Federal Center South, Building 1202

Seattle, Washington
Architect: ZGF
Contractor: Sellen Construction Co.

Project Overview:

Located just south of Seattle, Washington, this facility houses the Northwest District Regional Headquarters for the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and was partially funded through GSA’s design excellence program.
ZGF Architects sought to use a highly flexible and sustainable building design and salvaged materials in the execution of this project. The structure ranks in the top 1% of the most energy efficient buildings in the U.S.

ELEMENT developed a custom steel and stainless steel hand railing system in the heart of the building known as the ‘Commons’ area; centrally located with a very open floor plan. The railing system presented a number of distinct geometrical and installation challenges that required sophisticated modelling and innovative solutions to structural and engineering problems. Combined with a requirement to reuse materials from the building that previously occupied the site, the system precluded the use of “off the shelf” components. The incorporation of barriers, workstations, partitions, bridges, stairs and the buildings’ own structural steel created numerous special conditionals all resolved, designed, detailed and fabricated by ELEMENT.

LEED Certification:
  • LEED Gold
Key Contribution by ELEMENT:
  • Materials: Steel plate, stainless steel and machined components.
ELEMENT Services:
  • Design Review
  • Preliminary materials, manufacturing, engineering, scheduling and budget estimation
  • Presentation of options and solutions, including schedule, scope and budgeting aspects of various options
  • Engineering analysis, calculations and submittals
  • Prototyping and Samples
  • Mockups
  • Fabrication
  • Delivery
Awards:
  • Top Ten Project Award, 2013, AIA’s Committee on the Environment
  • Top Ten Project Plus Award, 2015, AIA’s Committee on the Environment
  • Citation and Interior Awards, 2014, GSA Design Awards
  • Green Washington Award Winner – Special Recognition for Cutting-Edge Buildings, 2013, Seattle Business Magazine
  • Office Buildings, National Design-Build Awards, 2013, Design-Build Institute of America
  • Wood Design Award, National Wood Design Awards, 2014
  • Beyond Green Honor Award- First Place for High Performance Buildings December, 2012, National Institute of Building Sciences, Sustainable Buildings Industry Council
  • Outstanding Project Award, New Buildings $30M – $10M, 2013, National Council of Structural Engineers Associations
  • Best Project- Government/Public Buildings, 2013, Engineering News-Record Best Projects
  • Excellence in Structural Engineering Award, 2013, National Council of Structural Engineers Associations
Select Publications:
  • “Federal Center South Building 1202 / ZGF Architects”, 12 Nov. 2016, ArchDaily
  • “Federal Center South Building 1202, Designed by ZGF Architects”, 3 April 2013, Architect Magazine
  • “New Seattle Federal Building being held up as a model of Green Construction”, 19 Oct 2012, Puget Sound Business Journal
  • “GSA’s Federal Center South Building honored with AIA Top Ten Plus Award for ‘verified’ sustainable performance”, 22 April 2015, Building Design + Construction
  • “An Energy-Efficient Building That Lives Up To The Hype”, 3 July 2014, Co-Design