Summary of Phase I - Designing Magnuson Community Garden

The process of building a community garden at Magnuson Park is divided into phases.  Phase I involved designing the garden.  Phase II  includes creating drawings for construction, fund raising, and the actual physical building the garden.

Phase I was brought to a close on November 15, 2000 after the receipt of soil test information and the submittal of the final Small and Simple grant report to the Department of Neighborhoods.

The Magnuson Garden  Community Coalition was formed to guide the development of the proposed garden. It applied for and received a $10.000 Small and Simple grant from the city to facilitate the creation of a design for the garden.  In March 2000 after soliciting RFP's,  Barker Landscape Architects was selected as the landscape architect to assist the Coalition with designing the garden.   The process followed for designing the garden are summarized in the Magnuson Community Garden Design Report prepared by Barker Landscape Architects.   The report shows the evolution of the design through concept sketches which were considered at three public design workshops  held at Magnuson Park.  Public comments on the design sketches were integrated into a final design concept for the garden.  The final concept  was presented to the Seattle Design Commission on July 20, 2000.    Barker presented the final design documents  to the Coalition on August 28, 2000.

The design concept includes space for small educational and cultural gatherings adjacent to the Community Activities Center (the former Naval Base Brig), a children's garden, demonstration gardens, native plant areas, a composting area for the park with an educational component, a garden for quiet meditation, art in the garden, and a neighborhood P-patch with garden spaces for persons with physical disabilities.

• Design Process
  
• Final Site Concept Drawing
• Seattle Design Commission Approval   (368 KB), Excerpt from Minutes, July 20, 2002  
• Magnuson Community Garden Design Report 

Phase II was launched with a second application to the Department of Neighborhoods for a second Small and Simple grant for further development of the design for the garden  -- construction drawings for earthwork, drainage, and utilities including the core irrigation system.  In September 2001 the Magnuson Community Garden applied to the city for a Large Construction Grant to begin actual construction of the garden.