Second Street
Creating a Communal Kitchen in Downtown
Modern kitchens in today’s homes are typically the primary social gathering space. This concept was enthusiastically embraced by residents in Langley during KPG’s design charrette of Second Street. The street was reinvented to support a pedestrian-friendly environment with wider sidewalks, decorative crosswalks and a central “communal kitchen gathering space” that could be used by the residents. This gathering space was transformed into a plaza that stretches across the roadway, providing community members with a place to meet and safely cross the street.The plaza now supports both summertime tourism and local community events.
KPG teamed with another Seattle based firm named Framework, to provide visioning and conceptual design. KPG prepared final plans, specifications and estimates for the full roadway rebuild. Placemaking features include a large center street plaza with decorative pavers centered on the old fire station (now Callahan’s Firehouse, a glass-blowing studio), custom lighting bench walls, movable furniture, landscape pots, rotating public art and many other custom features, like a large rain garden.
