CENTER FOR ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN
LOCATION: Seattle, WA BUILDING / LOT SIZE: 4,100 SF PROJECT TYPE: Civic and Tenant Improvement
CENTER FOR ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN
The new Center for Architecture & Design (CfAD) is a civic and office space shared by four organizations: AIA Seattle, Design in Public, Seattle Architecture Foundation, and AIA Washington Council. Located in the historic National Building in downtown Seattle along Western Avenue, the CfAD brings together a community of people all interested in the discussion and promotion of design and architecture. Completed in January 2016, the creation of the 4,100 SF CfAD was driven by the four organizations overlap in members and audience and the desperate need for a shared space within the Seattle design community to host public lectures, events and exhibits. Along with sharing resources, the space provides the organizations with critical funding opportunities through hosting traveling national exhibits and large public events, offering sustainability and increasing public exposure. Catering to a wide range of users, the charge of the CfAD was to not only be a working center for architects and designer but be visible, approachable and inviting to the public as well. The program necessitated extreme flexibility of space to accommodate lectures for at least 40 people, exhibits requiring 200 lineal feet, multiple meeting rooms to be used simultaneously by the different organizations, areas for privacy and still be open and visible from the street – and all on an extremely tight budget. The most efficient way to achieve this was by creating a box with four moving walls that can be manipulated into different configurations to define a space for large meetings/lectures, an open space for gatherings and linear spaces for exhibits. Other programmatic elements include a reception desk, public lounge, resource library, small meeting room, kitchen with staff work area, an open office with eighteen staff desks, and storage. Our biggest opportunity wasn’t just the design, but to use our creative abilities to make this project a reality. With such a limited budget and so many stake holders, we assisted at all levels from initially securing the space, facilitating the design committee, fundraising, and construction administration. Some of the most gratifying parts of the process were finding materials, labor and trades that could be donated and working it into the design. It required an open mind and creativity that led to changing our preconceived ideas of what a Design Center should be. Through the collaborative process and numerous design iterations the CfAD evolved into a working center promoting design and not simply, of design.
HOW CAN YOU CREATE A "CENTER" FOR 4 ORGANIZATIONS, DESIGNERS & THE PUBLIC WITH LIMITED $$$ BUT UNLIMTED RESOURCES? CfAD SITE MAP WITH EXISTING LOCATIONS
... WITH THE DESIGN COMMUNITY'S EXPERTISE, SUPPORT, TIME & DONATIONS
COMMITTeES SUBcONTRACTORS
ARCHItECT DOnORS
CARPENTErS CONSTRUCTION MANAGeMENT A CENTER FOR THE PEOPLE BY THE PEOPLE
10
9
11
8
7
6 2
5
WESTERN AVENUE
3
12
11 1 3
3
4
3
BUILDING INDOOR LOBBY
1 Entry
3 Exhibit + Gallery
5 Resource Library
7 Display Space
9 Phone Room
11 Kitchen
2 Reception
4 Large Meeting
6 Reading Area
8 Small Meeting
10 Storage + Coats
12 Open Office
0
4’
8’
16’
FLOOR PLAN
GALLERY LOOKING TOWARDS WESTERN AVE ENTRY
1
WESTERN AVEUE
1
Public Space / Gallery + Exhibit Private Space / Admin + Office 200 Lineal Feet / Exhibit Walls Gallery Guest's Path of Travel
VARIOUS EXHIBIT WALL CONFIGURATIONS
PROGRAMATIC ZONES & EXHIBIT WALLS
Exhibit/Public Space: Closed
Lecture Classroom
Exhibit/Public Space: Open
Large Meeting Room
FLEXIBLE CENTRAL SPACE & MOVING EXHIBIT WALLS
LARGE MEETING ROOM / GALLERY
DISPLAY SPACE, RECEPTION & GALLERY
SMALL MEETING ROOM
KITCHEN & WORK TABLE
OPEN OFFICE & WORK STATIONS
Public entry at 1010 Western Avenue
Meeting room pivoting steel door
Public indoor lobby wrapping around CfAD
Wood columns & homasote panels
Custom wood desks
View into open office and beyond to gallery/ehibit space
Datum line detail of blackened steel & sheetrock
