Green Incorporated

A Seattle neighbourhood shows how nature and density can co-exist

COVID 19 reminded builders how important greenspaces are to residents’ physical and mental health. And with a shift toward urban density, these spaces are more essential neighbourhood elements than ever.

Green areas improve a community’s sustainability in many ways. For one, they mitigate the urban heat island effect that contributes to summer peak energy demands, air conditioning costs, air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, heat-related illness and water quality. They also encourage an active lifestyle. Wellplanned neighbourhoods with high pedestrian activity and bike riding reduce automobile usage.

A continuous landscape of greenery also helps preserve the biodiversity of an area, allowing various species to survive and circulate much as they do in wilder spaces. Continuity of such open space can be difficult to accomplish in high-density developments, but is achievable if corridors of greenery are combined with walkways to link urban green patches to big parks outside the community.

Still, the planning and provision of open spaces in areas with greater densities requires much care and thought. Private outdoor space, whether in the form of front or back yards, patios, decks, balconies or roof terraces, must be provided along with public outdoor space, which can be implemented in a variety of spatial patterns.

Built in an already-established neighbourhood of Seattle, Bryant Heights combines different housing and program types with a focus on greenery to merge higher density living with the mid-density residential district.

Designed by Johnston Architects, Bryant Heights takes up a street block previously occupied by a hospital campus; its development reintegrating the site back into the urban fabric. To the north, east and west are residential blocks. To the south lies a busy commercial street.

To blend with the neighbourhood dynamic, the architects proposed a gradient of density, with commercial space, live/work and condominiums in the south, and single-family homes to the north.

Topographical changes were incorporated to break up the large scale, also resulting in an engaging pedestrian experience. Townhouses connect up to three units, economizing space while giving most units the privacy of a semi-detached home. Further, all townhouse blocks were designed with different facades to avoid visual monotony, while adding a more bespoke character.

Single-family units neighbouring the streets are equipped with large front yards, often with retained trees, offering more privacy. Townhomes also have large front yards, providing homeowners with their own garden, while contributing to the development’s overall greenscape. The preservation of existing trees also provides a sense of permanence to the homes, while maintaining biodiversity on the site. Two large oaks define the central path that connects the townhouses. Combined with other pedestrian paths, they blend the different density zones into one cohesive community.

Native plants were grown as part of the landscape, reducing maintenance costs and minimizing disturbance to the environment.

Bryant Heights serves as a model of how the design of open spaces can contribute to denser single-family homes, while also being planetfriendly.