The booming Seattle area is struggling to define itself. That's why it's curious that urban design seems overlooked in the latest regional awards by the American Institute of Architects.
For last Monday's ceremony there were nearly 200 entries for designs, from residential to industrial. But in the category of urban planning: nothing, not a single one for built or unbuilt work. (There was also nothing for historical preservation.)
Here's how our tipster put it:
In a city that's bursting at the seams, with the number of public projects that have been proposed, shot down, restarted, re-voted on -- how is there nothing in the urban design category? Scary.
Surely the numbers partly reflect who's commissioning the projects. That makes rewarding quality design even more important.