Images taken from Seattle Department of Planning WebsiteEastlake Plan Vision Statement:
To enhance the diverse character of the Eastlake neighborhood while ensuring the responsible stewardship of our natural and constructed environment, and cultivating a strong sense of community.
Hypothesis & Issues:
Too often new housing in up-and-coming neighborhoods is designed only for the production of capital which results in rapid gentrification and a loss of historic culture. While rejuvenation of aging buildings and infrastructure is encouraged, existing historic neighborhood institutions are often disregarded as being too run down and/or insignificant to preserve. What would happen if, in an up-and-coming community that was formerly blue-collar like Seattle’s Eastlake Neighborhood, developers preserved the existing institutions of the “lower class” while also working meet their own financial needs and those of the newer white-collar tenants? Key issues would be as follows:
- Anti-Gentrification techniques
- Some affordable housing, some high-end housing
- Shared utilities and spaces like laundry rooms and lounges
- Street Life through mixed-use and live/work
- Retaining Zoo Tavern, a market & a restaurant
- Good design... not necessarily expensive materials
- Sustainability meeting “SeaGreen” standards
