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With an economy boosted by the tech industry, Seattle has been in the midst of an important building boom for the last ten years. As a result, several highrise office and residential towers are gradually adding a new density to the city's central neighbourhoods, while transforming its iconic skyline. Across the street from Seattle's tallest edifice, the 287-metre Columbia Center, Daniels Real Estate is developing a 201-metre mixed-used building known as The Mark on a site partially occupied by the former First Methodist Episcopal Church.
At 43 storeys above the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Columbia Street, the building's geometric architectural shape is characterized by an exterior seismic bracing wrapped in a blue-tinted curtain wall. While this engineering technique provides the tower with more resistance in the event of an earthquake, it also allows for column-free floor plates and large unobstructed 4-metre floor-to-ceiling interior spaces, with 2.9-metre-high windows. Designed by ZGF Architects LLP, The Mark will include a number of environmentally friendly features such as a photovoltaic glass crown and a green wall at its base, which should result in a LEED Gold Certification.
The first 14 floors of the edifice will be occupied by a 184-room SLS Hotel with interiors decorated by French designer Philippe Starck. It will include 2,800 square metres of dining and entertainment venues, as well as 1,800 square metres of conference and event spaces. Finally, close to 50,000 square metres of office space will take up the remaining upper floors of this $400 million project, which includes the rehabilitation of the Daniels Concert Hall next door.
