University Village Promenade
Seattle, WA
Landscape architecture for the pedestrian connection from the village center to the new parking garage and shops.
The Promenade was developed to directly connect the new 800-car parking structure on the north part of the site to the primary shopping areas within the Village. This linear pedestrian walkway, running north/south from the escalator lobby of the garage to the retail core, is 500 feet long and intersects with the east/west connector walk to the northwest quad. Various surface parking lots were reorganized to achieve this connection and to reduce pedestrian/auto conflicts. While loss of surface parking spaces was minimized, a generous pedestrian zone was established that is in scale with the Promenade and creates a suitable foreground to the large north side building.
The Promenade is activated by adjacent retail, water features, pedestrian lighting and sitting areas. Specimen trees, hedges, low brick walls, lawn and seasonal color beds establish the structure, scale and cadence of the space. In addition, one section of the adjacent surface lot, with special power supply, can be closed off to traffic to accommodate the Village's summer concert series.
