Batik and its sister development, Cypress, are the first market-rate apartment buildings in the Yesler Terrace redesign. Spearheaded by Seattle Housing Authority (SHA) the $1.7 billion, 20-year transformation of Yesler Terrace reimagines the 30-acre site, introducing a new mixed-use, mixed income neighborhood connecting Downtown Seattle, First Hill, Little Saigon, and Squire Park.
When complete, the multi-building development will have 5,000 new housing units, 1,800 of which will be permanently subsidized for low to moderate-income households.
Structural designs supported unique exterior design features including subtraction elements and cantilevers. To achieve, shear walls support the cantilevered projections while repetitious, prefabricated connector plate wedges maximized wall heights, reduced the number of necessary beams, and sped up construction of these atypical building appendages.
Since the building height “steps” with the sloping site, our concrete transfer levels do the same. A partial steel-and-concrete framed transfer floor was incorporated into the wood-framed floor, supporting a double-height entrance at the highest point of the site. Design of a hybrid wood-concrete lateral system successfully addressed the three-hour fire rating separation requirements between construction types, and avoided the costly installation of another level of PT concrete floor framing.
The civil team’s site work included street side bio-infiltration and pedestrian hill-climb design coordination with the neighboring development. They also supported future planning for the construction of Cyprus (Yesler Terrace Block 3).
Additionally, considering the new infrastructure recently installed by SHA under a separate contract, the civil team assisted in siting building elements to avoid conflicts with and filled in street permits where needed.
Photography by Michael Walmsley Photography, courtesy of Exxel Pacific