Collaborative Delivery
Insights 12.04.2024
Seismic Upgrades: Building Resilience for Safer Schools
Noah Martin
Senior Project Manager
As technology companies continue flocking to Seattle to capitalize on the abundance of talent, the modern workplace continues to evolve with them. To stay competitive in this market, property owners are faced with myriad decisions to help their building keep pace with new developments. This process of evaluating a building’s ambiance, convenience and comfort, and transforming it into a flexible, adaptable, and amenity-rich working environment, goes beyond updating paint and furniture. It is a complete renewal.
At the same time, like any makeover, it is important to preserve the original, timeless elements and characteristics that make the spaces what [or who] they are. It is a challenge that GLY and NBBJ embraced recently on Seattle’s Two Union Square. After two years of construction, owner Washington Holdings proudly revealed the final showpieces of the renovation, a 9,000 square foot parabolic wood beam ceiling and a 6,500 square foot 3D stone wall. Despite the dramatic change you see in the before and after photos below, the new space retains its mantle as a quintessentially Northwest building, just like it did in the 1980s.
Once word got out about the modernization, news and awards popped up at a steady pace. We invite you to learn more about this technically challenging project by exploring the links below.
award: 2019 NWCB Outstanding Project, Suspended Ceiling/Commerical
award: 2019 AIA Honor Awards Submissions Gallery
award: 2019 NAIOP Night of the Stars Nominations Gallery
press: PSBJ: Geology + Nature Inspire New ‘Great Wall’ in Seattle Tower Lobby
video: Washington Holdings CEO Craig Wrench – Two Union Goals + Concepts
video: Expression of Gratitude: NBBJ
Before
After [Photo: © KEVIN SCOTT – All Rights Reserved]
Before
After [Photo: © Sean Airhart/NBBJ]
Before
After [Photo: © Sean Airhart/NBBJ]
Before
After [Photo: © Sean Airhart/NBBJ]
Before
After [Photo: © KEVIN SCOTT - All Rights Reserved]
Marketing Manager
CPSM
Janine feels at home in the world of marketing since it combines her passion for art, writing and graphic design with her natural ability to organize, strategize, and analyze. While she enjoys her day-to-day responsibilities, facing new challenges, and the many opportunities to apply her creativity, her favorite part about her job isn’t even marketing-related; she loves working with people and getting to know everyone in the company top-down—from estimating to IT to the hundreds of hard-working craftspeople out in the field.