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
| Jan 20, 2011
Houston Dynamo soccer team plans new venue
Construction is scheduled to begin this month on a new 22,000-seat Major League Soccer stadium for the Houston Dynamo. The $60 million project is expected to be ready for the 2012 MLS season.
| Jan 20, 2011
Construction begins on second St. Louis community center
O’Fallon Park Recreation Complex in St. Louis, designed by local architecture/engineering firm KAI Design & Build, will feature an indoor aquatic park with interactive water play features, a lazy river, water slides, laps lanes, and an outdoor spray and multiuse pool.
| Jan 20, 2011
Community college to prepare next-gen Homeland Security personnel
The College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, Ill., began work on the Homeland Security Education Center, which will prepare future emergency personnel to tackle terrorist attacks and disasters. The $25 million, 61,100-sf building’s centerpiece will be an immersive interior street lab for urban response simulations.
| Jan 19, 2011
San Diego casino renovations upgrade gaming and entertainment
The Sycuan Casino in San Diego will get an update with a $27 million, 245,000-sf renovation. Hnedak Bobo Group, Memphis, Tenn., and Cleo Design, Las Vegas, drew design inspiration from the historic culture of the Sycuan tribe and the desert landscape, creating a more open space with better circulation. Renovation highlights include a new “waterless” water entry feature and new sports bar and grill, plus updates to gaming, poker, off-track-betting, retail, and bingo areas. The local office of San Francisco-based Swinerton Builders will provide construction services.
| Jan 10, 2011
Michael J. Alter, president of The Alter Group: ‘There’s a significant pent-up demand for projects’
Michael J. Alter, president of The Alter Group, a national corporate real estate development firm headquartered in Skokie, Ill., on the growth of urban centers, project financing, and what clients are saying about sustainability.
| Jan 7, 2011
BIM on Target
By using BIM for the design of its new San Clemente, Calif., store, big-box retailer Target has been able to model the entire structural steel package, including joists, in 3D, chopping the timeline for shop drawings from as much as 10 weeks down to an ‘unheard of’ three-and-a-half weeks.
| Jan 7, 2011
Mixed-Use on Steroids
Mixed-use development has been one of the few bright spots in real estate in the last few years. Successful mixed-use projects are almost always located in dense urban or suburban areas, usually close to public transportation. It’s a sign of the times that the residential component tends to be rental rather than for-sale.
| Jan 4, 2011
6 green building trends to watch in 2011
According to a report by New York-based JWT Intelligence, there are six key green building trends to watch in 2011, including: 3D printing, biomimicry, and more transparent and accurate green claims.
