The other day we reported that Kristi Park’s “Sail Away” design was a finalist in the Seattle Design Commission’s “Holding Patterns” call for ideas for stalled construction sites.
We got in touch with Park to find out more about her vision for the pit at N. 40th and Stone Way.
Park has lived in Wallingford for more than five years. She’s working toward a master’s in landscape architecture at UW.
She chose the site at 40th/Stone Way as the model for her design, but, she says: “This idea is actually meant to work in any deep Seattle pit (with customization). I modelled this idea off of the 40th/Stone Way pit mainly becuase we live very near it and I know a lot about the site’s history (I even shopped in the old Safeway years ago when visiting friends who lived here). I am also inspired by the topographic changes of the site which would lead to interesting visual effects from the adjacent sidewalks.”
Park says that she’s working on cost estimates for the project now. “The cost varies greatly – mostly depending on the intended permanency of the installation (ie., one month vs. five years),” she explains. “Outdoor fabrics (from salvaged sails to very sturdy material) vary in life expectancy when exposed to the outdoor environment. Typically, the longer the intended lifespan of the material, the higher the cost. As you can imagine, the lighting scheme can also vary greatly in cost.”
Among the next steps for the project is contacting the site owner, Park says.
Tent city?
I still don’t understand the way this will work.
Won’t placing the sails in these pits subject them to very little wind? wouldn’t it make more sense to elevate them?
Yep: I checked in with Kristi Park, who wrote: “The idea that I submitted to the design commission is very conceptual and in the very early phases of design. We will be working through design development (including studying wind patterns) once we learn more about potential sites, funding resources, property owner permission, etc.
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