Site Report #1: The Deep Read
UW Tower on a nice day. Self-taken photograph. 2017-01-20
Courtyard view of University of Washington Plaza. Self-taken photograph. 2017-01-20.
Crude hand drawn map of my block. Self-taken photograph. 2017-01-20.
I was assigned the block between 12th Ave NE and Brooklyn Ave NE and the cross streets NE 45th and NE 43rd St. This high profile block is home to the UW tower, the tallest building in the University District when it was built and still the tallest building outside of downtown Seattle today. The UW tower and the surrounding University of Washington Plaza dominates almost the entirety of the block, first constructed in 1975 as the headquarter of Safeco it was bought by the university in 2007 and has remained an office space for multiple departments ever since. (Why UW Purchased Safeco Tower) The surrounding streets are home to a typical mix of U-District buildings, to the south there are largely residential developments and to the north more commercial ones. The east side of the block is a perfect contemporary example of the changing nature of the U-District: currently under construction in the previous place of Brooklyn Ave there is development on a new light rail station, once completed it will shift the dynamics of the buildings around it and help bring more people through the U-District.
After having time to visit the block multiple times, (it is on my way to the store) I am continually struck by the imposing nature of the site. Its large concrete walls rise up and block up light from reaching the street and it’s brutalist architecture is quite unforgiving. This caused me to wonder about what the block looked like before the current complex was built, currently being such a dominating piece of architecture I’m sure that the landscape of the U-District looked significantly different before its construction. Another question that I considered was the effect that the construction on the street to the east of the block has had on the flow of traffic (both pedestrian and vehicular) in the area. Since Brooklyn Ave is a relatively central street I would imagine that nearby businesses like the Neptune Theater and The Ugly Mug have seen an impact on patrons and customers. As a result of the all encompassing nature of the the plaza, (it fills the entire block) this block lacks some of the building type variety that neighboring blocks possess. Whereas other blocks nearby contain a mix of residential and commercial building types this one is completely dedicated to business.
Something else that I thought about while studying this block was the height of the UW tower and its potential effect on the surrounding landscape of the U-District. Standing at 325 feet tall with 22 floors the tower looms over the area making more than a little asynchronous with the neighboring buildings. Thinking to the future, I’m sure the height of the tower has had and will continue to have an effect on height zoning regulations, something that can have major implications for future development and by extension, evolution the U-District itself. I’m excited to do some further historical research on the block in hopes of attaining a better understanding of how it came to be this way.