Infiltrating the High-Tech Enclave: Inhabiting South Lake Union Through A Network of Temporary Architecture

Abstract

Over the past decade, Seattle has been one of the fastest growing cities in the United States in terms of economy and population. The South Lake Union neighborhood, close to downtown and dominated by newly constructed high-tech office buildings, illustrates the city’s rapid development in terms of economic and social aspects. The speed of the urban transformation happening in SLU is a reflection of large changes brought about modernization and globalization, causing some Seattleites to feel nostalgic for the past and making some people feel uncertain about the future and and the role that technology will play in it. Among all the development in SLU, the rapid growth of the high-tech companies in the city of Seattle has had a major impact, resulting in a fragmented urban condition. This thesis focuses on rethinking and reshaping the existing urban space in a way that responds to the impact of high technology companies such as Amazon and UW Medicine in order to make SLU an experiential and interactive neighborhood. The goal is to activate the urban fabric of the city both for workers and residents of the neighborhood in order to establish a new public realm. The proposed public network is a series of temporary architectural interventions that will transform these underutilized spaces to serve as a place for people to collectively experience the public spaces of the city.