‘Working Mom’ at the Laboratory Construction Tour
Topics Covered: Building Processes, Laboratory, Lumber Yards, Architectural Design, Seattle Properties
There are always new properties going up in Seattle. This is an interesting one, because it’s right along the water, across the waterway from the city, but nestled at the foot of a gorgeous railway that goes on for miles and miles in the area. This building is eco friendly and architecturally cool. The tour gave some insights on how modern buildings are built super fast, but I didn’t have too many notes (since I was with my daughter and the tour wasn’t too long)
Why Attend: An event that seemed mysteriously interesting. A new commercial space open to the public and offering a one hour tour. Though a few three-letter establishments were associated with this event, the description said it was open to those who wanted to attend the tour, so I signed up. The location is fantastic on a map and it’s always interesting to learn about buildings, so, I’m interested to learn!
Overall Event Ratings: Venue 5/5, Food 0/5, Speaker Content: 3/5, Networking: 2/5, Likeliness to Return: 2/5… (more below)
Photo Collage & Commentary:
Notes from Event
Arrival:
Arriving here is fantastic, cause you travel/walk along this amazing trailway that cuts effortlessly through the entire Northside of the city for miles and miles. You feel privileged to be there.
Buy my body language upon arrival was so hilarious. Those people were more than right to be confused if I was supposed to be there or not (or just some stray mom joining a group hahaha), and I had no idea what I stumbled upon.
At first, when I got there, I literally showed up, saw a huge crowd entering (as pictured above)… then I literally considered not to go, so I kinda walked away, but then turned back around and joined them. So it was like, I literally walked up from the street and then looked like I joined out of nowhere: with my daughter sleeping in the stroller!!! hahhaa
But I paid $20 for this tour, so it got me the courage at the last minute to join/commit even with the vibe feeling a little ‘off’.
I just had this feeling like so many peopel were looking at me like… “do I know her?” but also to polite to ask.
Later… in the elevator (cause I had to be escouted a special way cause our stroller) she asked dmy association to some 3 letter association, but I said i’m not associated, just make content about innovation in the city).
I saw this event online and thought it looked interesting… it was open to the public!! But idk what exactly this group was hahahah. So, idk - did they all know each other? Then just I pull up with my daughter? I think so hahahahah.
But not everyone knew each other, too. I picked up on that. So, maybe I didn’t stand out THAT much. It was hard to say.
But everyone there knew about water treatment it seemed. 😂
Notes from the Tour
Been working on this for 50 years. Local development group wanted to make something sustainable giving to community and gives back.
Has to be wood/lumber. Mass timber and one of the first of its size. Also they started in 2019. A lot of 2020 decisions and health and wellness. An environment for people to come back to.
Beyond the wood and amazing story, there are public and private partnerships. Connecting the Burke Gilman and a gateway element to bring people onto the property. And then a regional store water facility at the other side.
They hope it can be more of the methodology for developing property in Seattle.
Right off Seattles ‘locomotive highway’ the Burke Gilman. This will be publicallt accesed to the north lake. It brings people from the community into the property. They made it welcoming.
They want it to have a very forest feel and a sun garden and many layers. Lots of trsndparencg on the first floor then you can see the understory and many sightlines.
Lots of labs office and restaurants above. But below is an active lumber warehouse. We want it to be transparent and celebrate the activity.
Health and wellness are the center of this project. When you go to work you want a healthy environment. It’s all scientifically measured to show it’ll do it for you.
We are excited to have tenants fill it up and show the benefits. Also a reduction in metals. The timber is reducing lateral systems. Throughout the design process looking to reduce the carbon footprint.
All timber was from the British Columbia. All of the cuts were done in manufacturing facilities. About 10 field cuts per floor, the rest cut ahead of time.
No connection with screws from the beams to the columns. They’re all locked in tight.
Structurally efficient design.
Concrete has the worst tolerance. Steel is a bit better. Timber is the tightest.
These buildings go up fast. They come in on a truck with a QR code and we scan it and put it into place. It was up in just a few months. We started in the winter.
But you do need to make it water proof with a sealing and a white wash. These are basically legos.
They come in like panels craned in one at a time. They all come with a QR code. It’s like Lincoln logs. They placed 10 panels (8*10) in 8 minutes.
It took a while to build up to this opportunity. We want to collect storm water. Then five years in researchers discovered a chemical that was killing all the salmon. And it turns out the water behind us is 6 bridges where salmon swim under to get to lake Washington. All the fish migrate back and forth. Then go back out to sea in rainy season. So all the juvenile salmon are being exposed to chemicals. Then we saw an opportunity to clean the wate.
They did a partnership to help developers boost what was possible. Originally they wanted to collect water and use it to flush toilets but they would have no roof access if that was the case. They wanted roof access available.
Gov worker who does clean work with bridges. Here to help with this project. They want to help fix things.
He jokes: I’m from the government, I’m here to help.
They help with runoffs and lots of small projects. Lots of things to help and always inspired to work with the utilities and provide funding to make more craziness happen.
“We (in the government) like giving money to people who want to do projects like this.” Take the water and what they have, make them bigger, then we pay them the difference. So the water surrounding here is productive in the biosphere below us.
We’re from the government and we’re here to help. We want to inspire others to take our money. We may not have enough money to fix it. The county doesn’t. No one really does. But you all can do this with our money. You know what to do with it.
The trick is having the vision ahead of time. Everyone wants to buy in on a project that helps the community. That’s how you work with the gov.
They never had a situation in the city where someone asked to take water and put it on private property.
They made the columns shape match the shape of the building so when the shadow hits, it has a visual effect of being more thin and taking up less space.
They copied bark with the idea of the outside
Overall Event Reviews:
Venue: 5/5
Allow me to Elaborate: This place was really cool and I’m excited to see it build out in the future. It is really majestic to walk up to, as well. It’s also neat how it’s a hybrid of many ecosystems and industries all at once.
Food: 0/5
Room for Improvement: This event was not free and they didn’t even provide water. Not that expected (though they kept joking it was Water Week, so i’ll throw that joke in there, even though I don’t get it hahaha).
Speaker Content: 3/5
Room for Improvement: I felt like I didn’t ever figure out what was this venue for. What was going on at each level? It was like a 3-4 level building… with decks and stuff. Will they host parties there? hahah . Events? Restaurants (they said that), but what is the plan? Labs? Water labs? Why is a water group here?
Networking: 2/5
Room for Improvement: I didn’t get the vibe that anyone wanted to talk to me, I didn’t want to talk to anyone, I just wanted to learn. If someone wants to chat, I’m happy to… but mostly at this event, I was preferring to just listen and learn for now. They made no efforts for anyone to talk or meet, too - though the peopel who were there from the city, etc, did a good job introducing themselves to everyone. So I felt everyone was approachable if you wanted to talk to them.
Likeliness to Return: 2/5
Room for Improvement: Well, I love touring buildings and learning about design, construction, stages in processes - haha! So, I’d love to go to someting like this again, just wanna make sure it’s something that’s cool for random peopel to go to - which this one 9/10 seems to be, or 8/10 seemed to be.
Until next time, I wish you the motivation and success to search for opportunities around your area. Search and explore: Who is out there giving talks? There are new things happening all of the time.
Find relatable or interesting topics you like and check them out! Maybe even something hosted at a cool venue, if there’s no other reason to go. Let’s see what you can learn and discover not too far from home. 😊
