Park Pool is a pop-up park designed to occupy a single parking space on Pike Street between Summit and Belmont in Capitol Hill. It is a 20’x5’x2’ deep volume completely covered in natural grass. Designed to allow individuals to lounge and relax comfortably and engage in conversation, but deep enough to immerse visitors in a lush green environment in the middle of the city. When visitors are seated, they can still engage with the surrounding urban fabric lying down, however, offers visitors a completely immersive experience, as the grass wraps up the sides and surrounds the individual, screening views and sounds of the city. Montgomery Townsend would like to thank Gather Seattle for their help throughout the event, and Frankie and Jo’s – a local plant based ice cream shop – provided ice cream during the event to help create a park like atmosphere.
Constructed out of plywood and turf, Park Pool is modular, simple, and adaptable to any space in the urban environment. We envision a second life for the project which lives beyond Parking Day in Seattle. Park Pool is not a single solution to the SDOT parking day, but rather a repetitive urban intervention which can easily ‘pop-up’ in new locations throughout the city and in other cities themselves. We see Park Pool as more of a movement and respite from urbanity, and an opportunity for individuals to connect with one another in micro park environments.
