As the front lawn for Denny Hall, the first campus building at UW’s flagship Seattle campus, Denny Yard has been a campus landmark for generations. Today this open space functions as an informal network of circulation paths without a strong statement for how it more generally fits into life of the campus.

Building on this “informal formality,” MxM team members developed a forward looking plan that plays upon the centrality of Denny Hall and preserves the informal relationships between overstory, lawn, and circulation. The design also increased the site’s operational performance by introducing community gathering spaces, habitat and urban agriculture cells, and rain catchment gardens that recall the historic geometries of the campus’ Oval Plan. Finally, most significant on-site trees were preserved in the plan to provide a sense of continuity and longevity for the site.

Project completed by Brice Maryman while at MIG