News from Swift
Puget Sound Growth, Transit, and Affordability
At Swift Company we’re interested and invested in understanding our role as landscape architects within the broad web of our environments. A recent article in Post Alley by Fred Jarrett, “Housing Affordability: Sound Transit’s Hidden Costs,” examines the history of growth in the Puget Sound area, the regional planning that led to the creation of Sound Transit, and offers some insights into the challenges to housing affordability, feeder infrastructure, and local public spaces. The insertion of light rail systems into regions and cities is complex, as it does not end at the transportation investment. There are substantial urban planning/zoning implications which beg for additional attention and investment from the region. Swift Company embraces the challenge with a focus on supporting this investment through serving communities and providing high quality spaces for people. We recommend you read it!
Federal Way Link Extension Opens!
Starting December 6, the Sound Transit Link light rail service extended south to Federal Way. Swift Company was involved in the design of the 8-mile extension including corridor restoration and station site design for Kent Des Moines, Star Lake, and Federal Way Downtown stations. This new piece of critical infrastructure provides accessible transportation for all, while enhancing the identity of place. See you on the train!
Memorial Stadium Renovation
In the heart of Seattle Center, the Seattle Memorial Stadium renovation has started. A focus of decades of discussion, the stadium has hosted World’s Fair events, pro and semi-pro sports teams, Seattle students and amazing music events. The One Roof Foundation’s innovative leadership brings the vision that “everyone benefits, and no one profits” to the integration of the stadium into the Seattle Center campus. With a 2027 opening, this cultural heart of the city has a renewed future.
The walls are coming down – a testament to a vision, team, commitment and hard work.
Climate Pledge Arena Statues
In the heart of the city, Climate Pledge Arena has honored two Seattle legends – Lenny Wilkins and Sue Bird! Both are heroes, breaking ground in their time.
Working with the Populous Architects-led team, Swift collaborated with Lenny Wilken Foundation, Seattle Storm, and the Seattle Kraken to support the location, design, fabrication, and installation of the statues and bases. The Climate Pledge Arena site is designed to embrace this legacy and these two new additions, bringing layers of memory and meaning by reminding us of what these two individuals have contributed to our city and community. Reminding us of the extraordinary.
https://storm.wnba.com/news/sue-statue
https://www.lennywilkensfoundation.org/lwfevents/statue-unveiling-lenny-wilkens-honored-at-climate-pledge-arena
DuPen Fountain Renovation
The DuPen Fountain is back!
This summer, the Seattle Center’s Fountain of Creation by Everett DuPen re-opened after a renovation. The bronze sculptures and stones stand on a plaza splash pad in an intimate garden oasis. In a hot August afternoon, the DuPen family and community members gathered to dedicate a place to play and for quiet contemplation. The sculpture, stones, and water compel interaction with children and adults dancing with the water.
The legacy of the 1962 World’s Fair is back – an example of stewardship reimaged to bring joy into daily life.
Read more about the fountain here and see the Everett DuPen video.
Federal Way Link Extension – Opening Day is Coming on December 6
Sound Transit’s 1 Line extension to South King County will open on December 6, 2025. This momentous day bookends the years-long effort to design and build a 7.8 mile long transit corridor of aerial and at-grade light rail and three new station areas. The effort has included mass restoration work, re-stitching and revegetating 73 acres of Puget Sound Lowland Forest, ensuring vegetated buffer for adjacent neighbors, and paying close attention to station area neighborhoods and their urban realm. Swift Company’s scope has been the design and documentation of corridor restoration, and the site design of three new station areas – community hubs that will stitch together transit-oriented development with generous public open spaces designed to provide new places for people and bolster the urban forest. Read more about the opening here.
Yesler Towers Topping Out!
Yesler Towers overlooks the Puget Sound basin from its location at Yesler Way and S Washington St. On August 8th, the team celebrated the topping out of the second tower on level 26! Swift Company designed the site with a sequence of walks and public terraces winding around the building core like an orange peel – from the streetscape, around the south tower, to level 3 of the north tower – framing spectacular regional views of the surrounding neighborhood and mountains and Sound beyond. Check out the Yesler Towers Apartments Instagram for more photos of the event!
Oregon State University – Cascades New Student Success Center Native Landscaping
Student and faculty at OSU-Cascades planted more than 4,000 native plants on the site of the new Student Success Center building. Swift Company collaborated with OSU faculty Matt Shinderman to develop a planting strategy that represents the region’s high desert ecosystem and supports the campus’s larger sustainability and educational vision. This addresses our goal of integrating life experience and knowledge as part of academic life. Read more about the program success here.