August 31, 2009

Seattle Center Fifth Avenue North Garage

The $15 million Seattle Center Fifth Avenue North Garage opened in July last year at Fifth Avenue North and Harrison Street.

The project transformed a 12-acre asphalt-covered lot into a 2-acre underground garage with a 1.5-acre green roof, and has been certified LEED gold.

The four-level structure is designed to be energy efficient and uses advanced lighting design for parking structures. Skylights bring natural light into the upper levels of the garage, and glass-housed elevators, used as the main pedestrian entries, draw daylight deep in to the lower levels.

The garage provides parking for Seattle Center and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation headquarters, now under construction, and is intended to activate the street with public art and a visitor center for the foundation.

Local artist Bill Weiss designed a 50-foot-wide stained glass art piece on the southwest plaza.

Owner: Seattle Center

Developer: The Seneca Group

Architect: NBBJ, Seattle

General contractor: Sellen Construction, Seattle

Civil engineer: KPFF, Seattle

Structural/mechanical/electrical engineer: ARUP, Seattle

Landscape architect: Gustafson Guthrie Nichol, Seattle

Do you have photos of recent projects? Share them with DJC readers. Send high-resolution images and information to lisa.lannigan@djc.com.

Previous columns:

• Hyatt Regency Bellevue, 08-24-2009
• Kitsap Credit Union, 08-17-2009
• Gary Knutzen Cardinal Center, 08-10-2009
• iQ Credit Union, 08-03-2009
• Providence Medical Group, 07-27-2009
• Little Cedars Elementary School, 07-20-2009
• Broad Street Green, 07-13-2009
• St. Anthony Hospital, 07-06-2009