SDF Installation Responds to Design Trust

What role does trust play in one of the fastest growing cities in the country? How do designers respond to the ever-evolving needs of an expanding city? The 2018 Seattle Design Festival theme of ‘Trust’ challenged designers to consider their role in the community as creators of space and the touchpoint for connections with diverse stakeholders. Seeing an opportunity to engage with the local community, SMS organized an internal team lead by Nick Krause to design and implement the installation ‘Trust the Movement’.


SMS, along with our partners Bayley Construction and PCS Structural Solutions, collaborated on the design from start to finish. In an early brainstorming session, the design concept of a labyrinth emerged. Designed to require the coordination of multiple people to move through the maze, the team firmly rooted the design in the local community through replicating the Seattle map and topography in the labyrinth.

A CNC routed wood labyrinth served as the primary, eye-catching focal point of the installation. Seattle Landmarks, neighborhoods, and public places were added as destinations for participants to ‘route’ their way to a mutually determined location, trusting other participants to help them reach the destination. The map functions as both a representation of Seattle while also adding points of interest, such as Link light rail stops indicating a future look into the changing city.

Trust the Movement Interaction

The Seattle Design Festival is an annual event series that explores the role of design in shaping the Seattle community. As part of the non-profit Design in Public, a subsidiary of AIA Seattle Chapter, the festival hosts activities, lectures, and a weekend display of installations in Occidental Square in the Pioneer Square neighborhood of Seattle. To see more of the 90 programs and installations presented during the Seattle Design Festival, check out their website.

See more photos of Trust the Movement on our Instagram @studiomengstrazzara, and with the hashtag #RollwithchangeSEA

Commons at Ballard named Mixed-Use Development of the Year

The Commons at Ballard was recently honored with the Mixed-Use Development of the Year Award at NAIOP Washington State’s annual Night of the Stars awards gala.

Embracing an urban, pedestrian lifestyle, The Commons at Ballard engages the neighborhood by creating an integrated hub of office, residential, and retail spaces located near the heart of the neighborhood. The building connects the varying tenants and user groups through shared, vibrant common spaces. In particular, the penthouse lounge spans an entire floor and includes a galley kitchen, multiple roof decks, and expansive seating to serve everything from morning meetings for the office tenants to catered parties for residents.

Before the project even broke ground, it was awarded a LEED Platinum Core and Shell pre-certification, an evidence of the team’s commitment to delivering sustainable buildings. The Commons responds to its setting through unique material choices, including a wood-patterned aluminum siding that balanced aesthetics against durability and life cycle cost. To achieve LEED Platinum, the design team incorporated integrated sustainable strategies, some of which included: Solar PV panels, native vegetation to reduce stormwater runoff, and an adaptive roof that funnels into a cistern.

In the years since the Award’s inception, the NAIOP WA Chapter has established 14 categories, with a combined finalist pool of over 50 projects for the 2017 awards season. Each applicant team must go through a two-step process that addresses how their project has responded to the unique conditions of a rapidly growing and densifying Puget Sound market while employing creative solutions to integrate the community and incorporate sustainable measures.

In attendance at the gala were our project partners, Henbart LLC and W.G. Clark Construction Co.

A commercial real estate networking and education organization, NAIOP has connected leaders in the commercial development industry for 50 years. The organization encourages political advocacy while presenting research-driven education to benefit communities across North America.

View a full list of winners through NAIOP WA’s website.