{"id":646681,"date":"2026-03-10T23:40:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T23:40:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/646681\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T23:40:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T23:40:22","slug":"boxy-sky-lounges-protrude-from-kaye-tower-in-seattle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/646681\/","title":{"rendered":"Boxy \u201csky lounges\u201d protrude from Kaye tower in Seattle"},"content":{"rendered":"

US architecture studio Grzywinski + Pons<\/a> has completed a 31-storey residential building in downtown Seattle<\/a> that features a light olive-coloured facade and glazed boxes that pop out from the tower’s edges.<\/p>\n

The Kaye \u2013\u00a0which contains luxury rental apartments<\/a> \u2013 is located in Belltown, one of Seattle’s densest neighbourhoods.<\/p>\n

The architects were committed to honouring the area’s heritage while creating a tower that responds to modern tastes and needs. The tower is named after a recording studio, Kaye-Smith Productions, that formerly occupied the urban site.<\/p>\n

\"KayeGlazed boxes protrude from the Kaye tower in Seattle<\/p>\n

The area “embodies the tension of the Emerald City’s past and future”, according to the project team, as it contains a mix of architecture, from new glass high-rises to historic homes and old industrial buildings.<\/p>\n

For instance, on the same block as the Kaye is a Georgian Revival structure and Tudor Revival-style home, both of which date to the 1920s and feature masonry and cast stone.<\/p>\n

\"KayeThe building contains luxury rental apartments<\/p>\n

“We wanted to design a building that celebrated the best qualities of its early-20th-century neighbors while creating new homes for those experiencing Seattle’s exciting future,” said New York City-based Grzywinski + Pons<\/a>, with global firm Perkins Eastman<\/a> serving as architect of record.<\/p>\n

The team conceived a rectangular, 31-storey tower that sits atop a multi-storey podium. The plinth is meant to feel solid, while the tower was designed to look “diaphanous as it rises”.<\/p>\n

\"KayeThe Kaye comprises a 31-storey tower atop a podium<\/p>\n

“The base is a celebration of tectonic weight, while the top is a study in light and reflection,” the team said.<\/p>\n

Facades consist of windows and light olive-coloured panels, set within a grid of mullions and spandrels that lend texture to the facade.<\/p>\n

The grid loosens up in the upper portion of the tower to strengthen the sense of verticality \u2013 one of several moves to make the facade feel rigorous but not monotonous.<\/p>\n

“In an otherwise rigorous facade, we explored syncopation \u2013\u00a0the curated interruption of organized elements of mass and envelope,” the team said.<\/p>\n

\"ResidentialGrzywinski + Pons aimed to celebrate the local architectural history when designing the tower<\/p>\n

A series of glazed boxes was added to the edges of the tower, further breaking up the grid.<\/p>\n

“The most tectonic formal move was the creation of projected volumes, or sky lounges, in some units,” the team said. “These projections afford some units 270-degree views.”<\/p>\n

For the base of the building, great attention was paid to creating a human-scale plinth that responds to its surroundings.<\/p>\n

\"StreetOlive-toned concrete clads the building’s podium volume<\/p>\n

“We designed the podium to be oriented toward the street and conversant with our mid-rise neighbours,” the team said.<\/p>\n

To address the human scale aspect, the team “treated the mass as something to be eroded”.<\/p>\n

“Through subtractive massing, we created setbacks and voids at strategic locations, inviting connections from the street into the building’s core.”<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"An<\/p>\n

Hewitt creates residential tower in Seattle informed by stack of magazines\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

The podium is clad in light olive-coloured concrete panels and glazed Roman brick<\/a>. Arches above the windows were informed by neighbouring historic buildings.<\/p>\n

Along the ground level, the team created a colonnade that offers shelter from Seattle’s infamous rain while also “diffusing the barrier between private interior and public sidewalk”.<\/p>\n

\"OnyxThe lobby features an onyx-clad staircase<\/p>\n

Behind the colonnade is the building’s ground-level lobby, which was envisioned as a “great hall”.<\/p>\n

The double-height space features stone flooring and a monumental onyx<\/a>-clad staircase, which leads to a mezzanine level with tenant amenities, such as a co-working<\/a> space.<\/p>\n

In addition to the lobby, the podium’s ground floor contains commercial space, bike storage and a mail room. The upper floors of the podium hold three-bedroom apartments geared toward families.<\/p>\n

\"ApartmentKitchens in the apartments feature marble surfaces<\/p>\n

Beyond the podium, the architects also designed “hospitality-grade” public areas in the tower, on floors seven and 32.<\/p>\n

In all of these communal areas, the team left structural elements exposed and introduced elements to soften the atmosphere, such as wooden tambour panels, generous rugs and poofy sofas. Colours such as pale pink and sea foam green add to the effect.<\/p>\n

“In the public spaces, we softened the structural expressionism with a palette of warm, inviting and resilient materials,” the team said.<\/p>\n

\"ApartmentThe Kaye was designed to be a stand-out building in the Belltown district<\/p>\n

Within the residences, the team added built-in furniture, such as bookshelves and a marble<\/a>-topped kitchen island. Lighting and window treatments are meant to add warmth and utility.<\/p>\n

Overall, the architects hope the tower is a distinctive addition to the ever-changing Belltown neighbourhood.<\/p>\n

“It is our hope that Kaye will be a protagonist in a neighborhood defined by its layers,” the team said.<\/p>\n

“By synthesising the masonic language of the 1920s with a diaphanous tower, we have sought to create an architecture that respects the gravity of its heritage neighbours.”<\/p>\n

Other projects in downtown Seattle include a glazed tower by Hewitt<\/a> that took cues from an offset stack of magazines, and a convention centre by LMN Architects<\/a> that has a six-storey atrium and a large wooden staircase.<\/p>\n

The photography is by Nicholas Worley<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Project credits:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Architecture and interiors:<\/strong> Grzywinski + Pons
Grzywinski + Pons team:<\/strong> : Matthew Grzywinski, Amador Pons
Architect of record:<\/strong> Perkins Eastman
General contractor:<\/strong> Skanska
Owner\/develeoper:<\/strong> Skanska Commercial Development
Structural engineer:<\/strong> KPFF
Landscape:<\/strong> GGLO
Electrical:<\/strong> IMEG
Lighting:<\/strong> Grzywinski + Pons\/IMEG
MEP:<\/strong> Robison\/Apollo
Civil:<\/strong> KPFF
Procurement:<\/strong> Objeckts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US architecture studio Grzywinski + Pons has completed a 31-storey residential building in downtown Seattle that features a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":646682,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[32],"tags":[11096,648,1032,1033,171,274810,25017,2086,92915,92916,32006,35415,67,132,68,2969,9716],"class_list":["post-646681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-apartments","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-grzywinskipons","tag-residential-architecture-and-interiors","tag-seattle","tag-sectionall","tag-sectionarchitecture","tag-skyscrapers","tag-towers","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-washington-state"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116207526323912153","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=646681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}