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Composition and Terms
Commissioners are appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by City Council. Terms are two years, begin in October, and may be renewed once. When upcoming vacancies need to be filled, applications are due in May. To apply, send a letter and resume to Guillermo Romano (guillermo.romano@seattle.gov). See a list of former commissioners. Commissioners Mary Johnston |
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Mary Johnston is a registered architect and is a founding partner of Johnston Architects PLLC. In the past 15 years, her firm has designed numerous public places, single and multi-family homes and private buildings. Mary believes good public architecture has great power to invigorate communities and has worked with numerous agencies and community groups in cooperative efforts to improve the civic environment. In addition to being a practicing architect, Mary teaches graduate and undergraduate design studios at the University of Washington College of Architecture and Urban Planning. |
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Brendan Connolly |
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Brendan Connolly is a Senior Associate and Design Architect at Mithun and Licensed Architect in WA State. He is responsible for design of the recent Zoomazium project at Woodland Park Zoo. Other projects he has worked on are: The Teton Science Schools Jackson Campus, Jackson Hole, Wyoming; The Gore Range Natural Science School, Avon, Colorado; Riverwoods Environmental Learning Center, Corbin, Kentucky; and Tulalip Tribal Government Administration Building Tulalip, Washington. He is a top graduate of both Yale University and the University of Washington's Master of Architecture programs. He was a member of the design team that was awarded First Place in the Professional Category for the 2005 C2C International Design Competition. He was awarded the Henry Adams Medal (AIA award to top-ranked graduate in the class of 2001), and the University of Washington Faculty Medal. |
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Darby Watson |
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Darby Watson has over seven years experience providing urban design, landscape architecture and planning services in the Pacific Northwest. Her recent experience includes complex public transportation systems, urban boulevard streetscape design, and urban design guidelines. She has also developed county-wide guidelines and codes for transit oriented developments. Darby specializes in sustainable design, urban open space, and the incorporation of public art in urban design. She is a certified planner and brings knowledge and experience in project management, phased development, and innovative regulations and standards. Darby is also the chair-elect of the American Planning Association’s Urban Design and Preservation Division. |
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Nathan Polanski |
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Nathan Polanski graduated from Tufts University in 2003 with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and a minor in engineering management. As a civil engineer with SvR Design Company Nathan has worked on a variety of public and private projects designing civil infrastructure systems with a focus on sustainable, context sensitive designs. Through his work on public projects Nathan has developed a passion for creating public spaces and streetscapes that integrate green infrastructure, promote complete streets ideologies, and improve mobility for all users. |
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John Hoffman |
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John Hoffman, AIA, AICP, is the Director of Urban Design with Perteet Inc, specializing in transit and community development projects. A graduate of Washington State and Rice Universities, John has been an urban designer at Wallace, Roberts & Todd in Philadelphia and Skidmore Owings and Merrill in Chicago. John has taught at Miami and Drexel Universities and has been a studio critic in many others. Since returning to Seattle in 1986, John worked at Callison Architecture and Hewitt Isley before joining Perteet. He looks at the design process as a means to achieve thoughtful solutions that are sensitive to the ecological context, responsive to the cultural setting and specific to the physical surrounding. |
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Andrew Barash |
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Julie Parrett |
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Julie Parrett is a registered Landscape Architect with nearly 15 years of experience designing, planning and developing urban parks and open spaces. Currently, as Design Director for the People's Waterfront Coalition, an organization she helped co-found, Julie works re-envisioning Seattle's downtown waterfront without the Viaduct. Julie has worked on both regionally significant and local neighborhood projects within Seattle including the Olympic Sculpture Park and Mineral Springs Park, while employed as a Principal with Charles Anderson Landscape Architecture. In addition to professional practice, Julie has taught design studios within the landscape architecture departments at the University of Washington in Seattle and the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Julie graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in Architecture and earned a Masters degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania. |
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Dennis Ryan |
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Dennis Ryan, AICP, Associate Professor of Urban Design, Planning and Architecture at the University of Washington, has a Ph.D. and Master of City Planning from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Architecture from Clemson University. An educator for 30 years, he was the founding director of the UW's Urban Design Program, chaired the Department of Urban Design and Planning, 1986-1996, and currently directs the interdisciplinary Community, Planning and Environment program. A former member of the Seattle Planning Commission, he has been on the Editorial Committee of ARCADE Magazine since the early 1990's and served as Architecture and Urban Design Critic for the Seattle Times in the early 1980's. |
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Graham Black |
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Graham Black is a third generation builder and the owner of gProjects LLC, a development and building company in the central neighborhoods of Seattle. Growing steadily since 2003, gProjects builds pedestrian oriented, über sustainable, contemporary townhouse clusters. Material reuse, parking decentralization and design to promote spontaneous community interaction are examples of the company philosophy built into every project. In a prior life, Graham worked as a land use and municipal lawyer at a firm downtown. He is a graduate of Macalester College and Seattle University School of Law (cum laude). Graham is a CASA Latina board member chairing its building committee, youth soccer coach and enjoys working in his garden with wife Jen and three kids. |
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Norie Sato |
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Norie Sato is an artist who has worked in public art for over 30 years, as an artist, an arts planner, arts commissioner, and teacher. She has experience in transit, educational facilities, civic structures, libraries, convention centers, laboratories, streetscapes, parks and infrastructure projects. She is a member of the national Public Art Network Council, a part of Americans for the Arts. She was a member of the Seattle Planning Commission and the Seattle Arts Commission, and is currently a Board member of Seattle's premier avant-garde performing arts presenter, On the Boards. She has worked on projects throughout the US including projects in Miami, Scottsdale, Salt Lake City, Ames (IA), Madison (WI), Dallas, as well as Federal Way, Seattle, Bothell and Bellevue in our area. |
