Newline selected for SeaSk8 replacement

This just in from Ryan/SPAC:

Last Thursday, the design bidders for the replacement SeaSk8 Skatepark on the Seattle Center were interviewed. The skatepark designers included Pillar Design Studios, California Skateparks, Grindline, and Newline Skateparks. The interview panel consisted of a younger member of the Seattle Center Advisory Committee, a representative from the arts community, three Seattle Center staff, and me. Each of the design teams provided us with an approximately 20 minute presentation followed by 20 minutes of question and answer period. Each of the presentations were well thought out and confirmed that this skatepark will have to be “world class” given its prominent location in the middle of the Seattle Center campus.

After much deliberation, the interview team selected the Newline Skateparks team. Newline Skateparks works in tandem with van der Zalm & Associates (VDZ), both of which are out of Vancouver, Canada.  Newline/VDZ have completed some amazing skateparks in the recent past including the Vancouver Skate Plaza and the Plaza at the Forks in Winnepeg, Canada. They also just finalized the design for Portland’s first true skate plaza which integrates a host of green features and spaces for skateable art installations.  Newline is owned by skateboarders and they are a design-build firm (please note that Seattle law prohibits design-build for this skatepark) that has constructed numerous parks which is key to designing a good, constructible park.

Next steps. The first design meeting will likely only include skaters and will focus on coming up with initial design ideas. A date for this meeting has not yet been set but I will keep you all in the loop as soon as the details emerge. It will likely be a month or so out given the timeline to get the Newline/VDZ team under contract. The skatepark footprint will be limited to ~9,000 sf (same size as old SeaSk8) which is fairly small and no significant subgrade excavations (i.e., deep bowls) will be allowed given the Key Arena has operating facilities directly under the footprint of the skatepark. These conditions will limit the design capabilities somewhat so everyone should start coming up with their wish list of features that they feel would work best at the site and represent Seattle skaters.

FYI: A summary of the site information is presented in the attached Feasibility Study for the skatepark – we are working with Option 1 which includes demolition of Pavilion A only.

After years of fighting for a site, it looks like we are finally on the road to getting the replacement built. Hope to see you all at the first design meeting.

Ryan Barth
Chairperson, Skate Park Advisory Committee