At the request of the Gig Harbor Downtown Waterfront Alliance, Storefront Studio returned to Gig Harbor to revisit and further develop ideas.
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Starting with a word cloud, the students asked community members for feedback on words that described their community.
Gig Harbor’s existing design guidelines address building characteristics like shape and orientation, window and door proportions, outdoor space and landscape design, modularity, scale, and materials.
Ideas from other places include integrating parking with public uses and landscaping, combined workshop and retail spaces, and coworking spaces
Based on our studies and community feedback, the Studio developed an initial concept for the study site, including zones for shopping, living, working, and a common open space.
Site plan...
Harbor Commons...
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Our design proposes 400 parking spaces, which doubles the existing parking capacity. Parking would take advantage of the existing grade and be below other uses, like a cottage village and public open space.
"Home Port,” at the corner of Pioneer Way and Judson Street, would serve as a local networking base from which entrepreneurs might connect globally over the internet. The idea of a local base for a global industry was inspired by an apron shop in the University District, which creates industrial aprons in an intimate, inviting storefront, while selling their handcrafted product across the globe.
