From Process to Product


Book Description

As Seattle continues to boom, the city is experiencing significant pressures to densify and grow to accommodate new residents and businesses. Seattle's Design Review Program reviews many of these new developments through an extensive public process with guidance from City staff, appointed board members, and other sources. This thesis explores the effectiveness of the Design Review Program in meeting its goals of encouraging quality projects, allowing for flexibility, and engaging the community. In order to do this, a comprehensive case study approach was taken to examine the way in which various influencing factors affect how building designs change as applicants move through the process. A thorough analysis of public comments, Design Review Board deliberations, submitted project design materials, local media articles, and planner interviews revealed an unpredictable process that is often confusing to navigate, particularly for community members, and is burdensome on applicants. While the existing system has its merits, it is clear that inefficiencies exist and that there are some possible solutions, though they may be difficult to implement.




Serving the Public in Neighborhood Design Review


Book Description

Design Review is a discretionary process in which land development proposals are judged by a third party, independent of the project client and the developer, that reports to a local government entity. In Seattle, the City ensures the right to due process in Design Review through the use of Citywide and Neighborhood Design Guidelines. Community members may give feedback on a project-by-project basis and in the creation of Neighborhood Design Guidelines. Research on how well Design Review serves the public focuses largely on public engagement on a project-by-project basis, and not in the creation of Design Guidelines. How the City engages the public when creating Neighborhood Design Guidelines, who is involved, and why it matters have been left unasked, but are more relevant than ever in Seattle as the City considers how to standardize outreach for Neighborhood Design Guidelines. To help planners answer these questions, this thesis provides an assessment of how Seattle recently updated the Design Guidelines for the Capitol Hill neighborhood.




Drawing Shortcuts


Book Description

The updated edition of a contemporary approach to merging traditional hand drawing methods with 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional digital visualization tools. Jim Leggitt?s Drawing Shortcuts shows how communicating with hand drawings combined with digital technology can be ingeniously simple, and this new edition makes an already popular technique even better. Completely expanded with new chapters and a wealth of supporting images, this Second Edition presents practical techniques for improving drawing efficiency and effectiveness by combining traditional hand drawing methods with the latest digital technology, including 3-D modeling with SketchUp. This book?s step-by-step approach will sharpen and streamline your techniques whether you draw for pleasure, school or your design profession. Easy-to-follow instructions cover every aspect from the basics of drawing?such as composition, color, shading, hatching, and perspective?up to the most current technologies Incorporates Google SketchUp, Google Earth, computer generated renderings, digital scanners and printers Features new visuals from accomplished drawing experts Special new ?Gallery? section highlights the creative process with step-by-step examples of drawings Complete coverage of the ?Overlay and Trace Method,? ?Simple Composite Method,? ?Advanced Composite Method,? and ?Digital Hybrid Drawings? New matrices show alternative drawing techniques for specific visual effects such as Linework and Shading, Selecting the Right Views, Perspectives and Paraline Drawings, Drawing Detail, Camera Lenses, and Drawing Tools Generously enriched with detailed process drawings, examples, and more than 500 full-color images, Drawing Shortcuts, Second Edition will have you creating top-quality drawings faster and more effectively.




Seattle Design Guidelines


Book Description







Depolarizing the Process


Book Description

In Seattle, a city with a robust public process around issues of urban growth, recent rapid redevelopment in low-rise neighborhoods has intensified the public debate over design and density. Conflict over individual development projects has escalated as the city struggles to balance economic and population growth with community needs, leaving many residents anxious about congestion, affordability, and a changing built environment. This thesis examines Seattle's design review, which is the central public piece of the city's development review process, and evaluates its success as a collaborative process in this context of divisive growth. Urban design and regulations such as design review are often regarded as the exclusive realm of design professionals; this thesis argues that design review must embrace its role in a participatory planning process. Research draws on existing models of design review as well as collaborative planning theory to evaluate how Seattle's design review can further employ deliberative strategies to reduce polarization over growth and better address community needs. Analysis suggests that the city's framework for design review, which fosters stakeholder relationships and local knowledge as well as design expertise, could be further enhanced by emphasis on dialogue, training, and alignment with other city departments and neighborhood plans.




Design Review


Book Description




Seattle Citywide Design Guidelines


Book Description