Seattle’s Best Modern Skyscraper

is Two Union Square — at least that’s the word on the street. Designed by NBBJ, completed in 1989; 56 floors, 740 feet tall (third tallest in Seattle), with ~1,100,000 square feet of rentable space.

But there’s a pretty low bar for modern skyscrapers in Seattle, and to me, ranking them is sort of like ranking refrigerators. Modern skyscrapers are mostly about utility, with some nice sculptural elements or facade design thrown in on the best ones.

When we can put up a building like Two Union Square that’s naturally ventilated, perhaps using a curved facade that functions like a airfoil to draw air through the building, then we’ll have something worth raving about.