Two people who will play major roles in the way new Capitol Hill developments look and fit into the streets around them are about to be appointed by the City Council. Given the importance of the city's design review board process, we thought you might like to meet them.
First, some background on the boards. There are seven design review boards in Seattle. The board that reviews Capitol Hill projects also will cover work on First Hill and in the CD. The boards are responsible for working with developers to ensure projects meet zoning requirements and community guidelines. This process plays out most publicly in the design review meetings for projects where the latest plans are discussed publicly before the board and then approved or sent back for refinements. The board positions are volunteer and the term lasts 2 years, at which point a member may be reappointed. You can read more about the boards here.
Here are the Capitol Hill review board members sticking around for another year: Evan Bourquard, a project architect for the Miller | Hull Partnership and Brian Cavanaugh, an architect and principal at the firm Pb Elemental Architecture. Meanwhile, Rumi Takahashi, Jason Morrow, and Sharon Sutton exit the board. Never heard of them? That's OK. You were never introduced.
Unlike Wolf. Meet Wolf Saar, appointee for the Architect and Community at Large position on the Hill board.
Wolf Saar
Here's what Wolf had to say about his hopes for the role at this week's land use committee meeting with chair Sally Clark:
2200 Westlake (image: Vulcan)
I am really encouraged by the quality of design that we're seeing on Capitol Hill now, particularly the Pike/Pine corridor and I see my role as assisting and helping proponents get their projects through Design Review Boards. I think time is money to developers and I think making the right decisions early on and guiding them through the process, I see that as a prime part of my role.
Wolf is currently at Weber Thompson and before that, Mithun, where his bio notes his projects included the expansion of the Seattle Aquarium and 2200 Westlake. You can see some of Weber Thompson's mixed-use projects here.
Meanwhile, Lisa Picard is the new appointee for the Development Position.
Lisa Picard
Lisa is the managing partner at Muse Development, developers of projects across the country including several resorts and a golf course.
A few of Lisa's statements from the committee session:
I quickly realized that a lot of developers fail to recognize the opportunity of good design.
I felt I could help designers and help the community to understand how financially we could do good design.
I believe in this economic time it's good to have choice and it's actually good design that is going to succeed.
And a look at one of Muse's projects to give you a sense of their designs:
Alley 24 (image: Muse Development)
There's your introduction. Knowing names and faces should make things easier when you want to complain about the latest ugly project sprouting up on the Hill. And, who knows, maybe these two can help turn things around when it comes to Hill development design.
The candidates are brought through the Council committee process and then must be approved by a full Council vote. This year's appointments and reappointments will likely happen next week.
Here's the video archive of Wednesday's land use committee meeting if you'd like to hear more from the Hill appointees or find out about the board appointments and reappointments for other areas of the city.
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