A Comparative Study of Design Guidelines for Chinatowns in North America: A Reference for Façade Design Regulation in Seattle’s Chinatown – International District

Abstract

This research is a comparative study of building design guidelines in North American Chinatowns, with specific attention to the exteriors façade design of historically significant buildings. It aims to provide insight as to the effectiveness of building design controls in communicating the concept of community character compatibility and achieving the goal of rehabilitating and maintaining the exteriors of historic buildings. The research includes a brief account of public design control and guidelines for façade alterations in the International District, as well as detailed analysis of approaches to rehabilitating historic buildings adopted by other similar neighborhoods and how these approaches might be applied to the improvement of future design guidelines for the International District. This comparative study should assist policy-makers in drafting design guidelines, and guide further research on the complicated issue of stakeholder participation, financial feasibility and mechanism of implementation. Thus it was mainly informed by a review of secondary source materials and by a comparative study of guidelines for rehabilitating historic buildings in similar neighborhoods.