Every year, the University of Washington's Department of Urban Design and Planning holds a studio course for its first year graduate students. This course is sponsored by a local group, and works on a real-world issue. DPD sponsored the 2005 studio to assist the City in its long-term planning efforts in South Lake Union. Much has changed in this center city neighborhood since development of the 1998 Neighborhood Plan, and the City has determined that an updated vision is warranted. The graduate students undertook a six month long interdisciplinary planning studio project. The document (located below) presents the students' ideas and work. The ideas in this document represent strategies that the City and the community together can evaluate, modify, and/or use as starting points for further discussion.

NOTE:  Materials are presented in Adobe Acrobat PDF format (download free Acrobat Reader). 

• Background and Draft Options for South Lake Union Urban Center Planning (17.3MB) - you may also view the document broken in sections:
• • Introduction
  • Community Identity (1.5 MB)
  • Green Development (1.2 MB)
  • Connectivity, Wayfinding and Walkability (2.5 MB)
  • Streetscapes (4 MB)
  • Urban Form (2.3 MB)
  • Housing (1.9 MB)
  • Adaptive Reuse (2.5 MB)
  • "Triangle Study" (2.5 MB)
• FAQ
• Open House Presentation (9.8 MB)

Following the Spring 2005 course, DPD sponsored an Urban Design studio in the fall of 2005.  The results of that studio is available below.

• Studio Report - Urban Form in South Lake Union (25.8 MB) - you may also view the document broken in sections:
• • Introduction and Table of Contents
  • Chapter 1 - South Lake Union TDR/Bonus Program
  • Chapter 2 - Overall Massing and View Corridor Studies (2.56 MB)
  • Chapter 3 - Basic Street Design Principles (2.69 MB)
  • Chapter 4 - Vegetation in Street ROW
  • Chapter 5 - Residential-dominant (woonerf) ROW Design
  • Chapter 6 - Mixed-use ROW Design - the Park Edge (1.9 MB)
  • Chapter 7 - Public Art in Street ROW Civic Interaction at the Park Entrance (1.41 MB)
  • Chapter 8 - Green Space in Setbacks, Pocket Parks, and Roofs
  • Chapter 9 - Coexistence of Existing Characteristic and New Structures (7.81 MB)
  • Chapter 10 - Incorporation of Open Space in New Development (4.15 MB)
  • Chapter 11 - Incorporation of Characteristic Details in New Development (3.43 MB)