On a lovely September afternoon we took a walk along a recently improved part of the waterfront, adjacent to Expedia’s new headquarters.
Expedia Group took over the 40-acres campus from Amgen, when that bio-technology company moved out of state. There’s parking for 2300 cars, but Expedia wants most of those stalls to remain empty on work days, offering free Orca cards and other incentives to keep employees from making single-occupant vehicle trips into Seattle.
At this point the building renovations (Amgen had biology research labs) have been completed, Expedia is moving into the buildings in phases, and the surrounding landscape treatments are being completed. A portion of the public improvements, including walking and bicycle paths and shoreline treatments have been provided as part of the project.
Expedia group’s head of global real estate said when Amgen left, they jumped at the chance to take it over. “We worked with our landscape architects to create just a brilliant experience. We purposefully challenged what corporate interiors might be,” said Mark Nagle, Expedia Group’s Vice President for Global Real Estate.
The Amgen complex was very private , but Expedia really opened it up, so that employees have a great view out to Elliott Bay and all those cruise ship customers they serve, plus people running the waterfront trail have a chance to see onto the new campus.
This also provided the vantage points from which we could see everything.
We parked in the ground level of the Expedia garage – space provided as a public benefit – and started along the new paths.
The new paths offer gracious landscape separations between bicycles and pedestrians as well as establishing a green framework for the Expedia campus.
Occasional seating provides viewing of cruise ship operations (but not this season). Towards the “corner” of the site, the designers have introduced a “hill” as a conscious viewing point.
A gravel side path eases up the north flank, offering accessible access to the viewing point at the top, from which the harbor and Mt Rainier come into view.
On the south side of the hill, facing this view (and sunshine) a stepping set of stone and grass terraces offer places to sit and take everything in. The rugged landscaping, composed of rocks, logs and a variety of grasses is all an intentional component of the project.
The other flank has a bit more rugged quality as it faces the water and periodic tide and wave intrusion.
This hill also allowed us to see how Expedia had revised the original Amgen approach, and how the new facility sits adjacent to the Port of Seattle’s Terminal 86 – Grain Facility. It’s not the most felicitous relationship; but Expedia was working with a lot of constraints.
A little farther down the trail, we could look back “into” the center of the complex.
In the view above, the white elements on the right comprise the portion built by Amgen, though they have been significantly altered in character. The large glassy element on the left is a totally new building added by Expedia – close-up below.
This building, with its Jenga-like stacked floors, creates an almost total contrast to the earlier buildings and to the landscaping improvements. It’s pretty obvious that this is intentional. The landscaping between this building and the shoreline pays homage to typical Northwest beach environments – strewn with logs interlaced with rugged grasses.
It appears that this approach is partly aesthetic and partly functional – in the sense that in the event of high water storm events, some flooding could occur in this area.
The next portion of the project was mysterious, though I’m sure there must have been a programmatic requirement.
In dramatic contrast to the nearby grain silos, a small facility (conference area?) has been built with a sharp-edged roof and rusted steel fencing.
We continued a bit farther down the path towards the grain terminal.
The grain is unloaded from railroad hopper cars on the far side of the silos, stored in them until needed, and then transferred by the diagonal conveyor to the dock where the cargo ships wait.
Of course, our Space Needle guardian tower anchors the center of the view.
The photogenic qualities of the operation are undeniable.
A little closer to the terminal we came on a small rain garden developed by the Port to help manage water and potential contamination running from the site to the harbor.
This includes, of course, an explanation of what you’re seeing, since rain gardens by themselves don’t stand out in any unusual way.
Finally, the reward for working your way past the grain terminal is an expansive view of the harbor and Mt Rainier.
Not a bad way to finish off the walk.
Travel Design Impressions 