MATERIALS, DETAILS & CONNECTIONS
CfAD OPENING & PUBLIC CELEBRATION
CENTER FOR ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN
The new Center for Architecture & Design (CfAD) is a civic and office space shared by four organizations: AIA Seattle, Design in Public, Seattle Architecture Foundation, and AIA Washington Council. Located in the historic National Building in downtown Seattle along Western Avenue, the CfAD brings together a community of people all interested in the discussion and promotion of design and architecture. Completed in January 2016, the creation of the 4,100 SF CfAD was driven by the four organizations overlap in members and audience and the desperate need for a shared space within the Seattle design community to host public lectures, events and exhibits. Along with sharing resources, the space provides the organizations with critical funding opportunities through hosting traveling national exhibits and large public events, offering sustainability and increasing public exposure. Catering to a wide range of users, the charge of the CfAD was to not only be a working center for architects and designer but be visible, approachable and inviting to the public as well. The program necessitated extreme flexibility of space to accommodate lectures for at least 40 people, exhibits requiring 200 lineal feet, multiple meeting rooms to be used simultaneously by the different organizations, areas for privacy and still be open and visible from the street – and all on an extremely tight budget. The most efficient way to achieve this was by creating a box with four moving walls that can be manipulated into different configurations to define a space for large meetings/lectures, an open space for gatherings and linear spaces for exhibits. Other programmatic elements include a reception desk, public lounge, resource library, small meeting room, kitchen with staff work area, an open office with eighteen staff desks, and storage. Our biggest opportunity wasn’t just the design, but to use our creative abilities to make this project a reality. With such a limited budget and so many stake holders, we assisted at all levels from initially securing the space, facilitating the design committee, fundraising, and construction administration. Some of the most gratifying parts of the process were finding materials, labor and trades that could be donated and working it into the design. It required an open mind and creativity that led to changing our preconceived ideas of what a Design Center should be. Through the collaborative process and numerous design iterations the CfAD evolved into a working center promoting design and not simply, of design.
HOW CAN YOU CREATE A "CENTER" FOR 4 ORGANIZATIONS, DESIGNERS & THE PUBLIC WITH LIMITED $$$ BUT UNLIMTED RESOURCES? CfAD SITE MAP WITH EXISTING LOCATIONS
... WITH THE DESIGN COMMUNITY'S EXPERTISE, SUPPORT, TIME & DONATIONS
COMMITTeES SUBcONTRACTORS
ARCHItECT DOnORS
CARPENTErS CONSTRUCTION MANAGeMENT A CENTER FOR THE PEOPLE BY THE PEOPLE
10
9
11
8
7
6 2
5
WESTERN AVENUE
3
12
11 1 3
3
4
3
BUILDING INDOOR LOBBY
1 Entry
3 Exhibit + Gallery
5 Resource Library
7 Display Space
9 Phone Room
11 Kitchen
2 Reception
4 Large Meeting
6 Reading Area
8 Small Meeting
10 Storage + Coats
12 Open Office
0
4’
8’
16’
FLOOR PLAN
GALLERY LOOKING TOWARDS WESTERN AVE ENTRY
1
WESTERN AVEUE
1
Public Space / Gallery + Exhibit Private Space / Admin + Office 200 Lineal Feet / Exhibit Walls Gallery Guest's Path of Travel
VARIOUS EXHIBIT WALL CONFIGURATIONS
PROGRAMATIC ZONES & EXHIBIT WALLS
Exhibit/Public Space: Closed
Lecture Classroom
Exhibit/Public Space: Open
Large Meeting Room
FLEXIBLE CENTRAL SPACE & MOVING EXHIBIT WALLS
LARGE MEETING ROOM / GALLERY
DISPLAY SPACE, RECEPTION & GALLERY
SMALL MEETING ROOM
KITCHEN & WORK TABLE
OPEN OFFICE & WORK STATIONS
Public entry at 1010 Western Avenue
Meeting room pivoting steel door
Public indoor lobby wrapping around CfAD
Wood columns & homasote panels
Custom wood desks
View into open office and beyond to gallery/ehibit space
Datum line detail of blackened steel & sheetrock
MATERIALS, DETAILS & CONNECTIONS
CfAD OPENING & PUBLIC CELEBRATION
