PODCASTS > Arcat Detailed Podcast Episode
125: Architectural Feature | Vitus HQ
34m 40s |
In this episode, Cherise is joined by Jim Graham, Founding Partner at Graham Baba Architects with offices in Seattle and Bellingham Washington. They discuss Vitus, an adaptive reuse office and retail project located in the Belltown neighborhood of Seattle, Washington.
Vitus, a company dedicated to preserving and improving affordable housing, sought a new home that reflected its values. Instead of building new, they chose to reinvest in the past, acquiring a forgotten 1920s-era building in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood. This 25,000-square-foot heavy timber-and-masonry structure has since been transformed into a dynamic space that blends history with modern function.
Vitus, a company dedicated to preserving and improving affordable housing, sought a new home that reflected its values. Instead of building new, they chose to reinvest in the past, acquiring a forgotten 1920s-era building in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood. This 25,000-square-foot heavy timber-and-masonry structure has since been transformed into a dynamic space that blends history with modern function.
Click here for the extended length interview on YouTube
Jim is an award-winning architect with over 30-years of experience.
He brings relentless creativity to his work and excels at leading large collaborative teams through complex projects.
Jim seeks out-of-the-box solutions and has an exceptional ability to create comfort and belonging for a wide range of users within any environment.
His extensive portfolio of adaptive reuse projects spans multiple typologies, including numerous art galleries, breweries, offices, restaurants, and event spaces.
Vitus, a company focused on acquiring, improving, and preserving affordable housing nationwide, was in need of new office space. As an extension of their ethos of investing in communities, the company bought an overlooked 25,000-square-foot, 1920s-era building in the Belltown neighborhood of downtown Seattle.
The four-story, heavy timber-and-masonry structure has now been fully revitalized to house a set of retail and office tenants on the first and second floors and the company’s new office on the third floor as well as a new 3,000-square-foot penthouse which provides executive functions including conference spaces and amenity support. New roof terraces on both the east and west sides enabling penthouse amenities to seamlessly merge inside with outside environments.
General building updates focused on stripping back the interior to expose the honesty of the timber structure, while integrating niches and areas to showcase art from the owner’s collection. Design restraint was of utmost importance to provide clarity in the interior environment. One of the existing egress stairs was demolished to make room for a new elevator and a new primary feature stair. A broad, welcoming steel stair lives within a core of exposed board-formed concrete to celebrate and encourage taking the stairs. A custom, four-story, motion-activated light fixture runs from top to bottom through the center of the four-story stair. The fixture takes its inspiration from the 1967 Jacques Tati film Playtime, and the interior of the Citroën DS Presidentielle. The jewel-like cylinders of the fixture transform the passage to become a multi-sensory experience, with lights pulsing to life as guests travel past. The stairwell is topped by a large skylight, bringing natural daylight into the space which visually sculpts the space over the course of the day.
Vitus guests arrive at the third floor and are welcomed into a small lobby area with comfortable furnishings and art. The company’s offices are warm and inviting. Colors are muted and feature a mix of residential- and commercial-style furniture to create a sophisticated vibe that combines comfort with intimacy. Offices are spacious, and include mix of workstations, conference areas, and amenity areas. Casework throughout is multifunctional, serving as storage, display, as well as helping to organize the space into zones. The library bifurcates a large, open sitting area and provides a space for welcoming pause much like you would have in a home. Custom-designed lighting is integrated into the library table to provide a warm glow rather than typical harsh overhead lighting. Conference rooms, spread across the third floor and penthouse, vary from formal to informal (a formal board room is located at the penthouse level).
The penthouse captures a sophisticated residential feeling. Art is featured throughout the penthouse and third floor via a mix of settings, including display niches, situated within cabinetry, and on flat surfaces and walls. A custom-designed rug grounds the penthouse meeting space. Inspired by the feathers of a kingfisher, the colors and pattern add a subtle layer of biophilic playfulness to the design. Sheer window coverings help mitigate sun exposure, especially western sun. The penthouse is organized to function not only to provide meeting and conference areas for the office tenant, but also as a entertainment space for philanthropy events, parties, and for hosting out-of-town guests. A strong connection was retained from the west roof deck, through the penthouse, to the east roof deck. Large operable facades and sliding doors were set in place to maximum space usage and flow of circulation.
