'Bubble diagram' provides framework for community campus

The planned Silverdale community campus is beginning to take shape.

For now, anyway, the shapes are all rectangles and circles.

Using a standard architectural technique called the “bubble diagram,” a two-dimensional plan prepared by a local architectural firm outlines how many structures and how much space would be required for the proposed multi-use campus.

“What has happened is we have taken the basic concept, and with the assistance of Rice Fergus Architects, we have been able to develop a quantification for how much space is being contemplated at this stage prior to extensive public input,” said Robert MacDermid, a Silverdale attorney who co-chairs a task force planning the community complex. “It gives you an idea how big it is going to be.”

The architects calculated that the campus would need at least 11.5, or as many as 18.1, acres.

“The bubble diagram allows architects to look at elements to ascertain the maximum number of parking spots, the scale of the buildings ... that gives you the size of the property to get all the elements in,” committee co-chair Hank Mann-Sykes said.

Just how big the structures will be remains to be seen, but the largest concept calls for a 46,000-square-foot library topped with 80 units of senior housing; a 59,000-square-foot community center complete with teen and senior centers and meeting space; a 1,223-seat performing arts center; a 23,000-square-foot outdoor swimming pool; 55,000-square-feet of office space; and plenty of underground parking.

“This has not been approved by anybody,” MacDermid said. “It is simply the work of the task force as it has evolved and is still in the conceptual stage.”

Other possible buildings at the campus include a restaurant, transit station, Sheriff’s precinct office, business development center, a playground and a health clinic.

“All these plans are subject to change,” Mann-Sykes said.

Organizers are reluctant to say where in Silverdale the campus would be located.

“It will be within the growth management urban growth area to maintain a sense of community in Silverdale, while maintaining a sense of a walkable community,” Mann-Sykes said.

Similar campuses have been built in Vancouver and Kirkland. Mann-Sykes said a project of this scale could take 10-15 years to complete. Undeveloped property would be kept in a park-like setting.

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