We are always happy to be partnering with youth from Seattle Housing Authority’s (SHA) New Holly neighborhood, this time working to beautify Shaffer Park.

Mentors from Olson Kundig returned this fall to guide the process and volunteer their design expertise – shout out to Collin Palen, Beth Nowicke, and Ian Edwards for your dedicated mentorship, even in a season of intense work deadlines – as well as Ming Yuan for the awesome tour of the Olson Kundig, graciously hosting our design retreat.

We also hosted a community meeting to welcome input from the neighborhood, and through that, established a few priorities: gathering space and seating near the Shaffer Park basketball court.

In the Spring of 2024, our stellar team pulled together a stunning seating structure on a tight schedule! The majority of students in this program actually reside in Seattle Housing Authority neighborhoods, meaning they were able to design and build a project specifically for their community.

After our fall design session, we received some new input and changed up the color scheme, settling on the colors below — voted on by our spring team. The new colors look perfect in the setting of the park, and should be a beautiful fixture of the neighborhood for a long time. Following the design by our students and mentors from Olson Kundig, the curve of the three-piece fence is beautiful and even.

It’s clear the seating and fencing is a great addition to the park and the community is really enjoying it; folks were sitting on the benches even before the project was finished! The fence also helps keep basketballs from rolling down the hill to the street, so we’re celebrating a win in form and function with this project.

Thanks to our stellar mentors, Cam Paine-Thaler, Ian Pumo, Robert Predosa, and Dani Hopple, and drop-in helpers Talitha and Shawn, for helping us push this project forward! And to Ariel Davis for being our student liaison and connecting us with so many youth, along with Ms. Michelle for her involvement with the community input night, and Phu-Tai for his day-to-day involvement with the students.