University of Washington Station: A History of Design and Transit Evolution

The University of Washington Station stands as a vital transportation hub. Part of Sound Transit's Link light rail system, it connects Seattle to its surrounding suburban areas, playing a crucial role in the region's transit network. The station's design reflects a commitment to functionality, aesthetics, and integration with the surrounding urban environment.

Early Impetus and Planning

The vision for the University Link Extension, which includes the University of Washington Station, began in the late 1990s, with final design commencing in 2007. The station is part of the University Link Extension that runs north from downtown Seattle through 3.3 miles of twin-bored tunnels via the Capitol Hill Station. This ambitious project aimed to expand the reach of light rail, providing efficient transportation options for residents and visitors alike.

Strategic Location and Accessibility

The University of Washington Station is strategically located adjacent to the university's athletic facilities. The location is well-placed to serve the University campus at large with a pedestrian/bicycle bridge. A pedestrian bridge connects the station to the University of Washington campus. This placement makes it easily accessible to students, faculty, staff, and attendees of sporting events, such as Husky football games and events at the Alaska Airlines Arena. The station's design prioritizes pedestrian and bicycle access, further enhancing its connectivity to the campus and surrounding areas.

Architectural Design and Features

The above-grade portion of University Station comprises a 2-level, glass-clad entrance structure, with views to the UW campus, Lake Washington and Mount Rainier. The station's design is characterized by its modern aesthetic and functional layout. The architecture seamlessly merges with artwork.

Entrance Structure and Plaza

At grade, the entrance structure opens to a plaza that unifies the complex activities surrounding Husky Stadium. The scale of the plaza accommodates large crowds attending Husky football games and events at the Alaska Airlines Arena. Departing crowds can queue efficiently on the plaza, allowing station operators to control the pace of patrons entering the station.

Central Chamber and Artwork

At the heart of the station experience, the escalators and glass elevator pass through a 55-foot high central chamber, one of the highest interior volumes in the city. The vertical angle of the chamber walls changes along the long axis, creating a twisting volume that offers varying views of the artwork from different vantage points on the escalators passing through the space. Various vantage points at the mezzanine and at the bottom of the chamber offer a chance to take in the views in a more static way. LMN Architects and artist Leo Saul Berk collaborated to create an integrated experience for travelers, where the architecture seamlessly merges with his artwork, Subterraneum, that expresses the geological layers of soil surrounding the station walls. Back lit, perforated metal panels clad the chamber walls, forming patterns of light that express the geological layers of earth, and suffuse the space with ambient light.

Design and Approvals

On January 7, 2016, the design development phase for the U District Station was reviewed and approved. The station joins a network of vibrant stations with public art and sustainable design that connect to a diversity of neighborhoods in the seattle metropolitan area.

U District Station: Expanding the Network

The U District Station, designed in collaboration with McMillen Jacobs Associates, offers pedestrians, cyclists, bus commuters and residents a highly functional, easy-to-use, and appropriately scaled transit hub conveniently located for their diverse activities. The U District Station is the first stop on the Northgate Link, a 4.3-mile light rail extension from the University of Washington Station on its way to points north. With the train platform located 85 feet below street level, the bulk of the station’s 105,000-square-foot area is below grade, served by two entrances on Brooklyn Avenue NE between NE 43rd Street and NE 45th Street. The balance of the above-grade site accommodates a future high-rise transit-oriented development project to be constructed on top of the station. Each of the two entries provides elevators, escalators, and stairs to the trains below. The north entrance lobby serves riders heading to and from the adjacent Neptune Theater and mixed-use neighborhood, as well as a major Metro bus transfer hub on NE 45th Street. The south lobby gives pedestrians a direct link to the UW campus a few blocks east.

Pedestrian-Friendly Design

Creating a pedestrian-friendly experience, the sidewalks and streets facing the entrances meet Green Street standards, with ample landscaping, pedestrian lighting, seat walls, and a bike lane. For bike commuters, both entrance lobbies offer bicycle storage and racks. This bright, open, and easy-to-navigate station is expected to serve thousands of daily riders. Above ground, black granite cladding establishes the project’s legibility within an increasingly dense and varied urban environment.

Integration of Art and Architecture

From the north and south lobbies, patrons descend through the escalator and stair tubes to a mid-level open landing, placed within a tall voluminous central space, and continue to the train platform below via open escalators or an open stair. The landing appears to float above the angled cross-bracing elements and is offset to the east. The offset, along with artwork and video installations on the west wall, create a design asymmetry that will help to define north-south wayfinding and directionality on the platform.

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"Fragment Brooklyn" Artwork

While passengers wait for their trains, they will experience “Fragment Brooklyn” by Annie Han and Daniel Mihalyo of Lead Pencil Studio. The artwork is a collection of sculptural pieces formed from stainless steel woven wire fabric into architectural appendages containing video screens depicting domestic life. The scale of the artwork, at almost 300 ft long, is a response to the cathedral size volume of the subterranean station and provides an opportunity for riders to make a visual connection to the increasingly urban context of life above ground.”

Functional Design Elements

The large central volume is defined by a white corrugated metal ceiling and canted walls that conceal essential back-of-house functions. Wayfinding is enhanced by overhead aluminum tubes containing lighting, speakers, and other systems, which begin at the north and south station entries and trace a path to the platform. Two different colors aid passengers in orienting north and south: orange for north and blue for south.

The Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition Influence

The Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition was the single most profound influence on the layout of the University. Although most of the AYPE buildings were demolished shortly after 1909, the landscape retains much of the physical form of that event. Rainier Vista is the most obvious remnant, but the influence can also be seen in the layout of much of the central campus. The HUB Yard area had a circle with a band stand. Frosh Pond/Drumheller Fountain was larger in 1909, but was in the same location. Stevens Way is essentially the same route as the parkway in the 1909 layout. Some of the AYPE structures were put to use as institutional buildings for years or decades-the Forestry Building, at the site where the HUB now stands, was used until 1930, when its rustic timbers were deemed too rotted to save. The Washington building was used first as a library and then as the High Energy Physics Lab until demolished in 1961. Its foundation survived as a landscape element (not shown) until the construction of the Allen Library. Gradually, over the years, most of the surviving Exposition buildings were torn down.

The Station Today

University of Washington station is the seventh southbound station from Lynnwood City Center and eighteenth northbound station from Federal Way Downtown, the line's northern and southern termini, respectively. It is situated between U District and Capitol Hill stations, connecting to the latter and Downtown Seattle via the University Link tunnel. The 1 Line operates for twenty hours a day on weekdays and Saturdays, from 5:00 am to 1:00 am, and eighteen hours on Sundays, from 6:00 am to 12:00 am; during regular weekday service, trains operate roughly every eight to ten minutes during rush hour and midday operation, respectively, with longer headways of twelve to fifteen minutes in the early morning and at night. During weekends, Link trains arrive at University of Washington station every ten minutes during midday hours and every twelve to fifteen minutes during mornings and evenings.

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