Responding to the recent up-zoning and anticipating future development of the U-District as a startup hub, this project will redevelop the corner of NE 50th St and 12th Ave NE. A new eight-story building will contain 47 carefully crafted high-end apartments over an incubator commercial space designed to serve young professionals and entrepreneurs.

The building mass articulates a simple, floating cuboid form above a highly transparent street-level. That transparency and setback continues vertically along the north property line, acting as a “gasket” to the townhouses and residential zoning to the north. The simple diagram provides an opportunity to express an elegant, well-detailed, and innovative building construction.

The building is designed with prefabrication in mind. The floors and circulation core will be constructed of cross laminated timber panels, the demising walls will be panelized, and the metal cladding system will be shop fabricated. This strategy  condenses the construction schedule and provides unique material and finishing opportunities. The CLT panels double as exposed wood ceilings in the units, and the metal cladding is carefully patterned and perforated to hide unit exhaust and give texture to the building. Estimated completion is 2022.