One of my favorite new buildings here in Seattle is the Agnes Lofts. With double height windows on all sides of the building, the occupant is as much a part of the neighborhood inside as they are outside. Rising out of its gritty past on Capital Hill, Agnes stays connected to the street while looking forward to the future coming to this dense urban neighborhood.
The building was designed by Weinstein A|U and won a 2008 AIA Commendation Award. What is interesting about this building is that it cheats the Seattle building code. Seattle’s building code allows five stories of wood construction over a concrete base. The loft layout uses space compression and mezzanines and this allows for the insertion of a sixth level, pushing Seattle’s code to its limit.
Windows on all sides open the space to the street below.
An open floor plan directs focus to the windows.
The building is a balace of the industrial and the modern.
