair. The other suggests green landscape wrapping the building.
Establishing the gallery as a stand-alone piece of the building to meet the street is positive.
Gallery is a wonderful idea.
Work to create a feeling that this building is about people.
The notch on the west side at level three suggests that a balcony or terrace may work well.
It is important that the terraces be located in a way to have adjacency and synergy with internal spaces.
Consider adding a terrace to the north end and tying to a publicly accessible / visitor space.
The east/west notch, inserted to break down the building massing, could either be aligned with Asotin Lane or positioned according to internal program.It is more important for them to relate to interior program than for them to align with Asotin Lane. If notches are aligned it would allow a person sitting in this communal space to see outside both to the west and to the east.
The Level 8 terrace at the South end of the building does not currently appear to have program adjacency. The team should study how to make this space successful given the nature of its adjacency to the building core.
The north end of the building has great potential for conferencing space and to serve as a head piece. Needs more emphasis. Encourage the internal public connection program to extend to the north.
Consider moving the building core at the north east into the interior of the building to gain valuable perimeter space.
The improvements to the Northwest corner of the building at ground level were favored. Allowing for a transparent corner into program and wrapping the hardscape around the corner is a good move.
Pulling the two entrances at 15th closer together is excellent.
The NE building core facing Architecture Hall needs to be designed to speak to the pedestrian scale. Work to make the stair towers less monolithic
Consider creating a series of platforms up through the building to the roof to speak to the building’s program and aspirations.

Comments from the landscape portion of the presentation.

Need to resolve garden walkway. Somewhere in between the rectilinear scheme and the non rectilinear“60’s” garden. Need more variety within the rectilinear framework. Benches in the landscape were great and they would like to see trees in the pathways.
Appreciate the fluidity of the non-rectilinear garden path. The rectilinear garden walk sketch is not as rich. Needs more development to add variety.
The south entrance landscape with the angled garden beds on either side of the stair is interesting. When landscape design deviates from the rectilinear it should have a reason.
Still a question as to the kind of entry we are striving for at the north end of the building. Originally, we understood the goal of shortening the building was to allow for a landscaped entrance. Extending the building to the north compromises the landscape concept.
Others commented that the entrance has shifted from a woodland landscape entrance to an urban landscape entrance. Encourage the team to introduce an urban vocabulary to the NW entrance and show off the 3 story space at the NW entrance.
Consider the landscape condition at the entrances at both ends of the building (north and south). This may suggest a non-rectilinear approach to the landscape.
Incorporating outdoor bicycle parking is essential.
Need to consider the passage between Architecture, PHF and Gould.
Consider the south side planting choices to ensure they are healthy and maintainable.
Look at what type of slopes at the north can inform the rest of the building.
We don’t want to take down one retaining wall along 15th and build another.There should be a balance between walls and sloped landscape such that the sloped landscape is sustainable for healthy plants. Site ‘walls’ should not go above seat height.