Weird or Genius?

Summery weather has finally arrived in our part of the world, which we thoroughly celebrated this past weekend. And while I am still working on my recent pictures, I've decided to share with you the photo shoot that we had a month ago, in April, at Gas Works Park - Seattle's most unusual park for sure, and perhaps one of the world's weirdest too. Are you intrigued? Are you interested in learning about it? Then dive in with me!

Frankly, I did not pick this outfit specifically for any one place - we just went about our routine business that brings us to Seattle once every week, and since it wasn't raining, in our spare time we decided to go to a nearby park. And now when I look back at the pictures, I think my outfit worked out well, given the nature of this unconventional, odd and beautiful place that combines the natural beauty of the surroundings, the city neighborhoods and the remnants of the old gas plant. The park was opened to public in 1975 and definitely has become one of the most popular and recognizable, significant Seattle landmarks since then. In 2013, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

When the landscape architect Richard Haag (born in 1923) had an idea to conserve the remnants of the former Seattle Gas Light Company (1906-1956) gasification plant, his thinking wasn't the historical significance, but it became such. This park is the only place in the US that preserved the remnants of such a plant, so it is fair to say that it became of both local and national historical importance. The Wiki article about Gas Works Park states, "As UW (University of Washington - N.L.) Professor of Anthropology Kenneth Read so eloquently expressed it, “History sits on this little wasteland, not only the parochial history of a given city, but also a fragment of the chronicle of world and culture. It is certainly as valuable a document as anything preserved in the Museum of History and Industry.” (The museum, MOHAI, is located in a park on the opposite, southern end of the Lake Union, and I reported from that park HERE.)

But Haag's idea was instead of demolishing the existing structure (which was a common approach), using it as a visual anchor for the whole park. His visionary approach was accepted, but before he even was asked to develop a design plan for this site, he participated in a contest with his radical vision, where all 130 contestants based their design on removing all the signs of the coal gas plant, while Haag offered a new, ecologically friendly design, in which he recognized the beauty of the old industrial structures and possibility for them to stay without hazard to the environment. Some of the remnants remained ruins, while others were restored, repainted etc. Gas Works Park brought Haag his first American Society of Landscape Architects Award for Design Excellence. (His second such award was for Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island, by the way - one of our favorite gardens around Puget Sound, and my Mom loved it when she visited a few years ago.) The ecological, sustainable approach to landscape design is also evident in the University of Washington Landscape Architecture program that he was building (the UW Landscape Architecture Department was opened in 1964), with a focus on urban ecology.

  

Gas Works Park is located on the northern end of Lake Union and is very visible from any point on the lake shore. Just as Paul Goldberger wrote in the New York Times back in 1975, “Seattle is about to have one of the nation’s most advanced pieces of urban landscape design. The complex array of towers, tanks and pipes of the gas works forms a powerful industrial still life ... serving both as a visual focus for the park and as a monument to the city’s industrial past. The park represents a complete reversal from a period when industrial monuments were regarded, even by preservationists, as ugly intrusions on the landscape, to a time when such structures as the gas works are recognized for their potential ability to enhance the urban experience.” (NY Times, 8/30/75, quote from Wiki). The park created a precedent in the country and possibly in the world. I don't know about your corners of the world, but here in Tacoma (just 30 miles down south from Seattle) we witness examples of such landscape designs, i.e., along the shore of Puget Sound in Old Town (Ruston Way), Chambers Creek Regional Park in University Place (about which I wrote on many occasions, and one of the earliest posts HERE), and more.

I was thrilled to learn a little bit more about Seattle and discover that our local landscape architect Richard Haag sets the tone to the modern Northwest landscape design and contributes to the entire world of progressive thinkers who bring together the past, the now and the future of our planet in their thoughtful and caring, brilliant work. It is a great reminder that what is commonly perceived as weird, may very well be a stroke of genius, if we make an effort to look beyond the accepted norm.

You've seen all the pieces of my outfit before, everything is worn and well loved:

Faux leather moto jacket and glasses - Christian Siriano for Lane Bryant 

(seen HERE and HERE)

Dress - eShakti 

(seen HERE, but this time I wear it with a tank top under for extra warmth)

Suede booties - Aquatalia via Nordstrom Rack

Embroidered purse - via antique mall 

I am also wearing black socks that make my booties look a bit taller,

as well as black cropped leggings for warmth!

Earrings - Chico's

In other news, I've just updated my ABOUT page with a short essay 

"Dressing Up as an Art Form", read it HERE.

Linking up with Tina's Pink Friday