The updated designs and plans 707 Terry Avenue in First Hill manage to break away from the cookie-cutter buildings in the area through the use of a façade that creates frayed appearance and, what Perkins+Will, the buildings’ architect, describes as a ‘creative tension’ that is fostered by the towers angling away from each other the higher into the sky they climb.
According to Curbed Seattle, each tower will be 33-stories tall and include around 440 apartments, 7,600 sf of commercial space, and 283 underground parking spaces (those totals vary and are not set in stone yet). The towers will be connected in two places: on the ground floor by a three-story podium and near the very top via a skywalk.
The proposed site for the residential towers is on land owned by the Frye Art Museum. Because of this, the museum will own a few of the apartments and some of the garage parking spots will be reserved for museum parking.
Theurbanist.org reports that each tower will be divided into three boxes containing about 10 floors. The unique-looking, frayed façade of the two buildings will be created through the use of metal, perforated shoji screens. These screens will act as sunscreens and be attached to a track system so residents can move and rearrange them as they see fit, meaning the façade will have a fluid, ever-changing nature about it. The screens will be able to cover windows or enclose entire balconies.
Secure bike storage and a full service restaurant with outdoor seating will also be included on the ground floor.
Rendering courtesy of Perkins+Will.
Rendering courtesy of Perkins+Will.
Related Stories
| Sep 5, 2014
First Look: Zaha Hadid's Grace on Coronation towers in Australia
Zaha Hadid's latest project in Australia is a complex of three, tapered residential high-rises that have expansive grounds to provide the surrounding community unobstructed views and access to the town's waterfront.
| Sep 2, 2014
Extreme conversion: 17-story industrial silo to be converted to high-rise housing
As part of Copenhagen's effort to turn an industrial seaport into a bustling neighborhood, Danish architecture firm COBE was invited to convert a grain silo into a residential tower.
| Sep 2, 2014
Melbourne's tallest residential tower will have 'optically transformative façade'
Plans for Melbourne's tallest residential tower have been released by Elenberg Fraser Architects. Using an optically transformative façade and botanical aesthetic, the project seeks to change the landscape of Australia's Victoria state.
| Aug 28, 2014
Stantec releases design for Edmonton's tallest tower
At 227 meters, Stantec Tower will be the tallest building in the city, dwarfing the two next-tallest: Epcor Tower and Manulife Tower.
| Aug 25, 2014
Tall wood buildings: Surveying the early innovators
Timber has been largely abandoned as a structural solution in taller buildings during the last century, in favor of concrete and steel. Perkins+Will's Rebecca Holt writes about the firm's work in surveying the burgeoning tall wood buildings sector.
| Aug 25, 2014
'Vanity space' makes up large percentage of world's tallest buildings [infographic]
Large portions of some skyscrapers are useless space used to artificially enhance their height, according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.
| Aug 25, 2014
Photographer creates time-lapse video of 1 WTC using 30,000 photos
Choosing from 30,000 photos he took from the day construction began in 2006 to the day when construction was finished in 2012, Brooklyn-based photographer Benjamin Rosamund compressed 1,100 photos to create the two-minute video.
| Aug 19, 2014
Goettsch Partners unveils design for mega mixed-use development in Shenzhen [slideshow]
The overall design concept is of a complex of textured buildings that would differentiate from the surrounding blue-glass buildings of Shenzhen.
| Aug 15, 2014
First look: RMJM’s 'jumping fish' tower design for the Chinese Riviera
The tower's fish-jumping gesture is meant to symbolize the prosperity and rapid transformation of Zhuhai, China.
| Aug 12, 2014
Shading prototype could allow new levels of environmental control for skyscraper occupants
Developed by architects at NBBJ, Sunbreak uses a unique three-hinged shade that morphs from an opaque shutter to an abstract set of vertical blinds to an awning, depending on what is needed.
