Join King County Parks in celebrating the grand opening of the picnic shelter and plaza in Skyway Park!

Thursday, June 11, 2009
3:00 – 4:30 pm
Skyway Park
S 120th Pl
(at 70th Pl S)
Seattle, WA 98178

These improvements are the result of a partnership between University of Washington and King County Parks. The UW School of Landscape Architecture Design-Buildcourse undertook the challenge of designing and constructing the shelter and plaza during spring quarter.  The new shelter and plaza feature interesting architectural elements, such as a vegetated roof, gabion walls, artistic interpretive signage, and native (and edible!) landscaping.

Built along the theme of experiencing nature in an urban setting, this project complements the habitat restoration work carried out by a different UW course, the Restoration Ecology Network. Five students dedicated countless hours over the course of the 2008-09 school year inventorying current vegetation, grubbing out blackberries and other invasive species, and installing native plants to improve the ecological function of the park’s central wetland. This wetland is important, as it is one of the sources of Taylor Creek, a salmon-bearing stream that feeds into Lake Washington.