Over the past decade, Seattle’s Alaskan Way Viaduct has been subject to intense speculation by both government and media officials, due largely to fear of seismic failure. This fear evokes strong emotional output, but too often has lacked the necessary factual evidence to support. The project resides within the structural framework of the existing Viaduct, seeking equilibrium between these opposing methods of perception.

The structure is composed of two distinct programmatic features – a disaster preparedness and research center reducing traumatic events to facts and figures, and a waterfront promenade in memoriam of those who will die in the inevitable Viaduct failure. As facility for a regional FEMA command center, the structure acts in three phases that correlate to a disaster timeline: anticipation/preparation, event/research, and aftermath/response. An affiliated media lab generates imagery and film, which is then emitted into the city to subconsciously engage constituents.

Thorough investigations of site history, material composition, and environmental failure informed the project as it advanced from hypothetical intervention to architectural proposal. Of primary importance was the ability to successfully integrate the existing structure for alternative programmatic function.

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