DESIGN PORTFOLIO

The Sustainable Alternative to the Alki 11 Row Houses

I don't believe that new housing and increased density in our neighborhoods has to come at the expense of green space and the environment. But the current pace of development in Seattle leaves me wondering how much green will be left in the Emerald City 10 years from now.

A case in point is a proposed row house project in my neighborhood that will be the equivalent of paving over three lots. As I looked at the sign in front of the property showing how the new buildings will fill the property from lot line to lot line, street to street, I wondered, "How can this be done better? What would a sustainable, high density project look like?"

I came up with an alternative design, which you can read about here, that compared with the current single-family homes on that property, would house 3-1/2 to 4 times as many people, yet decrease the amount of impervious surface by as much as 20%. At the same time, it would more than double the amount of plant material there now, increase wildlife habitat, eliminate the need to park cars on the street, and mitigate storm water runoff onsite.

I didn't do this plan with the expectation that the developer would adopt it. I did it simply to show that we don't have to choose between new housing and the environment. We can have both. One of my neighbors did the rendering you see below to show what this alternative design might look like.

Illustration of the alternative "Alki 6" by Lynn Shimamoto (c) 2013

Eastlake Garden Court

They say that concrete is forever, but once in a while there is an opportunity to take it out and build a garden. This project is the most dramatic "before and after" of my career. We took a space that was an underground concrete bunker and created a woodland garden, complete with a waterfall. This Pacific Northwest Magazine article describes how it was accomplished.

Eastlake Garden Court photo by Mike Siegel

From Leaky Water Feature to Vertical Garden

Design projects don't have to be big ones to have an impact. Homeowners at a condominium complex in Belltown were tired of dealing with the leaky water feature in their courtyard. So they decided to make it into a planter. The question was, what to plant?

The main planting area was on a steep angle and there wasn't enough budget to consider terracing.

The solution was a planting plan that combines easy care grasses and ground covers to provide color, texture and year around interest. The cascading leaves of the ferns at top, black mondo grass in the center and acorus at the bottom, are reminiscent of the waterfall that used to be there.

Do you need garden design services? I charge $60/hour. I provide scale drawings in PDF format and scope of work and installation instructions in Word and PDF formats - easy to store on your computer, email to contractors and print at your convenience. To schedule an appointment, please send me an email.  Let me know how I can help you create the garden you want.