Architect says Silverview can meet Silverdale design standard by placing parking under buildings

At the Kitsap County Silverview appeals hearing on June 3, architect John Adams testified that the project can accommodate structured, under-building parking and that venue-specific design alternatives were not fully explored by the applicant's team. Adams, the principal of a Seattle architecture firm, told the examiner the site's gentle grades and the Silverdale Waterfront design standards favor structured parking "where feasible," and that a properly engineered podium garage would meet the district's design goals.

Adams' testimony and why it matters

Adams said the waterfront design standards use firm language preferring parking under buildings and that developers should plan and budget accordingly. He described a range of typical engineering and architectural responses that developers use on similarly constrained sites: podium slabs, post-tension slabs, denser column grids to reduce beam depth, and locating elevator pits and mains so that the project does not require exceptional deeper excavation below groundwater. "It's very common to construct buildings on podiums," Adams said; "the site is, as I've testified before, is extremely flat...it lends itself…