Project Details
- Project Name
- University of Washington Light Rail Station
- Architect
- LMN Architects
- Client/Owner
- Sound Transit
- Project Types
- Transportation
- Project Scope
- New Construction
- Size
- 157,856 sq. feet
- Year Completed
- 2016
- Awards
- 2021 AIA Architecture Award
- Shared by
- Madeleine D'Angelo
- Consultants
-
Architect of Record: Northlink Transit Partners,Structural Engineer: KPFF Consulting Engineers (station),Structural Engineer: AECOM (bridge),Civil Engineer: KPFF Consulting Engineers (grading, utilities, roadway),Civil Engineer: AECOM (site drainage),Landscape Architect: Swift Company,Plumbing Engineer: HNTB (station mechanical/electrical/fire protection),Plumbing Engineer: AECOM (mechanical/emergency ventilation system),Other: Grijalva Engineering (traffic),Other: Moniz Art & Architecture (architectural technical facilities coordination) ,Other: Dr. G Sauer Corporation (waterproofing/groundwater management),Other: Lerch Bates Inc. (vertical transportation),Other: The Greenbusch Group (acoustics)),Other: Leo Saul Berk (artist),Lighting Designer: Light Wire,Other: TrueNorth (surveying),Other: LTK Engineering Services (systems design),Construction Manager: START,Construction contractor: Hoffman Construction Company
- Project Status
- Built
An abridged version of the below paragraph appeared in the May/June 2021 issue of ARCHITECT as part of expanded coverage of the 2021 AIA Architecture Awards.
Rarely does a work of contemporary transit infrastructure boast the charm and subtlety of the Washington Light Rail Station. Designed by LMN Architects, the newest node in Seattle’s transportation system is more than merely a place between places, but a place in its own right: moving over and past a slender pedestrian bridge spanning an adjacent thoroughfare, visitors descend 100 feet below ground, passing a dazzling installation in light and metal en route to a train platform graced with colorful wayfinding and elegant circulatory systems. With additional aboveground amenities, like bike storage and surface-transit connections, the building is a multimodal hub with a truly public character—yet it somehow preserves a sense of intimacy and interiority. Visitors often linger in the cavernous subterranean gathering space and marvel at the flickering patterns on the walls, which change as they ascend slowly into the daylight.
This article by Ian Volner appeared in the May 2018 issue of ARCHITECT as part of our expanded coverage of the 2018 AIA Interior Architecture Awards.
“An aesthetically inspiring jewel that doubles as fantastic public art. They have made descending deep into the earth full of light, color, and visual texture.” —Jury statement
Rarely does a work of transit infrastructure feels like it merits the title of “interior.” More often, end-users find themselves at best in a sort of claustrophobic plaza, at once unpleasantly exposed and uncomfortably hemmed-in. Eliding this double bind is the 157,856-square-foot Sound Transit University of Washington Station, designed by local firm LMN Architects to make the newest node in Seattle’s transportation system more than merely a place between places, but one in its own right.
One hundred feet below ground, trains arrive in a concourse that’s a crisp hardscape rendered surprisingly welcoming by colorful and delicately composed wayfinding and circulatory systems. Travelers disembark and rise via escalators and glazed-in elevators to the lower of two mezzanines, where they are greeted by walls clad in vibrant ceramic tiles, guiding them past the ticket kiosks and into the main hall, which is 50 feet high and features the facility’s signature moment of visual drama: a giant installation in light and metal—the work of artist Leo Saul Berk—that traces shimmering arabesques across every surface in the vertiginous corridor.
Complemented by additional above-ground amenities that include a slender pedestrian bridge spanning the adjacent thoroughfare, as well as accommodations for bicycles and surface transit, the station is a multimodal hub with a truly public character. It preserves a sense of interiority, with users likely to linger in the cavernous subterranean gathering space and marvel at the flickering patterns on the walls, watching them change as they ride another escalator slowly upwards into the daylight of the glass-enclosed headhouse above grade.
Project Credits
Project: Sound Transit University of Washington Station, Seattle
Client: Sound Transit
Prime Consultant: Northlink Transit Partners
Architect/Interior Designer: LMN Architects, Seattle . Tom Burgess, AIA, Howard Fitzpatrick, AIA, Chris Grammens, Jennifer Hing, AIA, Matthew Mamiya, Jessica Miller, AIA, Lori Naig, Jessica Nelson, John F. Nesholm, FAIA, John Park, Erik Perka, AIA, John Petterson, AIA, Dawn Polak, Mark Reddington, FAIA, Byron Rice, Tyler Schaffer, AIA, Todd Schwisow, AIA, Roger Stocker, Edward Storer, John Woloszyn, AIA, Alan Worthington (project team)
General Contractor: Hoffman Construction Co.
Construction Manager: Seattle Tunnel and Rail Team
Mechanical Engineers: HNTB (station); AECOM (emergency ventilation)
E/P/FP Engineers: HNTB (station)
Civil Engineers: AECOM (site drainage); KPFF Consulting Engineers (grading, utilities, roadway)
Structural Engineers: AECOM (pedestrian bridge); KPFF Consulting Engineers (station)
Geotechnical Engineer: McMillen Jacobs Associates
Structural Support of Excavation: McMillen Jacobs Associates, KPFF Consulting Engineers
Artist: Leo Berk
Landscape Architect: Swift Co.
