Architects See Bellevue as a Palette for Change

Architects See Bellevue as a Palette for Change
Call it the urban-design edition of the "Extreme Makeover" television show.

Sixty architects and designers fanned out through downtown Bellevue yesterday, looking for nips, tucks or face-lifts that could improve the visage of a place developer Kemper Freeman has likened to a pimply faced teenager.

Like the plastic surgeons who ply their trade on willing participants in the television show, the architects shared their insights at the invitation of city officials and downtown boosters. The city is looking for fresh ideas as it prepares to consider regulatory changes aimed at making downtown a more appealing place for visitors and residents.

They got plenty of frank assessments.

Following a one-hour walk through the heart of downtown, one group of seven architects and a lighting designer found room for improvement. One suggested downtown landscaping was poorly placed to give pedestrians any sense of refuge from the urban environment. Another said the pedestrian corridor running east and west through the center of downtown was finished only in bits and pieces, giving it little coherence.

Sidewalks in some areas remain narrow and skirt fast-moving traffic and parking lots. A female architect said she wouldn't feel safe walking across downtown at night because it probably would be too deserted. While some places —