Update on the proposed expansion of the Asian Art Museum into Volunteer Park.

A group of concerned citizens is pushing back hard against the proposal. They maintain it is wrong to use a landmark greenspace for a museum expansion. They are not opposing the much-needed interior renovations for the museum—just the expansion beyond its original footprint. The City maintains that the museum expansion is a legitimate “recreational” use of park land.

If a landmark naturalistic park is unprotected against building development—what does that mean for the future of other green spaces in Seattle? 

Here is a short post by Joyce Moty:

“I know it is hard to visualize how big and tall the Seattle Asian Art Museum expansion in Volunteer Park will be.  Last Sunday a group of Protect Volunteer Park Friends measured the 3600 square foot footprint and stood on the line.  The red lines in this photo represent the wall (50 feet tall) that would obscure the view as one walks behind the museum into what SAAM calls the “dead zone” that nobody uses.

This angle only captures one of many views that would be lost forever.  The other loss would be the big conifers to the right of the right vertical line and a Beech tree that would be surrounded by two sides of the building.  This is because the construction access pathway cuts between the existing building and the conifers on the right.  Space is very tight and the roots of the trees often reach way beyond the drip line.”

For more images, information, or ways to get involved, please go to www.protectvolunteerpark.org