Springwood Apartments Restoration

Kent, Washington

ROLE: landscape architecture, architecture

SCOPE: vision plan

CLIENT: King County Housing Authority

Springwood Apartments is one of King County Housing Authority's oldest public housing projects. It is very dense with a diverse low-income population and is built on the old model of barracks-like apartment blocks set into large green spaces. It happens to have Soos Creek, an important anadromous fish-bearing stream, running through the middle of it. KCHA sought to transform Springwood Apartments into a socially and environmentally model project. In addition to completing remodels for all of the units, the plan envisions eliminating some buildings to decrease density, enlarging some units to accommodate larger families, changing the buildings to make them more attractive and establish a sense of identity and ownership for the residents, localizing effective private and public spaces and pedestrian amenities, and creating two public play areas, one adjacent to the recreation center that is oriented toward teens and young adults and one that is oriented towards younger children and families. The project would model innovative storm water management techniques and improve the relationship between the neighborhood and the creek. Specific ideas include permeable paving, rain gardens, improving the riparian zone and creating limited, carefully designed access points for education and creek monitoring. Johnson|Southerland took KCHA's general concept, fleshed out its objectives, provided a site master plan and landscape and storm water concepts, as well as illustrations for building façade treatment.