Location: Seattle, WA

Size: 41,774 SF site / 14,853 SF pocket park  
Client: Seattle Housing Authority

Status: Permitting

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Sawara is set on a steeply sloping site in the Yesler Terrace neighborhood, adjacent to downtown. This affordable housing community is organized around a central courtyard with integrated play areas, gathering spaces, outdoor child care spaces, and lush planting. The central organizational concept is inspired by the geography of the Japanese village of Sawara. Forms, materials and circulation are patterned around elements of Canal + Flow, Bridge + Edge, and Iris + Calm. Landscape materials include reclaimed old growth timber in furnishings, rails, and entry structures.  The project also includes design of the adjacent public pocket park and public access drive. The pocket park reinforces connection and circulation between the two adjacent streets. At each perimeter the park captures long views with perched plazas and unique furnishings, all woven within a fabric of existing trees.