Seattle City Light Denny Substation
Designed to reflect Seattle City Light’s vision to be the greenest utility in America, Denny Substation elevates the standards of environmental sustainability and provides a vital new public space for the neighborhood.
Substations provide power, but can they also become a civic destination? The design of the Denny Substation challenges the typical infrastructure typology to create a substation that enhances the community’s awareness of sustainable energy and contributes to a carbon neutral future.
By implementing net positive energy strategies—meaning the substation creates more energy than it uses—such as solar panels, a heat recovery system to warm the site’s interior spaces, daylight harvesting to reduce the project’s artificial lighting load, and natural ventilation to meet the building’s cooling needs, Denny Substation is projected to generate 105% of its energy needs, and the project is seeking Petal Certification from ILFI’s Living Building Challenge.
Features
Elevated sixteen feet above Denny Way’s busy traffic, the substation affords visitors a unique urban vantage point. The enclosure’s multiple terraced walkways comprise a quarter-mile walking path that elevates pedestrians onto the substation and gives them an intimate understanding of the facility through integrated graphics, educational components, landscape and seating areas.
Project Details
Client Name
Seattle City Light
Square Footage
110,000 SF
Program
Infrastructure
Services
Architecture, interiors, environmental graphics, lighting
Phase
Completed
Sustainability
Expected ILFI Living Building Challenge Petal Certification
Client Name
Seattle City Light
Square Footage
110,000 SF
Program
Infrastructure
Services
Architecture, interiors, environmental graphics, lighting
Phase
Completed
Sustainability
Expected ILFI Living Building Challenge Petal Certification
AIA Seattle, Honor Award, Honorable Mention
Engineering News-Record National, Best Project Award, Best of the Best Project - Energy/Industry
Fast Company Innovation by Design Awards, City Solutions, Finalist
IIDA Northern Pacific, INconcept15 Award
Interior Design Magazine Best of Year Award
AIA Seattle, Honor Award, Honorable Mention
Engineering News-Record National, Best Project Award, Best of the Best Project - Energy/Industry
Fast Company Innovation by Design Awards, City Solutions, Finalist
IIDA Northern Pacific, INconcept15 Award
Interior Design Magazine Best of Year Award
Fast Company, “The World’s Ugliest Architecture Gets a Stunning Makeover”
Fast Company, "World's Coolest Electrical Substation Has a Track and Dog Park”
Metropolis, “NBBJ Reimagines a Piece of Seattle Infrastructure as a Sustainable Civic Landmark”
Slate, “Seattle Is Building the Coolest Electrical Substation Ever”
Wired, “We Want To Hang Out At This Electrical Substation. No, Really”
Fast Company, “The World’s Ugliest Architecture Gets a Stunning Makeover”
Fast Company, "World's Coolest Electrical Substation Has a Track and Dog Park”
Metropolis, “NBBJ Reimagines a Piece of Seattle Infrastructure as a Sustainable Civic Landmark”
Slate, “Seattle Is Building the Coolest Electrical Substation Ever”
Wired, “We Want To Hang Out At This Electrical Substation. No, Really”
