August 4, 2023

Olson Kundig designs Interbay building, dipping its toes into life-science arena

Renderings by Olson Kundig [enlarge]

Olson Kundig has designed an eight-level, 499,065-square-foot building for the site.

Architect Olson Kundig recently unveiled a series of concept images for a new laboratory and life sciences building in Seattle's Interbay neighborhood. The firm was approached by the site's owner, PP&G Properties, to draw up the conceptual designs.

The proposed building, which at this point is hypothetical, would be located on three adjacent parcels of land at 945, 901 and 921 Elliott Ave. W., all owned by PP&G. PP&G Properties is an entity formed by doctors Gregory Vaughn and Paola Leone, a husband-and-wife team behind Leone & Vaughn Orthodontics that has offices in Seattle and Bellevue.

The parcels are currently home to a Leone & Vaughn Orthodontics office, a distillery, and four vacant former industrial buildings from the 1920s. The 901-921 Elliott Ave. site is probably most known as the former home to Greg Thompson Productions, known for wife Sunny Thompson's long-running Marilyn Monroe stage act, which relocated in 2017 to Edmonds. It was also once home to Prestige Cleaners and Leather Care. Owing to that and other past industrial uses, it's on the state Department of Ecology's list of polluted sites. Cleanup efforts are ongoing, Ecology says.

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The proposed project would be located adjacent to Elliott Avenue West.

Olson Kundig's design explores the redevelopment of the site with an eight-level, 499,065-square-foot life-science lab and office building. The proposed project would have three levels of dedicated industrial and lab space with 16-foot ceiling heights, and five levels of research and development lab and office space with 12-foot ceiling heights. The building would be served by two entry courtyards and partially sub-grade parking. Multi-level rooftop terraces would provide residents with views to downtown Seattle, Mount Rainier and Elliott Bay.

While life-science buildings are popping up all over the city, this is the first Olson Kundig-designed life-science project. The firm's co-founder, Tom Kundig, led the design, which he says “responds to a large, linear site by distributing the laboratory and life sciences program across three main volumes.” This strategy is adopted to preserve a flexible floorplan to suit a wide range of office, technology and retail tenants. It also breaks down the scale of the building to provide a welcoming and comfortable workplace. The orientation and massing of each volume is designed to create setbacks that frame the outdoor courtyards and waterfront views, fostering connections between the new building and its environment.

“The concept merges my extensive experience creating architecture that supports innovative, collaborative work with a laboratory-focused, life sciences program, and I'm excited for the opportunity to engage with this sector,” Kundig shared in a press release. “The design responds to and respects the incredible industrial heritage of this site, informed by the experiential and functional needs of its users,” he added.

The press release also states that the prospective project is “intended to be a catalyst development” for Interbay's newly formed Industry and Innovation zone, which was created last month when Mayor Harrell signed the new Maritime and Industrial Strategy into law. That legislation updates the city's land use code to strengthen protections for existing maritime and industrial lands and industries and creates three new industrial zones: Maritime, Manufacturing, and Logistics; Industry and Innovation; and Urban Industrial.

The Industry and Innovation zone is intended to encourage new development in multi-story buildings that accommodate industrial businesses mixed with other dense employment uses such as research, design, offices, and technology through a system of density bonuses.

While the project is hypothetical at this time, both the architect and landowner hope to redevelop the site in the future.

“Our patients and employees already appreciate Interbay's unique central location and easy access to downtown, the waterfront and local neighborhoods, and we've always felt this unique site gives us the opportunity to do something truly iconic and special. An innovative, thoughtful Olson Kundig-designed building, at this site and with this large scale, allows us to be a catalyst for the redevelopment and reimagination of Interbay,” Gregory Vaughn, managing partner of PP&G Properties, added in the release.