Northlake Commons is a mass timber warehouse life sciences lab-ready commercial office building in Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood. The project team was inspired by the site’s pre-industrial history as an old growth forest on the shores of Lake Union, and its long-standing history as a lumber yard utilizing the railroad that is now the Burke-Gilman Trail. 

Northlake Commons Architecture
The design of Northlake Commons draws inspiration from the experience of being deep within the woods of the Pacific Northwest. Here, one finds the distinct layers of a forest – the forest floor, the understory and the canopy – conceptually represented through built form.

Health and wellness
With more than 60,000SF of outdoor terrace and deck space, Northlake Commons recognizes the human desire for a connection to nature. The biophilic design concept of being in a forest is expressed at every scale of design from massing to details. The windows and outdoor spaces orient views toward Lake Union and downtown, and operable windows throughout provide ample fresh air and thermal control to the building occupants.

Lab-ready office expressed in mass timber
The building embodies the character of a high performance lab-ready office building, while celebrating the timber history of the original Dunn family business located on this street from 1931 to today. The primary structural system is cross-laminated timber (CLT), glu-laminated columns and girders. Steel Buckling-Restrained Braced Frames are a key component of the lateral system, and are expressed in contrast to the timber structure.

Embracing design technology
The use of 3D printers and crafted virtual reality experiences has allowed the team to quickly explore design options and evaluate how they best fulfill the project goals. To be able to view the printed models as an external perspective while being able to transport inside for internal VR experiences creates a holistic image of what the architecture is to become.