Turner Northwest

Turner Northwest, the region’s largest general contractor retained the architects to design the renovation and expansion of their existing SODO-area offices. Turner wanted to maintain the open loft feel of the 1910-era building’s exposed heavy-timber structure, but update the twelve year-old design with fresh ecologically responsible materials. From a functional and organizational standpoint, Turner wanted to increase density and efficiency in open work areas and create more desirable common spaces to foster greater intra-firm communication. These goals along with LEED Gold Certification had to be accomplished and the project constructed while remaining fully operational and keeping to a moderate budget. By remaining in their current space and retaining many of the core elements from the original build-out, a new feel needed to be created while retaining the original context. This paradox placed particular emphasis on the use of new materials, which is a challenge when a primary project goal is to focus on sustainability. Nevertheless, a completely reorganized work environment and visual appearance was accomplished while retaining 40% of the existing interior elements as well as 49% of Turner’s existing furnishings. The design and construction team also took additional steps to meet LEED Gold standards. 98% of construction waste was diverted from landfills, water use was reduced by 38%, and lighting-power-density was decreased 19%. Additionally 42% of project materials were regionally manufactured, 15% were regionally extracted while Turner opted to purchase 50% of their electricity from renewable resources.