In Seattle, an intricate network of waterways shapes the city and its parks.
“Water is a place??a clear statement that summarizes the ethos of this project. Crossed, bounded, and defined in every way by water, Seattle has 142 small ?street-end? waterfront parks that offer residents an abundance of ways to access the waterfront, including soft native eddies next to industrial harbors and hidden beaches just down from the sculpture park. Lily Daniels, Associate ASLA, has visited every single one, developing a kit-of-parts plan to improve these spaces, while surveying landscape conditions and cultural geography.
A detail of “Where the Street Ends.” Courtesy Lily Daniels, Associate ASLA.
The resulting strategies are carefully attuned to the unique conditions of Seattle?s lakes, rivers, and oceanfront. There are oyster breakwaters in Puget Sound, rain gardens at the terminus of the industrialized Duwamish River, and underwater habitats for migrating salmon suspended from floating decking islands. This project, which won the Award of Excellence in the Student Communications category, works across the dual axes of ecology and culture, where each set of improvements responds to the need to support living systems animating the landscape as well as humans? understanding of how all of it touches their world away from the water. A detail of “Where the Street Ends.” Courtesy Lily Daniels, Associate ASLA.
A detail of “Where the Street Ends.” Cour...