South Lake Europe
What’s all this then, Seattle’s first Euro-modern mid-rise housing? One way to check is if you can take major sections of the building, flip them upside down in your mind’s eye, and it all still looks about the same. As in, vertical symmetry. Apparently the designers think we don’t need a cornice or some other decoration to remind us where the top of the building is. Audacious.
Located on the northeast corner of Westlake and Denny in South Lake Union, they call it Rollin Street Flats, and it was designed by Portland-based Ankrom Moisan. That firm is currently designing another project right next door at 975 John St, and also is responsible for the not-so-Euro — more Floridian, you might say — stocky hulk known as Mirabella.
Up until now, NBBJ’s Alley 24 was about the most Euro midrise project in Seattle. But Rollin St pushes it further with the picture frame motif — like Pb Elemental’s cliche trademark writ large (not that Pb invented it).   And I can’t help thinking that Rollin St must have been heavily influenced by the building shown at the bottom of this post.
All rambling aside, I like it a lot.
