Vashon Island is a semi-rural community of farmers, artists, and families only a fifteen-minute ferry ride from Seattle. When the existing open pit landfill reached it's capacity, King County Solid Waste Division made a conscientious decision to create a better environment for the community by capping over the existing landfill and creating a new high quality solid waste and recycling transfer station.

The "civic" features of this project that stand out can be categorized into the following:

· Responsible "Semi- Rural" Design
· Incorporation of Public Art
· Sustainable Building Practices

Through a sensitive and inclusive community outreach program, the King County Solid Waste Division involved the community in determining the siting of the Transfer Station and Scale House at the existing landfill, the building massing, the colors / materials to be used, and the inclusion of public art. The resulting project is one that is embraced by the community as a positive step in resolving the issues associated with having a landfill adjoining existing neighborhoods.

The 10-acre site's circulation pattern separates customers and the large disposal trucks, the non-paying recycling customers and paying solid waste customers, and the out going recycling and solid waste materials that are transferred off the island via sealed containers. The transfer station is shielded from neighboring residences through the use of large earth berms, and the openings into the transfer station are oriented to reduce noise impacts.

Arriving commercial haulers stop first at a small weigh-station then continue to the left along a road that slopes down and around to the back of the building. Under a metal shed roof, truck docks back up to the waste pit six-feet below. From the pit, materials move to the left into a shed on the south end of the building containing a compactor and baler that reduce the number of trips of waste and recyclables off the island.

An articulated metal canopy on the front of the building slopes up and out directing the public to a long wall of circular openings to deposit various recycling materials. The community groups we worked with during design felt very strongly about creating a community gathering point with the recycling area and is the "public" face of the building.

This project is a model of sustainable design and construction, maximizing resource efficiency and minimizing environmental impact. Important design considerations were the choice of building materials (recycled and recyclable concrete and steel), and the desire to fit this large structure unobtrusively and sensitively within the island community.

In a celebration of recycling, a laser cut steel filigree of local flora and fauna by an artist surrounds the large portholes into the public recycling bins. The installation's funding is from King County's one-percent-for-arts program which dedicates a portion of municipal construction budgets to architecturally integrated public art. Porcelain enamel on steel panels, by the same artist, brightens the Scale House. The art adds another layer to the County's transformation of an overlooked utilitarian building type that forms a backdrop for Vashon Island's community life.