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Seattle's Greenest Buildings & Projects For Earth Day

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Are you headed over to the Bullitt Center to check out the World's Greenest Commercial Building today? Tours begin at 12:00 p.m. and run through 5:00 p.m. It's a chance to see exactly what makes this brand new building so environmentally-friendly. Just don't drive over...there are no parking lots.

The $30 million Bullitt Center includes a rooftop solar array that generates as much electricity as the center uses and a rainwater catchment system to supply all of the building's needs. It also has extra-high ceilings to let in more daylight, and floor plans that make sure no one's desk is more than 30 feet from a window. It processes its own sewage, prohibits furniture or paint with toxic chemicals, and provides parking for bikes but not cars.

In honor of Earth Day and with the Bullitt Center raising the bar on what's considered "green" in Seattle, let's take a look around town at the greenest, most forward-thinking buildings and projects that are currently standing or that will be soon.

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Bullitt Center

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The "World's Greenest Commercial Building" processes its own sewage, prohibits furniture or paint with toxic chemicals, and provides parking for bikes but not cars.

Federal Center South

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Home of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the LEED-Gold certified Federal Center South Building uses one-fifth of the energy used by other air-conditioned buildings in the region.

Bertschi School

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The school's Living Building Science Wing was recently named the first Living Building on the West Coast and the world's fourth fully certified Living Building.

Passive House - Columbia Station

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One of the homes in this Columbia City micro-community became the first in the Pacific Northwest to meet Passivhaus standards, which signifies a building that uses "ultra-low energy."

Stone34

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The 120,000-square-foot building currently under construction is a part of the City of Seattle's Living Building Pilot Program. It will be an intelligently designed office building that empowers both developer and future tenants to reduce energy consumption.

Greenhouse Apartments

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Built to LEED for Homes Gold standards, this complex has a 2,300 square-foot rooftop deck featuring an actual "greenhouse", an irrigated P-Patch for every resident, fruiting shrubs and trees, and rainwater collection.

Alcyone Apartments

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Located in South Lake Union, Alcyone was Seattle's first LEED apartment building. It features drought-resistance landscaping and a rooftop resident garden that usesrecycled rainwater.

Seattle Biomedical Research Institute

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One of the first silver-level LEED lab buildings in the nation, and the first spec LEED building in Seattle.

Fisher Pavilion

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Fisher Pavilion is one of the first buildings in Seattle to be designed and constructed under the city policy requiring all public facilities over 5,000 square feet to achieve a LEED Silver rating.

Hyatt at Olive 8

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One of 60 hotels in the country to be officially designated "green" by the LEED Green Building Rating System. It was the first LEED hotel for Hyatt and the city of Seattle.

Greenfire Campus

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Currently being developed, this building will take rain from the buildings' roofs and feed it to a brand-new wetland, planted with sedges, ferns, camas and willow. Plans show a tiny "orchard" of native bitter cherry trees, chosen because birds like their fruit.

Denny Park Apartments

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Innovative planters filter stormwater falling on the project site, releasing it slowly into the municipal system while allowing evaporation and transpiration. Low-flow plumbing fixtures reduce water use indoors.

High Point

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The site plan includes more than 20 acres of greenspace, including parks, playgrounds, a jogging trail, an athletic field, and community garden spaces. The project team preserved 150 existing trees and planted more than 2,500 new ones. A natural drainage system incorporates narrow streets, pervious sidewalks, drainage swales, and a detention pond.

IslandWood

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The 255-acre campus of IslandWood includes native plantings, low-flow fixtures, rainwater collection, and onsite wastewater treatment with both a Living Machine and constructed wetlands minimize potable water use and maximize the students' understanding of the hydrologic cycle. The campus is almost exclusively vehicle free.

Bullitt Center

The "World's Greenest Commercial Building" processes its own sewage, prohibits furniture or paint with toxic chemicals, and provides parking for bikes but not cars.

Federal Center South

Home of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the LEED-Gold certified Federal Center South Building uses one-fifth of the energy used by other air-conditioned buildings in the region.

Bertschi School

The school's Living Building Science Wing was recently named the first Living Building on the West Coast and the world's fourth fully certified Living Building.

Passive House - Columbia Station

One of the homes in this Columbia City micro-community became the first in the Pacific Northwest to meet Passivhaus standards, which signifies a building that uses "ultra-low energy."

Stone34

The 120,000-square-foot building currently under construction is a part of the City of Seattle's Living Building Pilot Program. It will be an intelligently designed office building that empowers both developer and future tenants to reduce energy consumption.

Greenhouse Apartments

Built to LEED for Homes Gold standards, this complex has a 2,300 square-foot rooftop deck featuring an actual "greenhouse", an irrigated P-Patch for every resident, fruiting shrubs and trees, and rainwater collection.

Alcyone Apartments

Located in South Lake Union, Alcyone was Seattle's first LEED apartment building. It features drought-resistance landscaping and a rooftop resident garden that usesrecycled rainwater.

Seattle Biomedical Research Institute

One of the first silver-level LEED lab buildings in the nation, and the first spec LEED building in Seattle.

Fisher Pavilion

Fisher Pavilion is one of the first buildings in Seattle to be designed and constructed under the city policy requiring all public facilities over 5,000 square feet to achieve a LEED Silver rating.

Hyatt at Olive 8

One of 60 hotels in the country to be officially designated "green" by the LEED Green Building Rating System. It was the first LEED hotel for Hyatt and the city of Seattle.

Greenfire Campus

Currently being developed, this building will take rain from the buildings' roofs and feed it to a brand-new wetland, planted with sedges, ferns, camas and willow. Plans show a tiny "orchard" of native bitter cherry trees, chosen because birds like their fruit.

Denny Park Apartments

Innovative planters filter stormwater falling on the project site, releasing it slowly into the municipal system while allowing evaporation and transpiration. Low-flow plumbing fixtures reduce water use indoors.

High Point

The site plan includes more than 20 acres of greenspace, including parks, playgrounds, a jogging trail, an athletic field, and community garden spaces. The project team preserved 150 existing trees and planted more than 2,500 new ones. A natural drainage system incorporates narrow streets, pervious sidewalks, drainage swales, and a detention pond.

IslandWood

The 255-acre campus of IslandWood includes native plantings, low-flow fixtures, rainwater collection, and onsite wastewater treatment with both a Living Machine and constructed wetlands minimize potable water use and maximize the students' understanding of the hydrologic cycle. The campus is almost exclusively vehicle free.