Frye Art Museum is getting creative and turning a 100 stall parking lot at 707 Terry Ave into a 250 stall parking garage topped with 450 residences and 5,500 square feet of commercial space. Perkins+Will are the designers and Westbank is the developer. The unique aspect of the project is the influence of art. Frye wants to create apartments and use the space more productively, but they also want to create a multi-story blank canvas for expressing art in the neighborhood - an appropriate intent for an art institution. Even the surface will be textured to evoke a feeling of shoji screens or canvas. The designers and developer have backgrounds in similar buildings, which can be a welcome change from tall box towers. The preferred form is also unconventional, two towers leaning away from each other, though connected by a bridge near the top. The concept is called, "Creative Tension", which hopefully is only a title and not a source of concern from the residents or the neighbors. The Design Review Meeting is January 27, 6:30pm at Seattle University Student Center, 1000 E. James Way. Attend to see if there's any creative tension in the audience.
· Frye Art Museum Plans [DPD]