Vitus is an adaptive re-use project located in the Belltown neighborhood of Seattle, WA on 2nd Avenue. The three-story existing heavy timber and masonry structure was revitalized to house a new set of retail and office tenants at the first and second floors. The upper floors were custom built out to for the building owner which includes a new Penthouse structure at the roof level and new roof decks at both the east and west.
Photo Credit: Kevin Scott, Ross Eckert
Jim Graham, Founding Partner, Graham Baba Architects
Jim is an award-winning architect with over 30-years of experience.
He brings relentless creativity to his work and excels at leading large collaborative teams through complex projects.
Jim seeks out-of-the-box solutions and has an exceptional ability to create comfort and belonging for a wide range of users within any environment.
His extensive portfolio of adaptive reuse projects spans multiple typologies, including numerous art galleries, breweries, offices, restaurants, and event spaces.
Project Name and Location: The Vitus Headquarters in the Belltown Neighborhood of Seattle, Washington
Vitus, a company focused on acquiring, improving, and preserving affordable housing nationwide, was in need of new office space. As an extension of their ethos of investing in communities, the company bought an overlooked 25,000-square-foot, 1920s-era building in the Belltown neighborhood of downtown Seattle.
The four-story, heavy timber-and-masonry structure has now been fully revitalized to house a set of retail and office tenants on the first and second floors and the company’s new office on the third floor as well as a new 3,000-square-foot penthouse which provides executive functions including conference spaces and amenity support. New roof terraces on both the east and west sides enabling penthouse amenities to seamlessly merge inside with outside environments.
General building updates focused on stripping back the interior to expose the honesty of the timber structure, while integrating niches and areas to showcase art from the owner’s collection. Design restraint was of utmost importance to provide clarity in the interior environment. One of the existing egress stairs was demolished to make room for a new elevator and a new primary feature stair. A broad, welcoming steel stair lives within a core of exposed board-formed concrete to celebrate and encourage taking the stairs. A custom, four-story, motion-activated light fixture runs from top to bottom through the center of the four-story stair. The fixture takes its inspiration from the 1967 Jacques Tati film Playtime, and the interior of the Citroën DS Presidentielle. The jewel-like cylinders of the fixture transform the passage to become a multi-sensory experience, with lights pulsing to life as guests travel past. The stairwell is topped by a large skylight, bringing natural daylight into the space which visually sculpts the space over the course of the day.
Vitus guests arrive at the third floor and are welcomed into a small lobby area with comfortable furnishings and art. The company’s offices are warm and inviting. Colors are muted and feature a mix of residential- and commercial-style furniture to create a sophisticated vibe that combines comfort with intimacy. Offices are spacious, and include mix of workstations, conference areas, and amenity areas. Casework throughout is multifunctional, serving as storage, display, as well as helping to organize the space into zones. The library bifurcates a large, open sitting area and provides a space for welcoming pause much like you would have in a home. Custom-designed lighting is integrated into the library table to provide a warm glow rather than typical harsh overhead lighting. Conference rooms, spread across the third floor and penthouse, vary from formal to informal (a formal board room is located at the penthouse level).
The penthouse captures a sophisticated residential feeling. Art is featured throughout the penthouse and third floor via a mix of settings, including display niches, situated within cabinetry, and on flat surfaces and walls. A custom-designed rug grounds the penthouse meeting space. Inspired by the feathers of a kingfisher, the colors and pattern add a subtle layer of biophilic playfulness to the design. Sheer window coverings help mitigate sun exposure, especially western sun. The penthouse is organized to function not only to provide meeting and conference areas for the office tenant, but also as a entertainment space for philanthropy events, parties, and for hosting out-of-town guests. A strong connection was retained from the west roof deck, through the penthouse, to the east roof deck. Large operable facades and sliding doors were set in place to maximum space usage and flow of circulation.
Vitus is an adaptive re-use project located in the Belltown neighborhood of Seattle, WA on 2nd Avenue. The three-story existing heavy timber and masonry structure was revitalized to house a new set of retail and office tenants at the first and second floors. The upper floors were custom built out to for the building owner which includes a new Penthouse structure at the roof level and new roof decks at both the east and west.
