UW News

June 6, 2002

Architecture students transform local playground

A three-stage outdoor performance space designed and built by College of Architecture and Urban Planning students will get its first workout June 14, when T.T. Minor Elementary School in Seattle’s Central District celebrates the UW’s transformation of its playground.

Neighbors and city and county officials will join UW students and faculty for the 3:30 p.m. celebration, complete with a performance from a children’s music, drama and dance program funded by the King County Arts Commission. The public is invited.

Howard S. Wright Professor of Architecture Steve Badanes has led a UW project to remake the school’s huge site into an asset for students and the community. Badanes and his students created an undulating, 150-foot-long trellis and wall last year whose shape mimics the jump-roping popular among the schoolchildren. This spring, the UW crew of about 15 students built the performance stages out of concrete and plastic “lumber.”

The public school, at 1700 E. Union St., added enrichment programs in 1998 with the help of a private foundation, and now features year-round classes and a preschool.