Bloglander

There already are awards for the best Spokane architecture, and awards for the best Spokane landscaping design. But what about where the interior, exterior and landscaping designs all interact with the surrounding area, transforming the property into something gorgeous and iconic?

That's what the Mayor’s Urban Design Awards are all about. The awards have been running biannually for the past decade.

"Two years ago, the Spokane Tribal Gathering place won the Mayor’s Urban Design award," says Omar Akkari, an urban designer with the city of Spokane. "That reclaimed an underutilized parking lot and turned it into this beautiful park. It opened up views to the river. "

But don't think the choice is just being left up to the snobby elites in their ivory towers. Voting has opened for the "People's Choice" award: Pick from seven options, ranging from the updated STA Plaza to Iron Goat Brewing's building.

In previous years, the People's Choice award has gone to the Saranac Commons, Martin Luther King Jr. Way, the Bissinger Building Remodel & Addition, the Fox Theater, and the Ben Burr Building.

You can vote online here, or vote in person at River Park Square until Oct. 6.

But wait: Before you vote, the city of Spokane wants you to take into account the "qualities of good design."

Ask yourselves questions about each building:

Does it appeal to our "intellect, emotions, senses and spirit?" Does it provide for public safety, by taking into account lighting, visibility, and pedestrian access? Does it clearly show which parts of the property are public and which are private? Can it be used for a wide array of activities? Is it designed for pedestrians first, cyclists second and cars last? Is it accessible to everyone, no matter their age or ability? Does it create a strong sense of "place," something that gives the community happiness and meaning? Is it easy to navigate and find your way around in? Is it good for the environment?

Then, and only then, pick from the these options:


Yes, those reports a few years ago that signs pointed to a "dim future" for the STA Plaza renovations were incorrect. Today, the proof is in the Plaza. The renovation is complete.

The brick exterior on Sprague Avenue was torn down and replaced with a window, so people could sit nearby and wait for their buses to arrive. Banks of real-time monitors were placed throughout the facility, allowing riders to check on bus locations up to the second.

The big escalator that divided the Plaza in two has been moved.

"Now that it's up against the south wall, it opens up the center plaza quite a bit more,"
STA spokesman Brandon Rapez-Betty says.

And the loud waterfall that thundered past the cougar statue has been removed, replaced with LED lights intended to flicker like a stream.

But the most effective change may have been the simplest one: Everything that most bus riders use, from fast-food joints to the lost-and-found, has been moved to the first floor.

"Our ticket sales and lost-and-found [visits] and questions from customers have skyrocketed since we put it on the first floor," says Rapez-Betty.

THE SPOKANE TEACHING HEALTH CLINIC

Washington State University's Spokane campus gets not one, but two nominations. Both the Spokane Teaching Health Center and the Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences building are central to the transformation of the university from a mere health-sciences campus to the site of the state's newest medical school.

"These buildings are visual exclamation points for the mission of the campus, clinical care and health sciences research," says Ken Roberts, vice-dean for academic and community partnerships at WSU Spokane.

The Spokane Teaching Health Center is particularly crucial to the development of doctors in the region. The facility is part of a partnership that has created 18 new residency slots, addressing the biggest bottleneck to adding more doctors to the Inland Northwest.

Roberts says the design does a few important things: The exam rooms are larger than a typical exam room, able to easily accommodate the presence of a physician, a patient and a student. And while the individual disciplines within medicine have their own workspace, they're directed toward a central core to encourage collaboration. That, Roberts says, is crucial as "as medicine becomes team-based and team delivered."




This facility was completed in 2013, before the intensity over the WSU medical school really began to heat up.

"It got two things done for us: To expand our ability to do research, and also have specialized teaching spaces for medical spaces and pharmaceutical students," Roberts says. "It does it in a way that that is wonderfully aesthetically pleasing, but very functional."

Roberts notes that the labs were built with an open design, easily allowing the space to expand or contract, depending on which faculty members are working there.

"Those open labs create a lot of space for collaboration," Roberts says. "The building also has collaborative study spaces, with a lot of whiteboards everywhere. You can pick up an erasable marker and jot your ideas on the whiteboard."

Roberts also praises the prominent open staircase that encourages students to walk up the stairs instead of taking the elevator.

"It looks out toward the river," Roberts says "The artwork that follows the staircase up and down is to mimic the river."

THE CORNER OF THIRD & WASHINGTON

Few local design firms have imprinted their own signature style on the face of Spokane and Coeur d'Alene as quickly as HDG Architecture. When you see a building with big letters painted directly on a flat, colored wall? That's probably HDG.