WSDOT Northwest Regional Headquarters
At face value, Abbott Construction’s design-build project for the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) involved renovating its Northwest Regional Headquarters in Shoreline, WA to house over 600 WSDOT and Department of Ecology (WSDOE) employees. Although reorganizing and updating an occupied, six-story, 162,000sf building from the 1970s seemed like a hefty challenge, the project team still saw the project as an invigorating exercise in both creativity and excellence to save a grove of historic trees and improve the building’s efficiency while also uniting differing stakeholder needs.
Due to local legislation, this project needed an expanded sidewalk path for ADA pedestrian access which required the removal of dozens of old trees beloved by the community. After partnering with multiple local preservation groups and designing a new walkway, Abbott was able to save 94 mature trees and maintain the ecology that surrounded the building. Aside from keeping the local ecology undisturbed, the project team had to focus primarily on cleanliness and sustainability throughout the construction process. Under LEED 4.0, the team was challenged to bring the 1970s building into a sustainable modern era with electric, HVAC, and insulation improvements requiring meticulous collaboration between the client, designers, and subcontractors.
From start to end, the project team was able to accomplish their sustainability goals, creating a strong culture of safety as well. As for the project’s end result, the state of Washington now has a modern, more sustainable facility for both its Transportation and Ecology employees, and the Shoreline community can continue enjoying their local trees.
Architect
Ankrom Moisan Architects
Client
Washington State DOT
Location
Shoreline, WA
SF
162,000sf
Contract
Design-Build
Architect
Ankrom Moisan Architects, Inc.
Certification
LEED Silver
