Block 19 is a new 135-unit luxury apartment building located in the Issaquah Highlands neighborhood. Communita | Atelier is providing landscape architectural services for the design team, which includes Clark Barnes Architects, Trammell Crow Residential, and Sumitomo Forestry America. Street level design features include a vehicular woonerf drop-off and turnaround, bike shelter and covered outdoor gathering area. Townhouse units at this level will have garden entries off of the public sidewalk. A grass play mound at the northeast corner of the site is designed to encourage natural play and blends well with the native forest edge.

A large central courtyard and rooftop amenity areas provide common outdoor space for residents. These spaces vary in size and function to incorporate the changing needs of residents and their guests. Amenities include barbeque areas, dining and lounging spaces, play areas, and a swimming pool. Individual units have private landscape terraces that face onto the courtyard.

In keeping with the “Traditional Townscape” landscape concept, plantings is more formal in character along the right of way and adjacent to the building. The planting design shifts to an informal character along the north and east edges of the site. All plantings are drought tolerant and are comprised of both native and adaptive species.

This apartment community will create the gateway to the City of Issaquah. The community will provide walkable, safe streets, integrate, and enhance the wetlands and natural areas, and create public and private recreation spaces. Working with a team of architects, civil engineers, naturalists, and arborists, Communita | Atelier ps has provided site analysis, private and public open space design, and conceptual site grading.

The site provides for a variety of open spaces that include a larger public park, a Community Center and central green as the focal point to the community, informal seating areas along the pedestrian greenways, and flexible, shared uses within the woonerf courts. Residential unit patios along the street edge will activate the streetscape, promote a sense of community and enhance safety. Pedestrian connections to natural areas and neighboring communities are also prominent. Communita Atelier ps has provided design services at all levels of project development.

This mid-rise, luxury condominium development is located in the Alki waterfront of West Seattle, with stellar views of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains. The architect developed the design parti as two distinct masses separated by a wide, second level courtyard featuring an infinity edge pool. The two-part massing in elevation mimics the scale and rhythm of existing frontages along Alki Avenue.

Communita | Atelier developed a streetscape design to complement the refined materials palette and clean lines of the building, with masses of low, ornamental grasses and shrubs creating a soft, patterned foreground for the water views. Walkways with special paving direct the visitor to the main lobby entry. Recessed garden entries afford ample privacy, while maintaining views for the four ground-level units facing the street. Close coordination with SDOT ensured that the required street trees would be small in stature and are carefully located with regard to views from the upper unit balconies. The rooftop amenity space features a common dining and grilling area with framed views down to the pool below. Four of the units will enjoy exclusive penthouse access to their own view terraces.