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Seattle, Washington 98119
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The Metropole Building Project
The Metropole Building Project
The Metropole Building Project
The Metropole Building Project
The Metropole Building Project
The Metropole Building Project
The Metropole Building Project
The Metropole Building Project
The Metropole Building Project
The Metropole Building Project
The Metropole Building Project
The Metropole Building Project
The Metropole Building Project
The Metropole Building Project
The Metropole Building Project
a door to the past; the Metropole lower level opens to Seattle’s underground, a maze of tunnels under the sidewalks of Pioneer Square
The Metropole Building Project
The Metropole Building Project
The Metropole Building Project
located across the street from the iconic Smith Tower, the Metropole building was constructed in the 1880s

Location Seattle, WA

Client The Satterberg Foundation

LEED Platinum

The Metropole Building Project

The Metropole Building Project – A Nonprofit Center for Communities of Color

The Metropole building is located in the Pioneer Square National Historic District of downtown Seattle. Constructed in the 1880s, the building was severely damaged in the 1949 Seattle earthquake, which caused the collapse of two upper floors. Subsequent earthquakes in 1965 and 2001 and a fire in 2007 caused additional damage. Prior to our work, the building had been vacant for fifteen years, open to the weather, and in a state of severe deterioration.

The Metropole Building Project is the preservation and adaptive reuse of the vacant historic building, creating a vibrant, community-focused, mixed-use center for nonprofit organizations. The program includes a childcare center, a community kitchen, a conference and event center, arts and culture space, and office space for nonprofit organizations that serve communities of color.

The Metropole Building Project represents the Satterberg Foundation’s commitment to promoting a just society and a sustainable environment, strengthening nonprofits through authentic, relationship-based partnerships within Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities.

The design scope is the complete transformation of the 135 year old building, with intensive and careful restoration of the historic building facades, reconstruction of the missing upper floors, a seismic retrofit, restoration of the historic areaways adjacent to the building, comprehensive new building systems, and an innovative and extremely efficient HVAC system with solar power generation contributing to LEED Platinum certification. The project is designed to achieve an exceptionally low Energy Use Index (EUI) of 18, making the Metropole one of the lowest energy use buildings of any category in Seattle.

A BuildingWork project. Photos © Doug Walker. Existing photos © BuildingWork.