Last month, the first substation built in Seattle in three decades opened between that city’s fast-growing South Lake Union area and Denny Triangle.
The Denny Substation officially debuted on July 20. It is the culmination of a three-year construction and multiyear planning and community engagement process between the facility’s designer, NBBJ, and Seattle City Lights, the city-owned electric utility.
The $210 million substation complex—which ran $100 million over its initial cost projections in 2005 due to rising construction costs and increases in the neighborhood's power needs in the ensuing years—covers more than 120,000 sf within a block and a half of real estate where a former Greyhound bus maintenance terminal once stood. The complex includes the 10,000-sf substation with slanted, stainless-steel walls that pick up color from sunlight and the sky. Translucent glass panels emit a soft glow when illuminated at night. Ambient light is strategically placed to brighten the building’s interior space.
Panels allow visitors to see into the facility, and highlights the centrality of energy in the neighborhood's vitality. Image: Benjamin Benschneider
Translucent and transparent walls, 35 feet high, allow visitors to view directly into the substation. This feature is meant to remind the public about the production and importance of energy and power in daily life. Indeed, what makes this project unique is how it has been designed to be friendly to users and the community at large.
ALSO SEE: Energizing the Neighborhood
There’s an ADA-compliant elevated diagonal walkway, one-quarter mile long, that wraps around the building. The west side of the site includes a 44,000-sf public green with an off-leash dog park and space for food trucks.
Part of the Community Meeting Space inside the Denny Substation. Image: Ryne Hill and NBBJ
Inside the substation are a 3,900-sf Community Meeting Space, and a 2,900-sf Energy Inspiration Space, with a pantry, offices, immersive theater, activity zone, and exhibition space. The substation has its own public art program that incorporates permanent artworks, temporary pieces, and ongoing cultural and artistic programming.
The Denny Substation, powered mostly by hydroelectric energy, is projected to be Net Positive, generating 105% of the energy needs and projected to achieve an Energy Use Intensity level of 15.5, on par with Seattle’s Bullitt Center, one of the country’s greenest office buildings. The substation is targeting Petal Certification from the Living Building Challenge.
An off-leash dog park is part of the public space within the substation's premises. Image: NBBJ
An interactive kiosk allows visitors to illuminate a post, thereby emphasizing the interaction between residents and power sources. Image: NBBJ
Related Stories
Performing Arts Centers | Oct 21, 2024
The New Jersey Performing Arts Center breaks ground on $336 million redevelopment of its 12-acre campus
In Newark, N.J., the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) has broken grown on the three-year, $336 million redevelopment of its 12-acre campus. The project will provide downtown Newark 350 mixed-income residential units, along with shops, restaurants, outdoor gathering spaces, and an education and community center with professional rehearsal spaces.
Performing Arts Centers | Oct 10, 2024
Studio Gang's performing arts center for Hudson Valley Shakespeare breaks ground
A new permanent home for Hudson Valley Shakespeare, a professional non-profit theater company, recently broke ground in Garrison, N.Y. The Samuel H. Scripps Theater Center includes a 14,850 sf performance venue that will serve as a permanent home for the theater company known for its sweeping open-air productions of classics and new works.
Museums | Oct 1, 2024
UT Dallas opens Morphosis-designed Crow Museum of Asian Art
In Richardson, Tex., the University of Texas at Dallas has opened a second location for the Crow Museum of Asian Art—the first of multiple buildings that will be part of a 12-acre cultural district. When completed, the arts and performance complex, called the Edith and Peter O’Donnell Jr. Athenaeum, will include two museums, a performance hall and music building, a grand plaza, and a dedicated parking structure on the Richardson campus.
Museums | Aug 29, 2024
Bjarke Ingels' Suzhou Museum of Contemporary Art conceived as village of 12 pavilions
The 60,000-sm Suzhou Museum of Contemporary Art in Suzhou, Jiangsu, China recently topped out. Designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), the museum is conceived as a village of 12 pavilions, offering a modern interpretation of the elements that have defined the city’s urbanism, architecture, and landscape for centuries.
Cultural Facilities | Aug 21, 2024
Baltimore’s National Aquarium opens 10,000-sf floating wetland that mimics the harbor’s original tidal marsh habitat
The National Aquarium in Baltimore has opened the National Aquarium Harbor Wetland, a 10,000-sf floating wetland that mimics the Inner Harbor’s original Chesapeake Bay tidal marsh habitat. Located between Piers 3 and 4 on Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, the $14 million project features more than 32,000 native shrubs and marsh grasses.
Museums | Aug 19, 2024
The Tampa Museum of Art will soon undergo a $110 million expansion
In Tampa, Fla., the Tampa Museum of Art will soon undergo a 77,904-sf Centennial Expansion project. The museum plans to reach its $110 million fundraising goal by late 2024 or early 2025 and then break ground. Designed by Weiss/Manfredi, and with construction manager The Beck Group, the expansion will redefine the museum’s surrounding site.
Smart Buildings | Jul 25, 2024
A Swiss startup devises an intelligent photovoltaic façade that tracks and moves with the sun
Zurich Soft Robotics says Solskin can reduce building energy consumption by up to 80% while producing up to 40% more electricity than comparable façade systems.
Adaptive Reuse | Jul 12, 2024
Detroit’s Michigan Central Station, centerpiece of innovation hub, opens
The recently opened Michigan Central Station in Detroit is the centerpiece of a 30-acre technology and cultural hub that will include development of urban transportation solutions. The six-year adaptive reuse project of the 640,000 sf historic station, created by the same architect as New York’s Grand Central Station, is the latest sign of a reinvigorating Detroit.
Museums | Jun 20, 2024
Connecticut’s Bruce Museum more than doubles its size with a 42,000-sf, three-floor addition
In Greenwich, Conn., the Bruce Museum, a multidisciplinary institution highlighting art, science, and history, has undergone a campus revitalization and expansion that more than doubles the museum’s size. Designed by EskewDumezRipple and built by Turner Construction, the project includes a 42,000-sf, three-floor addition as well as a comprehensive renovation of the 32,500-sf museum, which was originally built as a private home in the mid-19th century and expanded in the early 1990s.
Libraries | Jun 7, 2024
7 ways to change 'business as usual': The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library
One hundred forty years ago, Theodore Roosevelt had a vision that is being realized today. The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library is a cutting-edge example of what’s possible when all seven ambitions are pursued to the fullest from the beginning and integrated into the design at every phase and scale.
