Award winners
Judges for the 2019 Gold Nugget Awards have named two Weber Thompson projects as award winners in its 56th annual competition, which honors design and planning excellence and draws entries from throughout the United States and internationally. DATA 1’s Landscape received the Grand Award in the ‘Best Landscape Architecture for a Community’ category, and Arbora Court received a Merit Award in the ‘Best Affordable Housing Community – over 60 dwelling units per acre or more’ category.
“Gold Nugget Award winners reflect our industry’s best, brightest and most innovative architects, planners and builder/developers,” said Judging Chairman and Gold Nugget ceremonies administrator Lisa Parrish. Now in its 56th year, GNA is the largest and most prestigious competition of its kind in the nation. It honors design and planning achievements in community and home design, green-built housing, site planning, commercial, retail, mixed-use development and specialty housing categories. Winners this year were chosen from over 600 entries from around the world.
Data 1 Landscape
Judges comment: “The enhanced pedestrian experience and the sensitivity to cleaning the bridge runoff as part of the solution won the judges over as something rarely experienced in the urban context.”
DATA 1 Landscape, developed by CoU, LLC is a swale project located adjacent to a 135,000 sq. ft. commercial mixed use building, DATA 1, located in the heart of Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood. The swales located underneath the Aurora Bridge clean an average of 200,000 gallons of polluted runoff annually. The project received Salmon-Safe Certification in 2016 for its efforts to improve local waterways. The DATA 1 Landscape project took home top honors as the Grand Award winner in the Best Landscape Architecture for a Community’ category. Weber Thompson was the architect and landscape architect for the project.
Arbora Court
Arbora Court, a low-income apartment building in Seattle, contains 133 units: 40% two- to three-bedroom units for families, 30% dedicated to formerly homeless individuals. Bellwether Housing was the developer. Through partnership with University Christian Church and a combination of 4% and 9% tax credits, this innovative project is now serving residents in Seattle’s transit-oriented University District. Weber Thompson was the architect and interior designer for project, which was one of five Merit Award winners in the ‘Best Affordable Housing Community – over 60 dwelling units per acre or more’ category.
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About Weber Thompson: Seattle-based Weber Thompson is a full service, West coast design firm specializing in architecture, interior design, landscape architecture and community/urban design. This award-winning company has a staff of more than 70 designers, architects, interior designers, landscape architects and construction professionals. The firm is housed in the celebrated Terry Thomas, a LEED NC Gold certified office building in South Lake Union containing Weber Thompson’s LEED Platinum Offices. In 2018, the firm celebrated 30 years of collaborative design resulting in the creation of healthy communities, iconic high-rises, high-density urban infill, affordable housing, senior housing, commercial office and hospitality projects. For more information, please visit www.weberthompson.com, or contact Weber Thompson at (206) 344-5700 or info@weberthompson.com.
About Bellwether Housing: Bellwether Housing was founded in 1980 to provide affordable workforce housing for downtown workers to live close to their jobs. After nearly 40 years of success and growth, Bellwether is Seattle’s largest nonprofit affordable housing provider, serving over 3,200 residents in 2,100 apartments. Learn more at www.bellwetherhousing.org.
About CoU, LLC: CoU, LLC is a partnership between Seattle-based Hess Callahan Partners, co-founded by Mike Hess and Joanna Callahan, and Mark Grey, a principal at Stephen C. Grey & Associates, LLC (SCGA). Their projects focus on urban office development and include the DATA 1 and Watershed Projects, both located in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood.