ARTS at King Street Station

Core Design Team

Firm: Mithun and Olson Kundig
Cima Malek-Aslani, AIA – Mithun
Kristen Murray, FAIA – Olson Kundig
Muhammad Arar, Assoc. AIA – Mithun
Evan Bourquard, AIA, LEED AP – Mithun
Jerry Garcia, LEED AP – Olson Kundig
Brandon Crain, AIA, CNARD, LEED GA – Olson Kundig
Arielle Crowder, AIA – Mithun
Jim Reisinger, AIA – Mithun
Phil Turner – Olson Kundig
Tessa Crespo – Olson Kundig

Consultants/Collaborators

Architect: Mithun
Concept and Gallery Design: Olson Kundig
Envelope: RDH
Structural: ARUP
Mechanical and Plumbing Engineer, Lighting Design: Rushing
Electrical: Tres West
Acoustics: A3 Acoustics
Sustainability Consultant: Roen Associates
Specifications: ABI
General Contractor: Centennial Contractors

Project Narrative

PROJECT SUMMARY/ INTENTIONS
“LITTLE CROSSING-OVER PLACE”
From 10,000 years ago until the late nineteenth century, Coast Salish peoples built some of their many longhouses as centers for shelter, celebration and trade. In the Djijila’lete dialect, the longhouse village on this site, near the tide flats and lagoon that preceded Pioneer Square, was known as Sdzidzilalitch, for “little crossing-over place.” As such, the site provides a fitting locale for this new cultural hub.

SITE EVOLUTION
King Street Station was designed by Reed and Stem, the architectural firm responsible for New York City’s Grand Central Terminal, and opened to the public in 1906. In 2008 the City of Seattle purchased the landmark and completed a two-year, $50 million renovation. The station was seismically upgraded and the ornate interior was restored following decades of neglect. The third-floor space was kept in a raw state awaiting tenants and further construction funding.

CULTURAL HUB
Completed in 2019, the third floor is now occupied by ARTS at King Street Station. The adaptive ARTS space was designed to create a welcoming, vibrant arts and cultural hub that highlights communities of color, starting with Indigenous creatives—the people who initiated and continue to weave the fabric of Seattle’s diverse cultures. The 17,500-square-foot space provides flexible, co-use areas for community gathering, a multi-disciplinary presentation gallery, studio for artists-in-residence and professional offices for the Office of Arts and Culture. In response to feedback from community focus groups, the design aims to provide space and opportunities for people of color to generate and present their work, and to reflect and foster the creativity of diverse people that contribute to Seattle’s vibrance. ARTS engages in inclusive, city-wide outreach to curate programming that centers racial equity, represents and welcomes diverse communities, and showcases varied creative disciplines.

RAW + UNFINISHED
The design of the project responds to ARTS’ desire to leave the third-floor space in a raw, unfinished condition in which it was left following the 2010 renovation. Architectural interventions emphasize transparency, highlighting and revealing the historic masonry and steel structural system, ornamental stairway, and original terrazzo floor. The unadorned structure and kinetic walls allow these communities to project their own identities in the space. When contrasted with the restored train station below, the unfinished character of ARTS tells the story of King Street Station’s evolution from an early twentiethcentury train station to a contemporary transit and cultural hub for the City of Seattle.

KINETIC
In the 7,800-square-foot presentation space, kinetic gallery walls enable the community and artists to reconfigure the displays for changing exhibitions and events. Suspended from a custom-designed elevated track inspired by the railroad tracks that serve the station below, a set of eight movable walls with integrated lighting support a range of displays and spatial configurations. The result is a flexible space that can easily transform to meet the evolving needs of ARTS and the communities they serve.

SUSTAINABILITY
The design met rigorous sustainability requirements—it is the first City of Seattle funded project to be designed to meet LEED® v4 Gold certification.