flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

Amazon’s newest office building will be an ‘urban treehouse’

Office Buildings

Amazon’s newest office building will be an ‘urban treehouse’

The building will provide 405,000 sf of office space in downtown Seattle.


By David Malone, Associate Editor | April 4, 2017

Rendering courtesy of Graphite Design Group

Today, April 4, the design proposal for Amazon’s newest building is scheduled to be presented at a Downtown Design Review meeting. The 17-story, 405,000-sf building, which is being designed by Graphite Design Group, will sit at the site of a former hotel at 2205 Seventh Avenue in Seattle.

According to Curbed Seattle, documents submitted by the architect for review give three options for building massing, with one of those options being preferred over the rest. The preferred option has a recessed center bay that shows the building’s internal stair structure. On either side of the recessed bay are stacked, protruding slabs of floors that zigzag their way up the building. The documents refer to this design as an ‘urban treehouse.”

Other building massing options include a version that again utilizes a recessed bay to show the internal stair structure, but instead of creating a zigzag pattern like the preferred option, the bay is a straight shot from the ground floor to the roof, with the occasional terrace off to the side. In the final of the three options, the internal stair structure is still visible, but instead of it being via a recessed bay, the stairs actually jut out from the rest of the building in three equal, staggered slabs.

The building site, which sits across Blanchard Street from Amazon’s Day One building, was purchased by Acorn Development LLC, an Amazon affiliate, for about $13 million in 2016.

Related Stories

Giants 400 | Aug 8, 2019

Top 200 Office Sector Architecture Firms for 2019

Gensler, AECOM, Perkins+Will, Stantec, and HOK top the rankings of the nation's largest office sector architecture and architecture engineering (AE) firms, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2019 Giants 300 Report.

Giants 400 | Aug 8, 2019

2019 Office Giants Report: Demand for exceptional workplaces will keep the office construction market strong

Office space consolidation and workplace upgrades will keep project teams busy, according to BD+C's 2019 Giants 300 Report.

Office Buildings | Jul 12, 2019

How Millennials, Gen Z, and technology are changing workplace design

In the workplace, the only constant is change.

Office Buildings | Jul 11, 2019

Designing successful workplaces for an unknown future

The traditional model of signing long-term leases, committing extensive capital to an inflexible solution, and then calling it a day is no longer viable.

Design Innovation Report | Jun 25, 2019

2019 Design Innovation Report: Super labs, dream cabins, office boardwalks, façades as art

9 projects that push the limits of architectural design, space planning, and material innovation.

Office Buildings | May 29, 2019

Smart buildings can optimize wellness

Employees want wellness initiatives built into their work experience, especially when they’re in spaces that can leave them feeling stiff, stressed, and sick. 

Office Buildings | May 29, 2019

HQ2 in cue: Amazon’s Arlington, Va., headquarters has energy-efficient design

With more than two million sf of LEED-certified office space planned, Amazon's new designs for its second headquarters in Arlington, VA, also will have green space, a one-acre park, and bicycle and public transportation access.

Sustainability | May 28, 2019

Carrier’s world headquarters in Florida goes green

The structure is the first commercial building in Florida to achieve LEED Platinum v4 Certification.

Office Buildings | May 14, 2019

Sail on, Royal Caribbean: HOK-designed headquarters celebrates cruise ship industry

The building’s design is inspired by the design of its fleet of cruise ships—with flowing lines.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category

Curtain Wall

7 steps to investigating curtain wall leaks

It is common for significant curtain wall leakage to involve multiple variables. Therefore, a comprehensive multi-faceted investigation is required to determine the origin of leakage, according to building enclosure consultants Richard Aeck and John A. Rudisill with Rimkus. 




halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021