Archinect - News

The 11 most threatened modern sites across the U.S.

2022-04-29T15:44:00-04:00

In response to the recent surprise demolition of Marcel Breuer’s Geller I house on Long Island, modernist conservation group Docomomo US has released its first-ever list of the 11 most threatened modern sites in the United States.

Working on the advice of its chapter members, the group selected 11 sites across the country in danger of seeing the same fate as Breuer’s first post-war residential project beginning with Miami’s Marine Stadium, which is still currently awaiting word on a publicly-funded restoration effort.

Washington state was a popular location, with Space Needle architect John Graham Jr.’s Lloyd Center and the Weyerhaeuser International Headquarters both making the list.

Massachusetts is also well-represented with the “Long House” prototype cotta...

Weyerhaeuser Campus: criticism is mounting against planned development of historic HQ

2021-02-10T16:54:00-05:00

Controversy over the former Weyerhaeuser campus in Federal Way continues, as those interested in preserving the historical site urge for “responsible” development while the owners hold firm to current development designs. The site [...] was purchased by Industrial Realty Group in 2016 for $70 million. [...] the nonprofit Save Weyerhaeuser Campus organization has advocated for environmental and historical preservation of the campus.

Completed in 1972, the Weyerhaeuser Company's iconic former corporate campus in Federal Way, WA was designed by landscape architect Peter Walker, founding principal of Sasaki, Walker and Associates (SWA) and PWP Landscape Architecture, and Edward Charles Bassett, partner at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM).

Photo: Joe Mabel/Wikimedia Commons

The Cultural Landscape Foundation has been advocating against the planned redevelopment, collecting letters of support from noteworthy institutions, landscape architects, architects, historians, scholars, and members of the public. A microsite was launched in support of the campaign.

A horizontal structure with a front door

2016-12-05T23:45:00-05:00

Replacing a parking lot in Pioneer Square, a designated historic district, required the developer to clear many hurdles. The design went through several versions before it won the approval of city officials, who vetted materials, signage and even color choices. In one concession, the sides of the Weyerhaeuser building were made of hand-laid brick, to help the structure blend with its neighbors.

Morris Newman covers the new headquarters of Weyerhaeuser, designed by Mithun, on Seattle's Pioneer Square.

At-Risk: the Weyerhaeuser Corporate Headquarters

2016-11-01T23:45:00-04:00

However, the open-ended zoning agreement the city and Weyerhaeuser Company signed 22 years ago allows new development to be governed by codes from that era, which would permit up to 70 percent of the campus to be covered with impervious surfaces and gives a city department director the power to determine what unlisted uses can be allowed.

Weyerhaeuser Corporate Headquarters, Federal Way, WA - Photo courtesy of SWA

ICYMI, last month TCLF announced their latest Landslide: for a Northwestern Modernist Gem. The concern? Weyerhaeuser Corporate Headquarters designed by Sasaki, Walker & Associates, sold earlier this year, to Industrial Realty Group (IRG) for $70.5 million.