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 Theater Commons embodies the vision and values of Seattle Center as it opens and beautifies the north entry to the campus. The last of a series of early phase Seattle Center Century 21 Master Plan projects created in collaboration with the Seattle Repertory Theatre and Intiman, Theater Commons was completed in June 2010.
The redevelopment transforms 1.6 acres of land previously used as a surface parking lot and service access route to the grounds into more active open space. It offers improved visibility to the theaters on both sides and better views into the heart of the campus. The project embraces new campus-wide planning and design goals by improving pedestrian access to and through the campus, adding open space and promoting sustainable site development.
A tree-lined pedestrian corridor runs the length of the Theater Commons between the Seattle Repertory Theatre and Intiman Theatre. Gardens surround the corridor creating an engaging natural experience for passersby. A terraced seating area at the south end of the site, replacing a steeply sloping lawn, can be used for small everyday gatherings, theater receptions, or public events and performances. An attractive vehicle turnaround and accessible parking court at the north end offer a more hospitable welcome for theater patrons.
A new stairway and canopied walkway provide a more inviting entry from Mercer Street to the Seattle Rep box office and main lobby. Secondary entrances for the Intiman Theatre are highlighted on the east side of the Commons. Creative lighting at night evokes a moonlit garden as patrons enter and leave the theaters.
The central garden is dedicated as the Donnelly Gardens at Theater Commons, in tribute to civic arts leader Peter Donnelly. Read below for the dedication of the Gardens presented by Seattle Repertory Theatre Managing Director Benjamin Moore at the grand opening of Theater Commons on June 15, 2010.
A major grant by the Kreielsheimer Foundation, matched by City of Seattle and private funding, made this project possible. If you have questions or comments about Theater Commons at Seattle Center, please call 206.684.7117.
Sustainable Design
The Theater Commons design, featuring a pedestrian-scaled street with restricted vehicle access, permeable paving materials at the north and south, street trees, benches, and pedestrian lighting, minimizes the width of pavement and maximizes the space for gardens and tree planting.
The largest portion of the site is made up of bioretention gardens created with adapted native Cascadia plantings that collect and filter onsite stormwater. The gardens are large enough to hold and filter the run-off from the existing Seattle Repertory Theatre roof adjacent to the site.
Seattle Center will use this new sustainable infrastructure as a highly visible demonstration project that showcases several sustainable goals of the Century 21 Master Plan. Interpretive signage and self-guided tours of the Theater Commons will promote the message about onsite stormwater management so that the public will have an opportunity to learn about the ecological and hydrological functions of the gardens, as well as the plants appropriate to such an environment.
Temporary Art Installation
A sound installation with visual components by artists Annie Han + Daniel Mihalyo, funded by the City's 1% for Art program, covers the entire main walkway of the Theater Commons - and will remain up through the summer.
The project, entitled Windfall, places a thousand small chimes in the street trees along the main pedestrian corridor, enclosing it in sounds and significantly altering the experience of walking through the long passage way. The fluttering lightweight chimes, also known as Furin, add a sea of color to the green landscape, mimicking a large flock of small birds weaving through the tree canopy.
Join us for Windfall's closing events, Sept. 16 and 17, 3 pm to 6 pm, when the artists will meet visitors and hand out the bells that hung in the trees during Windfall's three-month run. Stop by the Theater Commons to take a bell and take away a memory of the artwork and the inauguration of this new entry for Seattle Center. Closing events are free and open to the public. The last day to see Windfall intact is Sept. 15.
Accessible Parking Enhancements
Seattle Center is working to increase accessible parking options on the campus – with a larger variety of parking spaces in several strategic locations. Six accessible spaces and an accessible drop-off area have been added to Theater Commons at the north end of the site within easy reach of the theaters to accommodate patrons with disabilities.
Patrons may be served also by 19 new accessible parking spaces (for a total of 48) in Mercer Garage on Level C (Skybridge Level), four on-street parking spaces on the east side of Warren Avenue North just south of Mercer Street and additional off-street accessible parking close to the campus, including the U-Park Lot at 2nd Avenue North and Roy Street, which now has 8 van accessible spaces to cater to theater patrons. 24 accessible spaces (8 for vans) in the new 5th Ave N Garage also serve the campus core.
New Theater District and campus access improvements will also help visitors and theater patrons navigate their way to and through the campus. These include: simplified accessible route signage along Mercer, ADA ramp improvements, and crosswalk and pocket park enhancements on 2nd Avenue North.
Click here for a map of accessible parking improvements at Seattle Center
Dedication of the Donnelly Gardens at Theater Commons
Presented at the Grand Opening of Theater Commons on June 15, 2010 by Benjamin Moore, Managing Director, Seattle Repertory Theatre:
I had known Peter Donnelly as a seasoned theatre manager and producer a few years before I came to Seattle in 1985. I succeeded him as the manager at Seattle Repertory Theatre It wasn’t easy. Standing in the stream of his legacy made me a better manager.
Peter was known to warn many of us: “It’s a great arts community and all I can say to those who are in charge of it now is ‘Don’t mess it up!’” I think I was an early object – possibly the first – of a slightly different version of that admonition. Working in close quarters with Peter for most of my 25 years at the Rep taught me lessons all the way along. I am indebted to him. But his influence on me is just a tiny measure of Peter’s impact upon this city.
Most of us here know what Peter achieved in his regretfully foreshortened lifetime. As a reminder and for those unfamiliar I will give you a brief run down.
- He came to Seattle as a Ford Foundation Intern in 1964, a year after the Seattle Rep was founded. I think he was 25.
- He was appointed to the top manager/producer a year later and went on to produce 17 seasons in what is now known as Intiman Playhouse.
- He built the great green house, Bagley Wright Theater, which opened in 1983 – or rather he assembled the financial resources in partnership with the City to build it.
- He left Seattle to work in a faraway place in 1986. He couldn’t stay very far away.
- Peter returned to Seattle in 1989 to revive the Corporate Council for the Arts, and built it into a behemoth for arts funding that is the model for the nation.
- With the re-branding of the Corporate Council as ArtsFund, Peter had expanded the agency’s mission to include an array of resources that strengthened the arts community, not just its core but the whole ecology.
- What Peter built at ArtsFund still stands today in benefit to us all.
This is just a handful of highlights. And given just this less than complete litany of achievement, it is an honor to be given the privilege of being here today to dedicate the Donnelly Gardens - in what could not be a more suitable landscape known as the Theater Commons - enriching the place between the two theatres that he nourished; and in an arts-rich urban park surrounded by a cityscape that bears the many marks of Peter’s achievements for the good of the arts.
The inscription on the edges of the Theater Commons terraces above is perfectly appropriate. DONNELLY GARDENS Dedication to Peter F. Donnelly – His life’s work shaped our city’s cultural landscape.
And here’s one slice of Peter’s wisdom: …the world has two kinds of people: there are the energizers and the evergy vampires, and I think you have to keep yourself with the energizers and with the people who see ways to getting things done…
We celebrate today the opening of a new Seattle Center gateway. This achievement testifies that Peter taught us well and his energy is manifest among us. Thank you Peter, thank you Seattle Center and Seattle Center Foundation and thank you to the sources of inspiration for this welcoming common ground – the Kreielsheimer Foundation.
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