Denny Site Design Team: Closing in on a final proposal

During Seattle Public Schools‘ current closure process, we’ve heard a lot about “design teams” — groups formed to talk through a project, with members drawn from a variety of groups with stakes in the process (district employees, school reps, community members). Tonight, one of those teams continued working through the process of designing what will happen on the current Denny Middle School site, once the new Denny is built and open. They’re close to a final design; three options were developed in the past few months, and recapped at the start of tonight’s meeting by Robert Evans, Denny-Sealth project manager. Landscape architect Jonathan Morley ran through a PowerPoint presentation (you can see it here either as a narrated clip, or drag the playbar along to fast-forward through the slides). As we’ve reported earlier in the process, the Denny site may eventually be home to a new elementary school, in addition to the tennis courts and softball team that are being installed as a replacement for what’s been torn out on the Chief Sealth site, so each of the three options was shown with and without a school building. Team members were asked to identify which features they liked most, so a “hybrid” drawing can be developed before the next meeting February 9th; the most popular ones included keeping existing trees, incorporating rain gardens and swales to keep rainwater onsite, and creating a terraced area for use as an amphitheater. Once a final proposal is developed, it will require School Board approval. You can find district background on the project on this website; our past coverage of the design-team meetings, newest to oldest, are part of our Denny-Sealth story archive.

2 Replies to "Denny Site Design Team: Closing in on a final proposal"

  • westwood January 12, 2009 (11:22 pm)

    These options are much better than what the school district was originally proposing–parking lots and tennis courts–lots of asphalt.

    The Sealth complex is very nice if you are on an organized sports team, but does little for the neighborhood. These options at least begin to give back to the neighborhood a little bit.

  • Sandra January 13, 2009 (4:37 pm)

    WSB, thanks for your ongoing coverage of this. I was unable to attend last night’s meeting, so your summary is helpful.

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