Project Description
Watershed is an agent of change. The third building to meet Seattle’s Living Building Pilot program requirements, its integrated design raises the bar for the next generation of office design in the Pacific Northwest and beyond.
Located in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood, this regenerative seven-story commercial office and retail building was developed by The Hess Callahan Grey Group and Spear Street Capital and designed by Weber Thompson. It celebrates a story of community water conservation, reclamation, and treatment through the design of the building and its public outdoor spaces.
Verdant bioswales stepping down a hillside, a large cantilevered shed roof, a reactive glass facade perched over an engaging streetscape – these design decisions provide the framework for a regenerative office project making an impact on the neighborhood and region.
The bioswales filter polluted stormwater from the adjacent streets and the historic Aurora Bridge overhead while providing a green respite from the urban surroundings. 400,000 gallons of highly polluted runoff is cleaned each year before it runs into Lake Union. The story of water collection, evaporation, filtration, and conservation engages and educates the neighborhood through interactive art pieces discovered throughout the site.
The dramatic shed roof captures and directs 200,000 gallons of rainwater annually to cascading steel channels that funnel the rainwater down a sculptural waterfall to a subgrade cistern for reuse in the building and landscape.
To reinforce the connection to the water cycle, the exterior lobby is open to the sky; rainwater falls into the space next to the open feature stair, connecting us more immediately to the weather. On the wall, the poignant quote from Benjamin Franklin serves as a reminder: “When the well is dry, we know the worth of water.”
Construction materials were vetted to avoid toxic chemicals, encourage manufacturer transparency, reduce embodied carbon, and support the regional economy through local sourcing.
With an Energy Use Intensity measured at 29 kBtu/sf/year, Living Buildings like Watershed prove that high-performance architecture does not need to be extravagant or expensive. The impact of this market-rate building goes far beyond its occupants; it shows how new construction can reach beyond its site and contribute to a community and its ecosystem’s environmental health.