Design Perspectives: Bassetti’s sunny activism and imagination will be missed

What would Seattle be without Pike Place Market and Westlake Park?

We take them for granted but we shouldn’t. They are part of a far-reaching urban agenda that owes a lot to Fred Bassetti. He was a shaper of Seattle’s skyline as well as its civic and design culture.

Bassetti died last Thursday at the age of 96. He was the founder of Bassetti Architects and principal designer of Seattle Municipal Tower and the Henry M. Jackson Federal Building, but he will be remembered most for his loving criticism of Seattle as a great city with room for improvement. He continued to advocate for making this a better city almost until the end of his life.