Lake Sammamish State Park Bathhouse

Project Details

Project Description

Lake Sammamish State Park Redevelopment is organized around the fundamental principal of integrating the buildings with the landscape and the landscape with the buildings, blurring the distinctions between the two disciplines. Patano Studio Architecture’s competition-winning park master plan entry in 2003 centered on this concept as an opportunity and methodology for unifying the 512 acre park with a consistent and understandable language involving built and landscaped elements.

Located at the southern end of the lake, Lake Sammamish State Park is a state park uniquely located in the center of a rapidly growing urban and sub-urban population. The master plan looked at addressing the issue of the park use declining while the surrounding population grew. The wide-ranging master plan that was accepted in 2007 involves wetland restoration and rehabilitation, shoreline restoration, replanting of native species and elimination of invasive plant species. In addition to improving the overall health of the park the charge from Washington State Parks was to create an iconic, sustainable vision for the park that can help organize the 512 acres and provide a unique identity and experience for the park users.

The Lake Sammamish State Park Bathhouse is one of the first of the master plan projects to be implemented within the park. The Bathhouse utilizes a repetitive concrete structure that houses the building program. The concrete consists of recycled content and provides a durable structural system that is integrated into the green roof assembly and provides thermal mass for the interior spaces. The green roofs are planted with local, drought-resistant plants that reduce the heat island effect within the delicate footprint of the park. The wood cladding system is reclaimed cedar siding salvaged from dismantled buildings in western Washington, some of the source building are over 80 years old. The stone paving at the Picnic Shelters and along the landscape paths that weave the park together is found within the drainage basin of Issaquah Creek which runs through the center of the park. All plantings and landscape are native and restorative in nature as part of Lake Sammamish State Park’s goal to be Washington’s signature park for protecting and celebrating urban natural areas, showcasing regionally significant wetlands and wildlife habitat, while enriching the lives of visitors and providing a valued legacy to future generations.