Lighting Design: LightWire
Waterproofing/Ground Water Management: Dr. Saur & Partners
Architectural Technical Facilities Coordination: Moniz Art & Architecture
Traffic Consultant: Grijalva Engineering
Survey: True North
Systems Design: LTK Engineering Services
Size: 157,856 square feet
Project Description
From AIA:
The Sound Transit University of Washington Station creates a unified solution at one of Seattle’s busiest intersections and provides a unique gateway to the UW campus through its above and below-grade experiences. At the heart of the 156,000-square-foot station, LMN Architects and artist Leo Saul Berk collaborated to create an integrated experience for travelers, where the architecture seamlessly merges with Berk’s artwork, Subterraneum. Backlit perforated metal panels clad the chamber walls, forming patterns of light that express the geological layers of earth, and suffuse the space with ambient light. The Station opened as the second of two stops on the University link in 2016, increasing system ridership by 80 percent.
From the 2018 AIA Institute Honor Awards for Interior Architecture Jury:
An aesthetically inspiring jewel that doubles as fantastic public art. A very inspired space for the public to engage with on a regular basis. They have made descending deep into the earth pleasant, full of light and color and visual texture
From the Architects:
More than a light rail station, Sound Transit’s University of Washington Station, designed by LMN Architects, adds multiple facets to the urban fabric at the intersection of Montlake Boulevard and Pacific Street.
Knitting together transportation modalities from bike to bus to pedestrians to trains, the multi-disciplinary design of the 156,000-square-foot station creates a unified mobility solution at a problematic street intersection, one of the busiest in Seattle, and provides a unique gateway to the UW campus through its above and below-grade experiences.
The project includes a train platform 100 feet underground, accessed by escalators and elevators from a two-level glass entrance structure at grade. Along the way, users pass through a tall, vertical circulation chamber featuring “Subterraneum,” an art installation by Leo Saul Berk, who worked with LMN to blend architecture and sculpture in expressing the geological layers of soil surrounding the station walls.
The station’s new bicycle and pedestrian bridge — with stairs, escalators and ramps connecting both levels of the entrance structure — curves gently as it spans over Montlake Boulevard to land on the university campus.
Each element of the project is carefully considered as a component of a larger whole, set within a complex web of uses that encompasses the campus, the surrounding neighborhoods, and important university destinations such as Husky Stadium, Alaska Airlines Arena and the UW Medical Center. “LMN’s work at the University of Washington Station beautifully and intricately navigates an almost unbelievably complex urban node,” says Rebecca Barnes, university architect and associate vice provost for campus and capital planning at the University of Washington. “The outcome is a great architectural and urban design achievement borne of many acts of imaginative and insightful civic leadership.”
Public Space Underground
Between the surface and the train platform 100 feet below, circulation paths follow an orchestrated sequence of moments, constantly orienting users to the station’s overall volume, structure and internal flow.
Visual connections between levels create a strong sense of place. The glass entrance structure frames views of the surrounding context, including Lake Washington and the Cascade Mountains. The transparency also serves as a light well, allowing daylight to reach down to the mezzanine level.
Colored ceramic wall tiles animate the mezzanine and ticket machine areas with energetic green motion lines. A green overhead service armature — integrating light fixtures and public-address speakers — provides clear wayfinding throughout the circulation path between surface and platform.
Each piece works together and builds up the climactic experience of “Subterraneum” in the central circulation chamber. Mechanical infrastructure is largely invisible from these public spaces. Concealed behind the scenes, an emergency smoke ventilation system, track crossover area and associated maintenance spaces are nearly as large by volume as the circulation areas in the station’s below-grade footprint. Two elliptical-shaped ventilation towers emerge above-grade, anchoring each end of the structure, and fade from view through the strategic use of perforated screens. The towers serve the emergency smoke ventilation system for the entire tunnel, along with fans at every station on the line that work in tandem to move air and smoke in the event of an emergency.
Public Art
At the heart of the station experience, the escalators and glass elevator pass through a 55-foot-high central chamber, one of the tallest interior volumes in the city.
Working with artist Leo Saul Berk, a UW graduate known for exploring subterranean themes in mixed-media sculpture and installations, “Subterraneum” blends sculpture and architecture in exploring the opportunities of the underground condition. Backlit, perforated metal panels clad the chamber walls, displaying luminous patterns representing geological layers, while suffusing the space with ambient light. The vertical angle of the chamber walls changes along the long axis, creating a twisting volume that offers varying views of the artwork from different vantage points throughout the station.
Four escalators and two glass elevator columns spill through this soaring space, providing a dynamic experience of the art while riding up or down. Various vantage points at the mezzanine and at the bottom of the chamber offer a chance to take in the views, while observing people coming and going to the train platform.
Bridge Design
The 400-foot-long bike and pedestrian bridge over Montlake Boulevard pushes the limits of the use of post-tensioned concrete in structural engineering. The bridge is a collaborative effort between Sound Transit and the University of Washington, with architects, landscape architects, structural engineers and contractors on each side taking part in its design and execution.
In elevation, the thinness and narrowness of the bridge section made possible by post-tensioning allows a gentle arch for bicycles and pedestrians, while still leaving roadway clearance for buses. Two compound curves create separate lanes for bikes and pedestrians within a 32-foot width, with the two lanes splitting apart at each end.
Where the bridge meets the above-grade station entrance, pedestrians can enter the station directly on the upper level by elevator or escalator, or use a grand staircase to access the station’s exterior plaza shared with Husky Stadium.
The bicycle lane continues separately in a gradual ramp to the street level, completing a long-desired connection between the Burke-Gilman Trail and the state Route 520 floating bridge.
Public Mixing Zone
UW Station and its associated public spaces connect a complex of major campus elements and urban pathways, making a civic-centered contribution to the importance of rail transit to the campus community. In addition to transit commuters, the station brings together thousands more bicycles and pedestrians, together forming a critical new component of Seattle’s transportation network.
The architectural design goal for the station was to create an inspiring public mixing zone that celebrates multiple transportation modes with a many-layered sense of movement and place.
