On my recent visit to Seattle I couldn’t help but notice  the vertical texture on several of the new skyscrapers, including Amazon’s Doppler Tower. I’d walked out the door of the Westin Hotel looking for a bite to eat, and was completely wowed by what I saw. There’s been so much construction in Seattle since my last visit some five years ago.

What I loved about Amazons Doppler Tower is how the vertical metal bands were mounted perpendicular to the building, shimmering in the light as you walked by. Therefore, the colors changed as you moved past the building like iridescent fish scales. There was an ebb and flow to the tonality of building, looking more red at the top, and yellow orange towards the bottom. I’ve done a ton of research on this tower and can find no reference to the textural surface employed by architectural firm NBBJ. Opened in December of 2015, the three block campus is on track to receive LEED Gold certification (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design).  One of the unseen design concepts that makes this building so efficient is their use of waste heat from nearby data centers at the Westin Hotel.  The system transfers  heat via water piped underground to the Amazon campus, thus heating the buildings. The cooled water is then piped back to the Westin. Oh, and did I mention that have a dog park on top of one of the towers… they do.

Olive 8, a mixed-use building that includes both condos and a Hyatt Hotel, opened in 2009 and was designed to reach LEED Silver certification.  While it’s known as Seattle’s greenest luxury hotel, I love it for those deep blue glass fins lining the buildings exterior. When Seattle is at its grayest, a little reflected blue light can’t be a bad thing.

Premiere on Pine is also Leed Silver certified and boasts 40 stories of downtown luxury living. Built by Weber Thompson it features an exterior design palette that is a tad more traditional with tones of  earthy rust, gray and bronze, designed to compliment the vintage masonry of of the adjacent 1929 Paramount Theater.

I’m so looking forward to my next visit to Seattle. By then Amazon’s Tower II should be complete, and by 2017 their three sphere bio-domes will be the talk of the town. Amazon’s new corporate headquarters are making quite the splash in the Emerald City.

Premier on Pine

Olive 8 Condos 

Olive 8 Hyatt

Its been open for 12 years and the Seattle Public Library still thrills. Designed by Rem Koolhaas and Joshua Prince-Ramus of the Dutch firm OMA/LMN,  this public space attracts nearly 2 million people annually.

Initially the 11 story structure was hailed as ‘the most important new library to be built in generations, and the most exhilarating‘ as declared by The New Yorker, and it received the 2005 national AIA Honor Award for Architecture. More recently Lawrence Cheek, architecture critic for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, revisited the library in 2007 and changed his previous high praise for the building calling it ‘profoundly dreary and depressing, cheaply finished or dysfunctional, relentlessly monotonous, badly designed and cheesily detailed‘.  Wow. I find this building to be a refreshing blast of color in a town that can be remarkably drab and dreary, rivaled only by the Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum at the foot of the Seattle Space Needle. Having lived in Seattle for over a decade, I know how truly depressing those gray skies can be and how devoid of color the Seattle landscape can be during the winter.  This public space is exactly what Seattle needs, and continues to be a vital resource for the community, especially the increasing homeless population.

One of my favorite features of this building is the translucent metal and glass skin that allows for views of the puget sound and surrounding  buildings. The use of perforated metal within the glass panels act as reflecting agents, reducing the damaging effects of the sun on the interior, while also preventing the building from overheating and becoming a glass terrarium. I also love the bold use of color which makes me think of childhood books and the basic building blocks of learning. And that red hallway! Have you ever seen anything like it? It’s like traveling through an Aorta to the heart of the building.

In 2001 Rem Koolhaas submitted stunning plans to LACMA during their competition to find an architect to ‘re-invision’ the museums discordant sprawling buildings.  At the time, it was to sophisticated for my taste, and I felt like the demolition of all the  existing buildings was a  waste of natural resources, not to mention money,  which I felt could be better spent on arts programs. Now, with their looming choice for a big black blob meant to emulate the La Brea Tarpits meandering over Wilshire boulevard, I’d give anything to have Koolhass reconsidered. Why on earth would LA want a massive black structure to absorb more heat, as global warming heats up our environment. We’re already experiencing 90 degree weather in February! It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see what a disaster that would be.

My opinions aside, the next time you visit Seattle, be sure to add the Seattle Public Library to your ‘to do’ list, and decide for yourself: dreary and depressing, or fireworks for your pupils?

Hours and Info here.