Overall Best Project

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Photo by ZGF Architects

King Street Station

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With a dual mission to restore King Street Station to its 1906 grandeur while adding modern structural and sustainable upgrades, the project team behind this $55-million renovation and modernization project delivered a transportation hub to Seattle that respects the city's history and reflects its modern sensibilities.

A landmark on the National Register of Historic Places, the team restored the original character of the multimodal train station, including the rehabilitation of the iconic 12-story clock tower as well as the repair and restoration of the main waiting room. Work within the waiting room included restoration of the original 45-ft-high ornamental plaster ceilings and halls, the terrazzo floors inlaid with mosaic tile and the historic operable windows.

In addition to the historic elements, the Seattle-based team, led by architectural firm ZGF Architects and general contractor Sellen Construction, installed seismic upgrades and met LEED-Platinum standards. "We took this historic structure and made it an outstanding sustainable building," says Tim Williams, associate partner and King Street Station project architect at ZGF. "A city that touts itself as being green now has a portal into the city that's a leader in sustainability."

As part of its green strategy, the team installed a geothermal well field and heat pumps, making it one of the first projects in downtown Seattle to do so. The geothermal system also allowed for a reduction in the size of the building's heating and cooling system. The wells allow the building to perform 40% above ASHRAE baseline.

While installing new utilities and the geothermal wells during the first phase of the project, the team came across granite boulders from an adjacent building's old foundation. The foundation granite was a perfect match for the exterior granite originally used in the walls, much of which was removed during previous modernizations. Utilizing the same means and methods used to create the original granite blocks 100 years ago, the reclaimed granite boulders were cut and fabricated into new wall panels for the exterior finishes.

In addition to restoring the building's windows, the team took the opportunity to incorporate them into its sustainability strategy. All of the sashes and trims from the original 1906 windows were removed, refinished and reinstalled using the remaining original glass. The team restored 74 window openings and 199 sashes and replicated 15 window openings and 33 sashes.

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Overall Best Project