College of Built Environments at the University of Washington.
Design students rethink how Seattle handles its waste in UW project.
Tuesday June 2008Instead of hiding the building, a tendency more typical for this kind of architecture, students from CAUP's Rick Mohler's design studio "celebrated the transfer station in their designs, turning it into park space and connecting it to the community." The social consciousness of today's architecture students seems to be altering the way in which Seattle communities are thinking about waste. Rather than hiding the transfer station, the student's designs made it more visible.
The assignment given by Mohler to his graduate students included the same constraints and criteria that the design team will eventually use for the North Seattle Recycling and Disposal Station, only that the students were allowed more physical space to work with. Each student's project was unique, but the overall connection between their designs implied a focus towards social responsibility, community, and sustainability.
Designs varied from making the transfer station a mixed-use area with a commercial space and a public park, to sinking the building into the landscape to create more green space for the surrounding residential community. Other student designs sought to increase the building's efficiency through the use of conveyence technology, while another student proposed green roofs and a design that connects the building to the landscape. Part of the purpose of the exercise, said Mohler, was "to get students to be aware of, and get students to think differently about this issue of waste as citizens."
The complete story can be read in "The Daily Journal of Commerce". Subscription is required.