Project Highlights:
Stair
- New board-formed concrete structural stair core integrated into existing timber structure
- 4-story custom blackened steel stair w white oak treads
- Custom responsive light fixture incorporated into stair construction
Structure
- Expressed and celebrated structural components
- Existing board-formed walls, heavy timber fir beams and columns, fir car decking were sandblasted and preserved to be exposed in final construction
- New structure was considered to complement existing components in both form and finish
Penthouse addition
- Intentional shift of material palette to accentuate the new level vs existing levels
- Clean lines with tactile materials including exposed steel, walnut casework, plush furnishings, ethereal lighting components and hand applied H4 - plaster
- Clarity of space through extensive glazing and large operable to open space to exterior
- Urban retreat (integrated planters, water views, street tree canopy, imminent space needle presence)
Art support
- Interiors of upper two floors were a support system for client’s art collection.
Project Team List:
Graham Baba Architects
- Jim Graham, Principal in Charge
- Caroline Brown, Project Manager
- Shazi Tharian, Project Architect
- Ryan Drake, Project Architect/Designer
- Renderer: Ryan Drake, Ross Eckert
Project team
- Graham Baba Architects (Architecture / Interior architecture)
- Charlie Hellstern Interior Design (Interior designer)
- Swenson Say Faget (Structural Engineer)
- Ecotope (Mechanical Engineer)
- Case Engineering (Electrical Engineer)
- PanGEO (Geotechnical Engineer)
- ABLE Studio (Landscape)
- Sparklab (Lighting)
- Tenor Acoustics (Acoustical Engineer)
- RDH (Envelope)
- Resolute (Custom Feature Stair Light Fixture)
- Objekts (Office Furniture Selection/Procurement)
- MRJ (General Contractor)
- Dovetail (Contractor - Casework/Board-Formed Concrete/Architectural Metals)
Unique Products:
- Exterior cladding: AEP Span / Design Span HP
- Roofing: AEP Span/Design Span HP & Soprema Sopralene SBS roofing
- Windows: Marvin Ultimate & Kawneer 451UT
Glazing
- Glass: Cardinal 366 (L3/4), Cardinal Lo E 272 Clear (L1)
- Skylights: Crystalite
- Clerestory: Fleetwood Series 3800
Doors
- Exterior: Fleetwood Series 3070 Sliding Doors, Marvin Ultimate Swing Doors
- Interior: Lynden Wood Doors, Vetrotech Fire Rated Glazed Doors, Custom White Oak Stained Doors, Custom Steel Glazed Doors
Interior finishes
- Paints and stains: Benjamin Moore
- Solid surfacing: Caesarstone, Pental
- Hardwood flooring: Resawn Timber Co., Tongue And Groove, White Oak
- Carpet Tile: Ege Rawline Scala
- Floor Tile: Drytile, Valley Series
- Wall Tile: AdexUSA Riviera; Design And Direct Source, Umi Naya
- Resilient flooring: Forbo Marmoleum, Tarkett Rubber Flooring
Lighting
- Exterior: Hubbardton Forge, Double Axis
- Interior Pendants: Modern Forms, Yolo; Insight Lighting, Adobe; Marset, Mercer 44; Moooi, Flock of Light 11/21
Furnishings
- Watson – workstations/desks
- Stillfried (E15)
- Cumberland
- Ingmar Relling (vintage chairs)
- Design Within Reach
- Stark Rugs
- Bernhardt – Four tables in open workstation area
- AllSeating – Task Chairs
- Senator Seating – Small meeting room
- ESI – Monitor Arms
- Haworth – Poppy Chairs – Boardroom chairs
- Interior Environments (Local) – Boardroom table
- Moroso (Patricia Urquiola)
- Tuell & Reynolds
- Luteca (Jorge Arturo Ibarra)
- Cassina (Mario Bellini and Vico Magistretti)
- Mayer Designs
- Landbridge Lighting
- PlyCollection
- Tai Ping and Driscoll for other custom rugs
- Custom furniture by CHID
- amoeba tables, inside/outside bench and meeting room tables
- Custom Feather rug by CHID – fabricated by Jamie Stern
