Amazon office building doubles as emergency housing for Seattle families

In collaboration with Amazon, Graphite Design Group designed Mary’s Place Family Center, a nonprofit supporting families experiencing homelessness. The center provides emergency housing and services to families inside the downtown Seattle Amazon office building.

The unusual location for services of this kind serves over 300 people per day. Mary's Place spreads across eight of the office's floors—all designed by Graphite—testing the status quo for its experimental approach to homelessness support.

Emergency Housing for Seattle Families

Each floor provides various services and amenities for the sheltered:

Level P1: Parking, Storage, Facilities Workshop
Level G: Loading Dock and Staging, Storage, Dogwash
Level 1: Lobby, Multipurpose Room, Conference Room
Level 2: Diversion Sleep Floor
Level 3: Standard Sleep Floor
Level 4: Popsicle Place
Level 5: Popsicle Place
Level 6: Welcome and Intake, Heat Treat, Staff Area, Marketplace
Level 7: Dining Room, Full Kitchen, Play Area, Interfaith Prayer Room
Level 8: Rec Room, Terrace, Laundry, Games, Large Conference Room

Family in emergency housing shelter — Photo © Benjamin Benschneider, courtesy Graphite Design Group

While designing the center, Graphite invited Mary's Place staff to contribute ideas to best support guests. The group brainstormed words, images, and scenarios that eventually helped craft the space into a community-serving shelter.

Mary’s Place Family Center was also recognized at the AIA Seattle Honor Awards and the Council for Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat Awards for its novel approach to urban development. Graphite believes the project acts as a model for how other cities can activate underutilized space to answer larger urban housing challenges while balancing growth and social equity.

On the Building Team:
Owner: Amazon, Global Real Estate and Facilities team and Mary's Place
Developer: Seneca Group
Architect: Graphite Design Group
Structural/Civil Engineer: Coughlin Porter Lundeen
Electrical/Acoustic Engineer: Stantec
Mechanical/Energy Design: WSP
GC: GLY Construction

Boyd R. Zoccola is Chair and Chief Elected Officer of BOMA International. A BOMA member since 1994, he has served on the Executive, Finance, Investment, and Medical/Healthcare Facilities Committees. An Indiana Real Estate Principal Broker and a board member of the Real Estate Round Table, he is Executive Vice President of Hokanson Companies, Inc., of Indianapolis, and has been involved in the development of $600 million worth of real estate. On a volunteer basis, Zoccola was president of Horizon House and a board member of Girls, Inc. He holds a BA in biology from Indiana University.