Transit-oriented development at the Capitol Hill light rail station is an expression of decades long planning and the efforts of many community groups, City agencies, public officials, and others dedicated to the future of their neighborhood.
The site and building design are guided by a master plan envisioned by the City of Seattle. The centerpiece of this vision is a new civic heart in the form of a plaza surrounding the station entry locations and four new mixed-use structures. HEWITT designed two sites along Broadway Ave (A+C) that brace the civic plaza and station entries and connect to two additional sites (B-North and B-South).
The identifiable elements of Sites A and C (also known as the station sites) are its glass-clad “lanterns.” These elements complement and mark the existing station entries’ qualities such as their translucent glass clerestories and clear anodized aluminum elevator hoistway enclosures. In this way the unique quality of the station entries – being small in size but big in their importance to the neighborhood – is continued.