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Wall Street
Pedestrian Mall
Spokane, Washington
Completed 1995
Purpose:
The Wall Street
Pedestrian Mall was created to revitalize the pedestrian experience on
Wall Street, linking Riverfront Park to the Spokane Transit Authority’s
downtown transit center. Outdoor
spaces include areas for circulation, performance, outdoor dining, and
passive viewing of street life. Seasonal celebrations occur in the mall
during Bloomsday, the Lilac Festival, Hoopfest, Neighbor Days and the
Thanksgiving-Christmas holidays.
Context:
The pedestrian mall is located in the
heart of the central business district in downtown Spokane and is
surrounded by large scale post-modern architecture and smaller scale
historic buildings—all of which house retail, business or dining
experiences.
Quality of Life and Urban Design
Elements:
This project was the first in a series
of downtown revitalization projects to introduce human-scale elements to
the landscape in a manner that had not been attempted before in
Spokane. The introduction of raised, permanent landscape planters
softened the existing streetscape and provided areas for outdoor
performance, sculpture, and celebrations, while allowing service and
transit passage through the pedestrian street. The use of warm colors
and contrasting paving materials were borrowed from existing brick
buildings in the immediate and surrounding area. Use of varied
hardscape materials and the addition of permanent planters has tied the
surrounding architecture to the site whereby creating a unique
experience for the pedestrian, shopper, and workers in the downtown
core.
Other human-scale details provide
connectivity to the architecture, site and lend meaning to the mall.
Such detailed features include paving, bench selection, heights and
colors of light poles and banner poles, the quality of lighting and
colors—each element was considered from the pedestrian perspective. The
plant material provides a variety of colors, textures and seasonal
interest and is intended to evolve and change over time while softening
the feel of the hard spaces surrounding the mall.
Clear view site lines and visibility
through the site provides a feeling of safety and confidence and is
enhanced by the Downtown Spokane Partnership’s Security Ambassadors and
Clean Team, who are present throughout the day and evening.
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