December 13, 2023

Gehry's Building X open; Building Z quiet for now

Photo by Brian Miller [enlarge]

The new building is opposite Fire Creek Grill & Ale House, at the Willows Run Golf Complex.

There was no announcement from Facebook/Meta when it opened a few months ago, and the building could hardly be more discreet or less flashy. There is no company name or logo at 10301 Willows Road N.E., just a sign with the address that reads Redmond Campus. Largely screened by trees is the Frank Gehry-designed Building X, as the city has called it. (Google Maps now labels it Project X.)

BNBuilders began construction on the five-story, 334,850-square-foot project about three years ago. It's both an office and industrial/R&D building, with “multiple commercial kitchens” (per the builder) and three levels of mostly structured parking. Total project size is about 706,964 square feet.

LEED Platinum certification is anticipated for a project that features various decks and terraces, plus a large central atrium with open stairs.

The team also included Gustafson Guthrie Nichol, landscape architect; Coughlin Porter Lundeen, civil; Magnusson Klemencic Associates, structural; Simpson Gumpertz & Heger, fire and life safety; Walker Consultants, parking; Affiliated Engineers, MEP; Tillotson Design Associates, lighting; Newson Brown Acoustics; Bush, Roed & Hitchings, surveyor; Davey Resource Group, arborist; Talasaea, environmental consultant; Transpo Group, traffic; and Aspect Consulting, environmental consultant.

To the south, at 10201 Willows Road, work hasn't yet begun on the planned Gehry-designed Building Z. That project emerged last year. If it proceeds, at a time when tech firms are reconsidering their office space needs, it'll have about 336,701 square feet, plus four levels of parking with over 800 stalls.

Building Z's planning has been fairly quiet since the first design review in the summer of last year. Final permits and SEPA approval appear some distance away.

Between the two buildings, and a third that Facebook owns to the north, open-air skybridges are also planned.

Building X is the third local project from Gehry Partners, which is based in Southern California. The second was Dexter Station, developed by Capstone Partners for Facebook. And the first was what was originally called the Experience Music Project, at Seattle Center, more recently rebranded as MoPOP (aka the Museum of Pop Culture).