A Living Building restoring skilled blue-collar maritime employment opportunities in the Port of Seattle’s historic Fishermen’s Terminal. Navigating Toward a Living Future The Maritime Innovation Center will be a prominent piece of the reimagined Fishermen’s Terminal, the longtime hub of Seattle’s storied commercial fishing community. At 14,000 square feet, the Center will emerge from a Living Building Challenge-compliant renovation/adaptive reuse of the circa 1914 Seattle Ship Supply Building.

It will serve as an incubator for maritime research and development startups that will bring an exciting new wave of the region’s “blue tech” economy. In alignment with the Port’s mission to become “The Greenest Port in North America”, the building is seeking full ILFI Living Building Challenge (LBC) Certification, with innovative and sustainable strategies that will become a model for other ports to follow.

This rating system is based on proven water, energy and materials performance which will certify the Port’s achievement with verifiable numbers to meet the building’s net positive goals. Innovate and Incubate The Maritime Innovation Center brings several maritime innovation groups together under one roof to foster and sustain startup maritime enterprises. The Center will honor the cultural and economic significance of Seattle’s maritime history and celebrate its vibrant fishing industry. Critically, it will also bridge the region’s time-honored maritime traditions with its modern role as a mecca for technology innovations. This intersection is known as the “blue tech” sector.

The building’s anchor tenant will be Washington Maritime Blue, which describes itself as “an independent cluster organization committed to the development of maritime business, technology, and practices that promote a sustainable future contributing to economic growth, ecological health, and thriving communities.” Centering Indigenous Fishing Knowledge Long before the Port of Seattle established Fishermen’s Terminal on Salmon Bay, the Indigenous Coast Salish people lived along and fished Salmon Bay šilšul meaning “Tucked Away Inside”, using the waterway to travel between the Puget Sound and Lake Washington, retaining fishing rights in the area to this day.

Coast Salish tribal members and artists are integrated into the design team to re-center this Indigenous knowledge from time immemorial to guide future innovations. A local group of Indigenous place-based designers and public historian are creating an interpretive program to resurface the Indigenous presence on the site. A Tulalip tribal member artist’s building-sized painted aluminum mural located alongside the large front bay door of the Maritime Innovation Center honors Indigenous fishing traditions and futures.

The Maritime Innovation Center is designed to meet the Port of Seattle’s goal to be the “Greenest Port in North America.” Along with energy and water goals the Port brings for their building projects, the design team found alignment with the world’s most rigorous green building certification standard, the Living Building Challenge. This rating system is based on proven water, energy and materials performance which will certify the Port’s achievement with verifiable numbers to meet the building’s net positive goals. Embodied Carbon – A Whole Building Life Cycle Analysis model was run using the software platform Tally to estimate the building’s emissions from modules A-D over a 60-year period. The total GWP (global warming potential) for the project is 832 tons CO2e.

This translates to 571 kgCO2e/m2 for GWP per area. See the attached one-page summary for more information. EUI – The Energy Use Intensity of 21 for the project is calculated using an energy model. Proportion of energy from renewable sources (avg per year) and energy mix: A renewable energy system is included to achieve the Port’s goal for this building of net positive energy and align with the requirements of the Living Building Challenge certification.

This certification system requires that the building operate as Net Positive Energy and generate 105% of its annual energy demand through renewable sources, in this case photovoltaics. There is a building energy storage system (battery) that will store some additional energy and any overage will be sent back to the grid. The additional five percent of energy generated provides the building with some resilience capability.

Proportion of locally sourced materials – For this project, these numbers are set by our adherence to the Living Building Challenge certification. There are four radii of materials sourcing we must comply with: • 20% or more of the materials construction budget must come from within 500 kilometers (km) of the construction site. • 30% of the total materials construction budget must come from within 1000 km of the construction site or closer. • An additional 25% of the materials construction budget must come from within 5000 km of the construction site. • The remaining 25% of materials may be sourced from any location.

Additionally, with this project being located on the coast of North America, our radius is cut in approximately half with the Pacific Ocean, leaving less area to source materials. Reduction of Water Use Against Baseline – The water reductions are designed to meet the Port’s goals and are set by our adherence to the Living Building Challenge certification. As a renovation project, the building is required to reduce potable water demand by 30% from a baseline of 10.61 gallons per person per day. This baseline is from the International Living Future Institute was created from averaging a variety of sources, including the Pittsburgh 2030 District, Seattle 2030 District, the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey.

Proportion of recirculated water –Rainwater will be captured and used for irrigation and toilet flushing. The original design had rainwater for potable but the State of Washington rejected this with a change to their codes and standards that no longer allows the use of rainwater for potable uses in commercial buildings. All grey and blackwater will be treated and reused on site. Permeable surfaces – The existing site is 100% impervious as it is completely paved. Our project will remove some of this paving and add natural landscaping and biofiltration to the site in the amount of 290 square meters.

Category:Green ArchitectureYear:2024Location: Seattle, Washington, USAArchitects:The Miller Hull Partnership, LLP.Client:Port of SeattleImages:Courtesy of the Architects