FORMA

The FORMA gang gathered at Fishermen’s Terminal this week for a site stroll and for a deep dive into one of our coolest ongoing projects.

As reported months ago in these very pages, FORMA is transforming the Port of Seattle’s oldest structure (the historic Ship Supply Building, dating from 1916), into the Maritime Innovation Center–a unique new hub that will promote knowledge transfer, business incubation, and workforce development to celebrate and support the modernization and competitiveness of Washington State’s maritime industry.

To accomplish this transformation we partially disassembled, braced, lifted, and moved the delicate structure just off it’s original foundation in order to drive 30 100′ long open end cap piles into the poor Port soils to create a reliable new foundation for this very old building. With this tricky process now complete and the building ooched back into place, our work continues on this challenging site on the working waterfront, just 10′ off the waterline and surrounded by tenants and fishermen.

Targeting Living Building Challenge certification–the world’s strictest environmental metric, with just 35 buildings certified world-wide–the new MInC will be one of the most innovative and greenest buildings on the planet, a symbol of the Port’s commitment to sustainability, resilience, and community. Featuring 13 geothermal wells, solar panels, automatic windows and skylights, a high-performance envelope, salvaged materials, and a blackwater treatment system, the new MInC will be water self-sustaining and energy net-positive–supplying energy back to the grid for surrounding Port facilities.

You can check out video of the Incredible-Building-Move here, learn more about the project here, and check back here frequently for updates as we build out this inspiring new Port facility – stay tuned!