A ‘missed opportunity.’ How UWT design students would fix a mistake from Tacoma’s past
David Boe, a former Tacoma City Council member known for his background in design and architecture, searched for the right words. Discussing the swath of Tacoma between Broadway and Commerce Street downtown — in the shadow of the Pantages and awkwardly anchored by an underused plaza and a decommissioned fountain transformed into lemons-to-lemonade public art — Boe walked the tightrope between honesty and restraint.
“I kind of view it as a missed opportunity,” Boe finally said, describing a few city blocks connecting 9th and 11th that’s also home to the downtown Pierce Transit center and bus hub. “Trying to create a main public space in downtown Tacoma, because of the hill, of course, it’s, it’s more challenging. … but I just think it has potential. I think there could be things that are done that make it better — make it safer, and actually function as a neighborhood park downtown.”
Our conversation didn’t occur out of the blue. For several years, Boe has served as a part-time instructor at University of Washington Tacoma’s School of Urban Studies. This quarter, as he has in the past, Boe asked students to submit plans for a potential redesign of the Broadway and Commerce Street corridor. Rooted in reality, he described it as an assignment that gives aspiring designers the freedom to re-imagine an area of the city that should be central to the downtown experience but often feels more like an oversight.
It was an interesting proposition, I thought, so last week I sat in on Boe’s class and listened as students gave their final presentations via Zoom. As Tacoma changes around us — inspiring hopes and uncertainties — a chance to view the city through brand new, diverse eyes and possibilities seemed like it could be refreshing.
Plus, Boe is right: The area could use some serious help.
“We chose the site because it has lots of issues,” Boe said, again attempting to strike a diplomatic tone while noting existing design drawbacks ranging from accessibility to public lighting and challenges with garbage collection .
“And it’s the heart of downtown.”
A focus on people
For the newcomers and the unfamiliar, a brief (and incomplete) history of development efforts between Broadway and Commerce downtown is likely in order.
Much of what we see today — including the guts of the transit center, Theater on the Square and the aforementioned decommissioned fountain — date back to a $20 million redevelopment that occurred in the early 1990s. The fountain in particular was recently transformed into a public art installation known as the “Waterwall,” which is probably good since urban planning guru James Howard Kunstler once unflatteringly compared the slanted gray concrete structure to Jabba the Hutt.
There’s been plenty of talk of transforming the area over the decades. As recently as 2018, Spaceworks Tacoma teamed with Pierce Transit, the city and Broadway Center for the Performing arts on a public engagement campaign. So far nothing of significance has materialized, in large part because of the sizable financial commitments likely to be involved.
Unbound by such pesky constraints, Boe said the situation provided a perfect canvas for his students to apply their developing skills. They responded with a little bit of everything, he added, ranging from unique approaches to digital public art and color to common sense changes that would make the transit center and surrounding area function more efficiently than it does today.
Listening in, it wasn’t hard to feel inspired and envision downtown Tacoma in a whole new way.
Amran Mohamed, 23, is a junior at UWT pursuing majors in urban design and psychology. Originally from Somalia, Mohamed immigrated to the United States roughly a decade ago and today lives in Seattle.
Mohamed said she’s attracted to urban design for its potential to create places for everyone. She focused her project on making the area safer and more inviting.
Since the area has utilitarian and communal functions — serving a critical need as a transit center and also a potential public gathering space — Mohamed said her design sought to modernize trash pickup and bathroom accessibility while addressing the many nooks and crannies that can attract low-level crime and other public nuisances.
Mohamed also included a skate ramp, an idea inspired by a recent visit to the site.
“When I went there, I saw kids skating, even though there was nothing to really skate on,” Mohamed said. “A mini skate ramp could make the whole area busy and active.”
Kristin Bauer, a 27-year-old self-described military spouse who moved to the area from Connecticut two years ago, took a different approach to a similar problem.
Along with extending the plaza and putting in an elevator to make it more accessible, Bauer proposed the addition of a spray park and an elevated stage, the latter in hopes of attracting events beyond the Broadway Farmers Market.
Bauer also saw a need to attract young people and families to the plaza. She said she drew inspiration from advice she received from a previous professor: “If you’re in an area and you see women and children, it’s usually a pretty good place to be — and makes you feel safe.”
“It’s a place to pass through and not stop, but it seems like the city is trying to change that,” Bauer said of Tacoma’s downtown, and specifically the Broadway and Commerce Street corridor.
“(Tacoma) is not just a place to sleep before you go to work in Seattle, and I think making over the plaza would be something that could contribute to that,” Bauer said.
Boe agrees, which is one reason he’s likely to use the assignment again.
At least until the area is redeveloped for real, he said.
“The site has all of the issues to challenge an urban designer,” Boe said.
“The space has a Sisyphean aspect to it.”
This story was originally published March 17, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
