The large cherry trees on the Quad of the University of Washington’s campus in Seattle’s University District are reaching their peak bloom, and I went out to take a look today.





a weblog of whereabouts & interests, since 2010
The large cherry trees on the Quad of the University of Washington’s campus in Seattle’s University District are reaching their peak bloom, and I went out to take a look today.
I went down to check on the construction of Seattle’s sleek new $209 million substation in South Lake Union today. Its construction has been three years in the making – and its planning much longer than that. Seattle City Light purchased the site from the Greyhound bus company in October 2008.
The work inside the substation is basically done, and the equipment has been energized. The walkways on its perimeter and the little public park are not yet open, though. There is also ongoing work done for building out an underground distribution network, scheduled to be completed in 2020.
I walked by the Nexus condominium tower today, to check on its progress from November.
The tower’s construction is about to be officially topped off, with occupancy expected by late 2019. Some 28 (of the 389) units are still available.
Here is what the Rainier Square Tower in downtown Seattle looks like now. (See this post from November).
Amazon was to lease all 722,000 square feet (30 floors) in the new building, but announced last week that it would not do so anymore. It will look to sub-lease the space to other companies instead. This announcement came 10 months after Amazon had threatened to pull out of the building if the city were to impose a new business tax (which the city then backed away from).
I took the short train ride out to Delft and The Hague today. The sun and the balmy weather of Wednesday were gone, and it was foggy and cold until early afternoon.
It was a gorgeous day here in Rotterdam, with the day temperature reaching 17°C/ 62°F. Here is a selection of sights from today.
I arrived at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport at about 11.15 am this morning.
I had to spend a little time at Schiphol to figure out how to use my OV-chipkaart* for the train ride down to Rotterdam, but that’s OK. Now I know how to use it in Rotterdam, as well.
*Cannot load money onto it at the ticketing machine with an American credit card! (USA cards do not have PIN numbers). No need to buy a fare ahead of time, but if you travel 1st class, you tap the card once at the station/ platform entrance as usual, and then a second time on the platform next to the train, for the 1st class surcharge.
Here are some of my favorite buildings in Stellenbosch, from my visit there yesterday.
The Bo-Kaap (pronunce ‘boo-uh-carp’) is a former township on the slopes of Signal Hill, above the Cape Town city center. It is the historical center of Cape Malay culture in Cape Town. The Nurul Islam Mosque, established in 1844, is also located in the area. Here are a few pictures that I took today.
My flight made it into Schiphol airport at 12 noon local time, after the connection I had made in Reykjavik.
From Schiphol, I took the train to Amsterdam Central station.
The OV chipkaart that I had bought there, does the same as the Orca card that we have in Seattle, and more. The passenger uses it to tap on readers at train stations and on trains and buses, to pay the fare. The cards can be used anywhere in the Netherlands on local trains, trams and buses, and even on regional trains. Just not on ferries, yet.
Washington’s new State Route 99 tunnel was officially opened by Governor Jay Inslee today at 11 am. Shortly after that, the public was allowed to walk through it. (Earlier in the morning there was a fun run through the tunnel).
The public was also allowed to bid a final farewell to the Alaskan Way Viaduct. After this weekend, its demolition will start in earnest.
I posted about the Pioneer Building before, but today I could get a nice picture of the front side – with all the leaves on the trees gone.
I am at Narita airport, waiting to board my flight.
I took a quick taxi to Tokyo Station (too much luggage to use the subway!), and then the Narita Express train from there.
Today was my last full day. I will head out to the airport after lunchtime tomorrow.
It was gloves-scarf-skull cap weather: no sun and only 6°C/ 42°F for a high. I went out to the very touristy surroundings at Asakusa Station (pagodas and shrines), and then made a stop at Omotesandō Station (glass and steel) as well.
I spotted some unusual buildings along Meiji-Dori avenue today, while walking from Shibuya to the Harajuku station.
Some days I run myself ragged with too much walking! So for tomorrow, I plan to take the Nozomi Super Express to Nagoya. It’s 1h 40m in one direction.
I took the train from Bull Creek Station to Perth Underground station today – it’s only 11 minutes.
The Western Australian economy must have picked up steam the last two years, because there is a lot of new construction going on in downtown Perth.
We went down to the sales office for an elegant new condominium tower called First Light today, just to see what’s going on there.
The development will be done by Westbank, a Vancouver, B.C.-based firm.
It is still early days, though: the tower’s completion is only scheduled for some time in 2022.
The Rainier Square Tower (59-story, 850 ft/ 259 m tall) in downtown Seattle, is getting off the ground, with its completion scheduled for early 2020.
Traditionally, a rebar-reinforced concrete core has been the preferred method of construction for Seattle’s towers. These cores are very good at bracing against wind and seismic loads. The construction process is slow, though: three to four days per floor, with the steel framing for each floor dependent on completion of the concrete work.
For Rainier Square Tower, a new steel plate & concrete composite fill design for its high-rise core is used. It has been developed by Magnusson Klemencic Associates (MKA) over many years. The system uses two steel plates connected by steel spacing ties, and then the cavity between the plates is filled with high-strength concrete. An added boon is that this method is expected to reduce traditional construction time by 30% or more.
I went down Denny Way to go check on the construction of a condominium tower called the Nexus today, just north and east of downtown. The construction boom is still going full-steam with dozens of downtown and South Lake Union projects only now getting off the ground.
The No 48 bus makes for an easy run up to the University (of Washington) District for me, and I did that today. (The main draw there for me is the big university bookstore, and the smaller second-hand bookstores, as well).
In another two years or so, the new Light Rail train station right there will be completed, and then I can take the train instead. That would be great!