Murray Wet Weather Facility

Project Title: Barton Basin CSO: Greener Neighborhood, Cleaner Sound
Landscape Architect: HDR
Category: General Design, Public Ownership
Location: Seattle, WA
Description: 
King County has a history of reducing the discharge of untreated stormwater and wastewater into Puget Sound. Integral to this reduction, the new Murray Wet Weather Facility minimizes combined sewer overflows (CSOs), storing 1-million-gallons of excess sewage. The facility reduces annual CSO events to one, meeting CSO discharge requirements and improving Puget Sound water quality.

Championed by a community advisory group, the facility encourages public access, improves connectivity and enhances environmental stewardship. The siting of the Murray Wet Weather Facility provided an opportunity to meet CSO management needs with a discrete building and expansive open space near the shoreline.  The facility is tucked into a West Seattle hillside, topped and flanked with public access providing a series of episodes and vistas. Artwork compliments each moment along a stairway bisecting the site and serves as a metaphor for water’s journey from the Cascades to the shoreline, a journey reflected of the facility’s purpose.

Opened to an enamored crowd, the facility is a model for well-balanced design addressing environmental conservation, sound infrastructure and community aspirations.

View the full submission