On November 20, the Facades+ conference series visits Seattle for a full day of programming developed in collaboration with ZGF. The event will be hosted at the Grand Hyatt Seattle, where attendees are encouraged to visit the Methods + Materials gallery, which features 33 exhibiting building product companies.
Click here to find more information and register.
Beyond High-Performance Facades: Incentives for Living Buildings
In the first session of the day, the City of Seattle will present how it is incentivizing green building on a new level by promoting and supporting designers to meet the Living Building Challenge. Jess Harris, priority green program manager at the Seattle Department of Planning and Development will share details related to permitting, green design strategies, and successfully completed projects in the Living Building Pilot.
PAE Living Building: Designing for Inherent Comfort
In the next session, experts from ZGF and PAE will present the PAE Living Building—Portland’s first fully certified Living Building, and the world’s largest commercial office designed to meet this standard. The discussion will focus on the project’s mass timber structure, advanced enclosure systems, and strategies for achieving net-positive energy and water performance—as well as the unique challenges involved in reaching this level of certification.
Low-Carbon Design for Building Envelopes in Education
In a spotlight presentation, Rebecca Hutchinson of Mahlum will discuss the Alma Clark Glass Hall at Western Washington University. The building is the first on campus to incorporate a mass timber frame with an exposed cross-laminated timber (CLT) floor system. The project incorporates a range of high-performance, low-carbon envelope systems throughout.
Biophilic Building Envelopes for Life Science: A Balanced Approach
Next, Weber Thompson will present Northlake Commons, Seattle’s first large office building made primarily of mass timber, designed to house biotech and research labs. Its envelope integrates exposed CLT, glulam columns, and operable high-performance glass with low-E coatings, offering both daylighting and thermal control. The building also features “Connectors” (large covered outdoor corridors) and prominent window-wall systems that link occupants directly with outdoor air and views of Lake Union.
Multi-Faceted Facades: 707 Terry
In the following session, Ryan Bussard, Tad Neeser, and Gavin Smith of Perkins & Will will discuss the design process behind 707 Terry, a new residential twin-tower project in Seattle’s First Hill neighborhood. Its standout facade features large, sliding perforated screens that wrap the towers on all sides. When aligned, these screens recreate gallery-like artworks sourced from the nearby Frye Art Museum, treating the exterior as a public canvas.
Building Performance and Digital Modeling
In the final session of the day, leaders from Arup, C.Scale, University of Washington, and Amazon will share how sustainable design is being transformed by today’s tools and metrics. The discussion brings together perspectives from research, technology, engineering, and building ownership to examine how environmental impacts are evaluated and addressed throughout the building lifecycle. Speakers will consider how cross-disciplinary collaboration is redefining the practice of sustainable design.