Sheraton Seattle Hotel

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Starwood Convention Collection Explains True Continuity

Watch the newly released video clip

Jul 19, 2011
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THE SHERATON SEATTLE GARDEN WALK

NEW LANDSCAPED PEDESTRIAN WALKWAY OPENS IN SEATTLE DOWNTOWN CORRIDOR

Jun 10, 2011SEATTLE (April 12, 2011) – Gustafson Guthrie Nichol (GGN) is pleased to announce the near completion of the Sheraton Seattle Garden Walk, a landscaped pedestrian walkway that brings green space and radically transforms the Downtown Corridor along 7th Avenue in Seattle. Commissioned by the Sheraton Seattle Hotel, the project dramatically enhances the section between Pike and Union Streets, near the Convention Center, and helps reengage the visiting public and local community. A substantial amount of construction, which started in August 2010 has been completed and the walkway is now open to the public.

“Our goal is to transform this small stretch of 7th Avenue from a non-descript city sidewalk into a welcoming pedestrian environment that compliments the rest of the street,” says Jennifer Guthrie, lead designer for GGN on the project. “What was once the Sheraton’s back door, will now be known as The Garden Walk where people will gather and enjoy.”

Located in the middle of an environment mostly known for its un-unified concrete lines, the Sheraton Seattle Garden Walk is designed to incorporate green space into the current streetscape and improve the green connection between downtown theaters, Freeway Park, Convention Center and the Sheraton.

As part of the design, the Sheraton’s back wall, which lines the street, becomes a green wall, lush with climbing vines. Several large-scale mirrors enliven the streetscape, showing movement and color, and thus creating a dynamic, ever-changing space. The mirrored walkway also reflects the historic façade of the Eagles Auditorium Building across the street as well as the Washington State Convention Center, thereby replacing the blank wall of the Sheraton with the illusion of a much grander sense of architecture. Finally, a glass canopy floats cloud-like overhead and glows in the evening.

Surrounding plantings include both evergreen shrubs and perennial flowers, providing seasonal color changes and year-round interest for the public. Plantings also provide a lush buffer that clearly separates the pedestrian realm from passing cars. Seating is incorporated along the length of the Walk to further encourage a sense of meeting place and city landmark.

Many unseen sustainable benefits are contained in the design. Among them, the continuous open tree planters collect rainwater both from the canopy and the sidewalk, thereby decreasing storm water runoff. Also of note, the trees benefit from an engineered structural planting soil under the sidewalk, which increases the trees’ root space, thus improving tree growth.

In early summer 2011, An Urban Garden, a 27-foot kinetic sculpture by Ginny Ruffner will be installed within GGN’s design for The Garden Walk. The sculpture is commissioned by the Sheraton Seattle Hotel and will anchor the corner of Union Street and 7th Avenue.

The general contractor for the Sheraton Seattle Garden Walk is Krekow Jennings. Design team members include Bonewitz Project Management, Arup, SvR Design, and Glumac.

About Sheraton Seattle Hotel
The Sheraton Seattle Hotel, recipient of Meetings and Conventions Gold Key Award, is located at 1400 Sixth Avenue in downtown Seattle. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with more than 850 properties in more than 95 countries and 145,000 employees at its owned and managed properties. For more information, please visit www.starwoodhotels.com .

About Gustafson Guthrie Nichol (GGN)
Gustafson Guthrie Nichol (GGN) is a landscape architecture practice based in Seattle, Washington. Founded by partners Kathryn Gustafson, Jennifer Guthrie, and Shannon Nichol, GGN works throughout the Americas and Asia. Its projects are developed by designers with professional backgrounds in landscape, architecture, engineering, graphics, ecology, and other sciences, express the sculptural qualities of contextual landscape.

GGN offers special experience in designing high-use landscapes in complex, urban contexts. GGN’s landscapes are widely varied in type and scale, but they share qualities as healthy settings for diverse and ever-changing activities. The landform of each space is carefully shaped to feel serenely grounded in its context and comfortable at all times -- whether bustling with crowds, offering moments of contemplation, or doing both at once.

GGN's recent project awards include multiple ASLA National Design Excellence Awards, Tucker Architectural Awards, and AIA/ASLA Honor and Merit awards for Design. GGN’s prominent projects include the Lurie Garden of Millennium Park in Chicago, the Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, and the new Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Campus in Seattle.

Kathryn Gustafson is also a partner in the UK design firm, Gustafson Porter.

For more information on A Garden Walk or on Gustafson Guthrie Nichol, please visit www.ggnltd.com .

Media Contacts:
Danielle Zarrella (for Sheraton) Jeffrey Walkowiak Anne Thomson
Richmond Public Relations Blue Medium Gustafson Guthrie Nichol
E: daniellez@richmondpr.com E: Jeffrey@bluemedium.com E: annet@ggnltd.com
T: +1 (206) 682-6979 T: +1 (212) 675-1800 T: +1 (206) 903-6802 x 302

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