December 12, 2002
11 visions for a post-Viaduct Seattle to be unveiled
Advanced urban design and planning students will present 11 proposals tomorrow for reconnecting Seattle with its waterfront when the Alaskan Way Viaduct is torn down.
Using scale models, drawings and maps, the students will show how the ferry terminal could be moved, Seattle Aquarium relocated and other changes made to improve downtown Seattle’s mobility, aesthetics and housing opportunities.
“There are a quite a number of fresh ideas,” said studio instructor Ron Kasprisin, an associate professor in the College of Architecture and Urban Planning. “It’s fascinating to see what happens when you take the Viaduct away.
Officials have scaled back an earlier $11.9 billion plan to replace the viaduct with a tunnel that would include underground arteries extending from Lake Union to Safeco Field. But the aging, quake-vulnerable Viaduct is still considered likely to be torn down and replaced with some combination of a tunnel and surface roads.
Kasprisin told his urban design students to assume a full Viaduct teardown.
“Too much of a compromise,” Kasprisin said, “would not be in the best interest of the city.”
The presentations will be given Friday, Dec. 13, 1 p.m.-5 p.m. in Room 100 of Gould Hall, Northeast 40th Street and Campus Parkway Northeast.
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For more information, contact Kasprisin at (206) 325-9525 or paparon@u.washington.edu.
