[IN] - closure

ABF-lab wins an Acknowledgement prize in the main category of the North American Holcim Awards with its “[IN]- Closure “ project in Seattle.

“[IN] - closure”, a project located in the centre of Seattle in the State of Washington in the United States, which in 2012 had already won the competition launched by the city of Seattle to celebrate the anniversary of the 50th World Fair. It proposes a new layout on a 30,000 m² site in the very heart of Seattle at the foot of the Space Needle Tower. This flexible, modular and adaptable project designed by Étienne Feher, Paul Azzopardi and Noé Basch blends ideas concerning sustainable social ecology with the contributions provided by new technological solutions.

The project proposes introducing a sample area of forest with its own specific ecosystem into the heart of the city, and that this green space is able to evolve with its citizens over the 50 coming years. As a symbol of Seattle’s identity, the forest presents itself as a natural heritage offered to the city’s residents over the next half century. An enclosure comprising human-scaled modular boxes able to contain restaurants, cafés or different types of shops, separates the forest landscape from the city. Opening both towards the inside and outside, the enclosure creates a visual and spatial porosity, multiplying the various ways of moving between the park and the immediate surrounding environment.