In collaboration with Amazon, Graphite Design Group designed Mary’s Place Family Center, a nonprofit supporting families experiencing homelessness. The center provides emergency housing and services to families inside the downtown Seattle Amazon office building.
The unusual location for services of this kind serves over 300 people per day. Mary's Place spreads across eight of the office's floors—all designed by Graphite—testing the status quo for its experimental approach to homelessness support.
Emergency Housing for Seattle Families
Each floor provides various services and amenities for the sheltered:
- Level P1: Parking, Storage, Facilities Workshop
- Level G: Loading Dock and Staging, Storage, Dogwash
- Level 1: Lobby, Multipurpose Room, Conference Room
- Level 2: Diversion Sleep Floor
- Level 3: Standard Sleep Floor
- Level 4: Popsicle Place
- Level 5: Popsicle Place
- Level 6: Welcome and Intake, Heat Treat, Staff Area, Marketplace
- Level 7: Dining Room, Full Kitchen, Play Area, Interfaith Prayer Room
- Level 8: Rec Room, Terrace, Laundry, Games, Large Conference Room
While designing the center, Graphite invited Mary's Place staff to contribute ideas to best support guests. The group brainstormed words, images, and scenarios that eventually helped craft the space into a community-serving shelter.
Mary’s Place Family Center was also recognized at the AIA Seattle Honor Awards and the Council for Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat Awards for its novel approach to urban development. Graphite believes the project acts as a model for how other cities can activate underutilized space to answer larger urban housing challenges while balancing growth and social equity.
On the Building Team:
Owner: Amazon, Global Real Estate and Facilities team and Mary's Place
Developer: Seneca Group
Architect: Graphite Design Group
Structural/Civil Engineer: Coughlin Porter Lundeen
Electrical/Acoustic Engineer: Stantec
Mechanical/Energy Design: WSP
GC: GLY Construction
Related Stories
Giants 400 | Dec 1, 2022
Top 75 Office Building Core+Shell Engineering + EA Firms for 2022
Jacobs, Alfa Tech, Burns & McDonnell, and Arup head the ranking of the nation's largest office building core+shell engineering and engineering/architecture (EA) firms for 2022, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Dec 1, 2022
Top 150 Office Building Core+Shell Architecture + AE Firms for 2022
Gensler, NBBJ, Perkins and Will, and Stantec top the ranking of the nation's largest office building core+shell architecture and architecture/engineering (AE) firms for 2022, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Multifamily Housing | Nov 29, 2022
Number of office-to-apartment conversion projects has jumped since start of pandemic
As remote work rose and demand for office space declined since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, developers have found converting some offices to residential use to be an attractive option. Apartment conversions rose 25% in the two years since the start of the pandemic, with 28,000 new units converted from other property types, according to a report from RentCafe.
Giants 400 | Nov 28, 2022
Top 130 Office Sector Contractors and CM Firms for 2022
Turner Construction, STO Building Group, Gilbane, and CBRE top the ranking of the nation's largest office sector contractors and construction management (CM) firms for 2022, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Nov 28, 2022
Top 85 Office Sector Engineering and EA Firms for 2022
Jacobs, Alfa Tech, AECOM, and Burns & McDonnell head the ranking of the nation's largest office sector engineering and engineering/architecture (EA) firms for 2022, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Nov 28, 2022
Top 200 Office Sector Architecture and AE Firms for 2022
Gensler, Perkins and Will, Stantec, and HOK top the ranking of the nation's largest office sector architecture and architecture/engineering (AE) firms for 2022, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Data Centers | Nov 28, 2022
Data centers are a hot market—don't waste the heat!
SmithGroup's Brian Rener shares a few ways to integrate data centers in mixed-use sites, utilizing waste heat to optimize the energy demands of the buildings.
BAS and Security | Oct 19, 2022
The biggest cybersecurity threats in commercial real estate, and how to mitigate them
Coleman Wolf, Senior Security Systems Consultant with global engineering firm ESD, outlines the top-three cybersecurity threats to commercial and institutional building owners and property managers, and offers advice on how to deter and defend against hackers.
Giants 400 | Oct 6, 2022
Top 60 Medical Office Building Contractors + CM Firms for 2022
PCL Construction, Adolfson & Peterson, Swinerton, and Skanska USA top the ranking of the nation's largest medical office building (MOB) contractors and construction management (CM) firms for 2022, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Oct 6, 2022
Top 50 Medical Office Building Engineering + EA Firms for 2022
Jacobs, Gresham Smith, KPFF Consulting Engineers, and IMEG Corp. head the ranking of the nation's largest medical office building (MOB) engineering and engineering/architecture (EA) firms for 2022, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
