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Photograph © Wayne Lorentz
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Built:
1998- 2000
Cost: $30,000,00
Designed by: NBBJ
Type: Office Building
Stories: 11
Location: 505 Fifth Avenue South
City: Seattle
State: Washington
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T
here were a lot of stars in the rehabilitation of Seattle's Union Station. There was the Kingdome, which ended up a pile of rubble. There was the new stadium which took it place. And of course, there was the station, itself, which has been updated to handle modern modes of movement, while preserving its historical charm. But there were a number of other buildings that came with this massive project that were overlooked. The one that caught our eye was 505 Union Station. Let us first be so gauche as to say that we find it très European, even though it borders on the city's International District, which is primarily focused on Asia. The green glass curtain walls seem separated from the building itself, as if they were a cocoon protecting the larval office workers germinating inside. It hangs over Fourth Avenue in a way that is most likely unsettling to drunk drivers and those not paying enough attention to the road. It's a great green avalanche waiting to happen on one side, and a waterfall of algae frozen in time on another.
>There is more than just the "Union Station" name tying 505 to its sister buildings in the same complex. There is also the matter of a giant rubber band. It runs under the buildings, is indeed made of rubber, and holds everything together in case of an earthquake.
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