Seattle: The Latest Architecture and News

The opening of the Century 21 Exposition on April 21, 1962 transformed the image of Seattle and the American Northwest in the eyes of the world. The region, which had been known until that point more for its natural resources than as a cultural capital, established a new reputation as a center of emergent technologies and aerospace design. This new identity was embodied by the centerpiece of the exposition: the Space Needle, a slender assemblage of steel and reinforced concrete which became—and remains—Seattle’s most iconic landmark.[1]

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Seattle-based firm LMN Architects have won an Urban Land Institute (ULI) Global Award for Excellence for its Tobin Center for the Performing Arts in San Antonio, Texas.

“Designed by LMN Architects in partnership with executive architects Marmon Mok Architecture, the $150 million expansion and renovation project embrace the multi-faceted cultural identity of the city with a distinctive tapestry of form, materiality, light, and landscape" stated Mark Reddington, FAIA, lead designer and partner at LMN Architects.

Completed in 2014, the project incorporates a metallic veil that wraps program elements in programmable LED lighting, in order to create a variable play of light on the city’s skyline.

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The Seattle Art Museum (SAM) has unveiled initial designs by 2016 AIA Architecture Firm of the Year LMN Architects for the upcoming renovation and expansion of the Asian Art Museum. The plans comprise an expansion containing a 2650 square foot art gallery and event space, as well as preserving the museum’s historic Art Deco façade and bringing the museum to modern standards of climate control, fire safety and seismic system upgrades. The historic building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in July 2016.

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Seattle-based architecture and design firm NBBJ has formed a new business partnership with startup Visual Vocal to develop an innovative virtual reality (VR) productivity platform. Using this new tool, distributed project stakeholders will be able to immerse themselves into unbuilt environments and provide instantaneous feedback.

As opposed to traditional methods of communication such as email, a new VR platform, combined with mobile and cloud-based communications, could help expedite and facilitate the sharing of designs with clients, in a way that has "the potential to transform workflows within the field of architecture and beyond," state NBBJ in a press release.

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LMN Architects, a 145-employee firm based in Seattle, has been chosen as the recipient of the 2016 American Institute of Architects (AIA) Architecture Firm Award.

“LMN Architects exemplify the best in architecture firm culture,” said 2015 AIA President Elizabeth Chu Richter, FAIA. “Not only is their work proof of this, but the amazing talent they are cultivating will have a reverberating impact on the profession for years to come.”

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Patano Studio Architecture has created a proposal for a 45-acre, two-mile park spanning over the top of the Interstate-5 freeway in Seattle. Called C.A.P., the plan “proposes a city-wide architectural infrastructure solution to multiple issues facing the fast growing city.”

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