Theater Commons and Donnelly Gardens, part of GGN’s Theater District master plan, transformed a 1.6 acre parking lot, service road, and isolated lawn area into a welcoming, green and universally-accessible pedestrian entry for the Seattle Center campus. In a unique collaborative process, GGN led the conceptual design and sustainable concepts in the planting design, and then the native plant garden was designed, selected, and installed by Seattle Center landscaping/gardening staff.

For this highly visible public gateway, the project team developed a simple, durable, replicable, and affordable precedent for unifying pedestrian streets at Seattle Center. Permeable vehicular paving systems were developed to respond to varying conditions throughout the urban campus. Bio-retention gardens and evaporation gardens were designed to collect run-off from both the non-permeable site surfaces and the adjacent theater roof.

In March 2013, Theater Commons and Donnelly Gardens received certification from the Sustainable Sites Initiative? (SITES?). It was one of the first 15 national and international projects to be certified.