Startup Hall – Seattle Offices
SHED Architecture & Design has created a new design for startup incubator community Startup Hall located in the University of Washington’s University District in Seattle, Washington.
In the Fall of 2014, Startup Hall moved into its new home; 21,000 square feet of newly renovated space on the second floor of Condon Hall, an award-winning Brutalist building constructed in 1973 and former home of the law school library. During the ten years preceding Startup Hall’s tenancy, the University used the building as surge space resulting in a rabbit warren of offices and discarded furniture.
SHED Architecture & Design, a Seattle-based architecture firm, was hired to renovate and transform the space to create an exceptional new modern space with an economy of means. SHED’s approach was direct and unsparing: remove all detritus, demolish non-structural elements to expose the native concrete structure, and design the infrastructure necessary to support and nurture a collaborative workplace.
The plywood-clad phone booth served as the building block of the design, separating the central common areas and meeting rooms from the shared workspaces. Aesthetically speaking, the plywood adds warmth to the bare concrete spaces of Condon Hall, while the glass, chalkboard paint and white boards impart a tech-industrial aesthetic to the workspace. While the new phone booths provide a quiet, private workspace insulated from the energetic startup environment, SHED reconfigured existing spaces for informal social interactions and large-scale events.
SHED also axed traditional enclosed conference rooms in favor of transparent glass to maintain a visually open appearance and feel in the collaborative workspace. The renovation of Condon Hall transformed the outdated space into an incubator for innovation.
Design: SHED Architecture & Design
Contractor: Forma Construction
Electrical Engineer: AEI Electrical Engineering
Mechanical Engineer: CDI Mechanical Engineering
Lighting Design: Pivotal Lighting Design
Graphics: Transom Graphic Design
Photography: Mark Woods
