Seattle with Matt

Friday, April 8, 2011

Friday morning I got up super early to get down to the Lynnwood to test what my commute would be like to a firm in South Seattle, near the SeaTac airport. It’s a 40 minute bus ride from the park and ride in Lynnwood. Then I walk less than a block down to the light rail stop at Westlake Center.  The light rail train was about a 30 minute ride. The office is a mile from the station or a 15-20 minute walk down a 6% slope sidewalk (which means I have to walk up it on the way home).  This means it will be an hour and half commute door to door. It seems like a doable thing to use the commute to study for my ARE’s (architecture registration exams), but it could get old after awhile. I’ll keep looking and hopefully something closer to downtown will work out before I have to give them my decision.

Matt Fornaro, a good friend from my architecture studio at NCSU that also studied abroad with me in Prague, was in Seattle to check out the University of Washington’s 2 year masters program, which Davis Hammer, another NCSU undergrad counterpart, is currently attending. So I rode the light rail back into downtown to Westlake Center. I grabbed a Starbucks coffee, which happened to be 1 of 4 Starbucks stores within 4 blocks. I then walked about a mile over to the flagship REI store to meet up with Matt.

The REI store is amazing. It’s like a little piece of heaven for any outdoors enthusiast. It is the original flagship store. There is a 3 story 65’ climbing wall, the biggest freestanding indoor climbing wall. There are mountain bike/hiking trails surrounding the building to test out the gear. There’s even a waterfall. There is a huge outdoor porch clad in wood. Along the porch were clocks, with varying times at the top outdoor destinations in the world. The quality of the board formed concrete is great, unlike what construction is like on the east coast. Inside there were 2 floors of clothing and gear. There was a cool fireplace. They have a complete area for a bike shop.  Joe and I can’t wait to get nice bikes once we settle into our next place. That way we can see more of Washington on bike than we can by foot.

Matt and I met up with Davis and grabbed some gourmet burgers at The Lunchbox. They had some fun experiments with interesting variations on burgers.

Matt and I then wandered around downtown Seattle aimlessly.  We went by the Convention Center, the Seattle Art Musuem (SAM), and a fun triangular shaped building.

I had never been inside the Seattle Central Library by REM Koolhaus and Joshua Prince-Ramus of OMN so we decided to go there. It is the flagship Seattle Public Library, opened in 2004. The exterior stands out with glass curtain wall on a large steel diagonal module grid. The building is a celebration of books. The wood flooring on the first floor features raised words in many different languages. The “Books Spiral” is a ramp through 4 floors, organized by Dewey Decimal System classification. You never have to use the stairs and travel to a different part of the building for a certain book type. It also allows for evolution of certain sections to grow and expand, always maintaining a continuous ribbon of books from 000 to 999. There is a balcony viewpoint on the upper 5^th floor where you can view down to the 5^th street lobby. The escalators and other modes of vertical circulation are neon yellow/green. There are many locations to use computers, a much larger section of the library than its predecessors. It’s also a LEED Silver building.

We then walked over to Pike Place Market, a public market overlooking Elliott Bay. It is the oldest continually operated farmers’ market in the US. It may be touristy, but is so much fun. There are several lower levels of antique dealers, comic book sellers, and small family-owned restaurants. On the upper street level are fishmongers, fresh produce stands and craft stalls under covered arcades. There is a dry row and a Sanitary Market with a water trough side. There is a lively mix of farmers and craftspeople. There are many street performers as well, mainly musicians. One of the main attractions is the Pike Place Fish Market, where employees throw three-foot salmon and other fish. When someone orders a fish, an employee hurls the fish over the counter to another employee to catch it and prep it for sale. The first Starbucks coffee store was founded one block away with the original logo of a bare-breasted siren. Rachel is a bronze cast piggy bank under the “Public Market Center” sign that receives thousands of dollars annually in different currencies to fund the Market’s social services. The tulips were perfectly beautiful, in bloom this time of year. Tulips were $1 a stem. I can’t wait to go to the Tulip Festival sometime this April to see the fields in bloom in Skagit County.

On the north side of the market, is Victor Steinbrueck Park, named after the architect who fought to save the market is the 60’s. Here we overlooked the waterfront for a bit. The Safeco Stadium where the Seahawks play football and Quest Field where the Mariners play are a great addition to the SODO district. We watched the ferries in the Puget Sound. Post Alley looks like a fun place to explore with some fun restaurants. I said goodbye to Matt and wished him luck making the decision between this awesome city or tough next 2 years at the top architecture school in Ann Arbor at Michigan.