February 5, 2001

Swedish Southeast Wing Tower

Architects at NBBJ have given Swedish Medical Center a new "front door."  The Southeast Wing Tower creates an identifiable entry to the hospital for the first time. 

Photos courtesy NBBJ

The project includes a main entrance and lobby, ambulatory care clinic, pharmacy, intensive care unit, operating rooms with recovery beds, interventional imaging, medical imaging, special care nurseries, labor/delivery and recovery suites, nursing beds, central supply and 600 subterranean parking stalls.

The building had to be friendly and welcoming at a pedestrian scale, yet signal the entry location at an urban scale. It is located at the top of First Hill in downtown Seattle, where the city grid meets Broadway. The primary façade of the tower forms a convex crescent shape, intended to create an omin-directional and lasting physical presence for Swedish. 

Photos courtesy NBBJ

Project materials include precast concrete panels with local quarried granite aggregate and colored base. Metal work has a silver metallic finish, alluding to the technology housed within the building. Each floor of the wing addition includes an original piece of art from the project's artwork program. 

The consultants who worked on the project were: lead architect: NBBJ; construction manager/general contractor: Sellen Construction; mechanical: Bouillon, Inc.; structural/civil: Skilling, Ward, Magnusson, Barkshire; electrical:  Bouillon, Inc.; lighting: J. Miller & Associates; landscape:  Murase  Associates; geotechnical:  Hart Crowser; survey:  Bush Roed and Hitchings, Inc.; model builder:  Rauda Scale Models; and architectural illustrator:  W.G. Hook Architectural Illustration.

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:

• Fremont Fresh Market, 01-29-2001
• Lakeview Apartments, 01-22-2001
• Mary Gates Hall, 01-16-2001
• Gonzaga University School of Law, 01-08-2001
• The Production Network, 01-02-2001
• F5 Networks, 12-26-2000
• A look at the W Suites, 12-18-2000
• ZAAZ corporate office, 12-11-2000