February 8, 2021

Weber Thompson's new office in Watershed is complete

Photo courtesy of Weber Thompson [enlarge]

Schuchart was the general contractor for Weber Thompson’s tenant improvement. The lobby, just off the elevator core, features a blackened steel portal which leads to the conference and focus rooms.

Interdisciplinary design firm Weber Thompson has opened its new headquarters at Watershed, a deeply sustainable commercial building at 900 N. 34th St. in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood.

It said it is leasing 9,000 square feet, enough space for its 71 employees and room to add a few more. Most of the employees are working remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The lease is for 12 years.

The firm moved from The Terry Thomas, a super green building at 225 Terry Ave. N. in South Lake Union. It designed that building and was the architect and landscape architect on the seven-story 72,000-square-foot Watershed, which opened in April of last year.

“Designing and moving to Watershed was the natural next step in the evolution of Weber Thompson and our dedication to sustainable design,” said Kristen Scott, the firm's managing partner and Watershed principal in charge, in a press release. “After twelve years at The Terry Thomas, we wanted our new home to again push the envelope in high-performance design and demonstrate to our clients what is possible.”

Spear Street Capital and Hess Callahan Grey Group co-developed and co-own Watershed. It was designed to meet Seattle's Living Building Pilot Program which includes meeting petal certification from the Living Future Institute's Living Building Challenge for three petals. This pilot program has strict guidelines about materials, water and energy usage, and provided a framework for nearly every decision made for the project, including design in initial tenant improvements. Weber Thompson is also pursuing FitWel certification for its tenant improvement.

The firm's work includes high-rises, high-density urban infill, residential, commercial office, hospitality and affordable housing. Its new second-floor office in Suite 200 was built by Schuchart and overlooks a cascading bioswale that cleans diverted runoff from the Aurora Bridge.

Weber Thompson said this connection with the outdoors and the neighborhood was a theme their designers heard when gathering input from the firm regarding the new office. Employees also said they wanted access to daylight, spaces to foster connection, areas for hands-on projects and a showcase for WT's design aesthetic.

The firm said the result is an elegant space that celebrates natural materials and supports collaboration. It is anchored by a central circulation spine that maximizes meeting and break out spaces. The lobby, just off the elevator core, has a blackened steel portal which leads to the conference and focus rooms. The open office space encourages knowledge sharing, teamwork and collaboration and gives everyone access to natural daylight and views of the neighborhood and Lake Union.

Photo by Meghan Montgomery/Built Work Photography [enlarge]

Turner Construction was the general contractor on Watershed, which opened in April of last year.

Many reclaimed materials from the Terry Thomas office are in the space. Salvaged items include perforated plywood ceiling panels, ceiling fans and a blacked steel panel in the lobby entry. A beloved element, a 14-foot-tall section of flooring featuring the patina of years serving as Pearl Jam's practice studio, was reassembled, encased in a steel frame and secured to the second-floor entrance.

The materials for the space are locally-sourced, Red List-compliant and have an ILFI Declare Label listing product components. These measures, along with operable windows and state-of-the-art mechanical ventilation, make the building's indoor air quality exceptionally healthy, the firm said.

Turner Construction built Watershed. It has castellated steel beams, Red-List free materials, educational signage, environmental art, and a bicycle locker room, plus showers. The building boasts a 25% reduction in energy use over a code baseline building. Its energy use data will be tracked and displayed in real time on a dashboard in the lobby; Weber Thompson's usage data will be displayed on a separate dashboard in its second-floor lobby.

The Terry Thomas building was completed in 2008. Last year, it sold for a little over $52.1 million to Alpha Z Seattle Office 1 LLC, which is associated with Zurich Alternative Asset Management, aka ZAAM, which has offices in New York and Atlanta. That's an investment arm of Zurich Insurance Group.