Photo & Text © 2010 Kim- Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved; no use, alteration, reproduction or republishing in any media.
I saw this model of the new Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation campus. The view here shows the intersection of Mercer St. and 5th Ave. From the 2007 groundbreaking at a 12 acre parking lot adjacent to Seattle Center the Gates Foundation campus has steadily taken shape. The first construction was of a multistory below ground parking structure with a living roof and educational visitors center (visible to the right). Now boomerang shaped buildings A and B are constructed and interior finish work is taking place throughout their 6 floors (the structure closest in this model photo and the building furthest back). Building C to the left has not been started yet, pending an agreement with the city about the specifics of the Viaduct replacement tunnel and surface street approaches, which at one point would have encroached on building C's site. It seems a plan has been worked out, pending City Council approval, to curve 6th Ave around the site and modify the surface street tunnel approach route to avoid cutting through the campus. The parking garage has been open since 2008 (I showed you the art glass wall of that here). The visitor center and buildings A and B will open next May and will be occupied by over 1000 Foundation employees. Hardscape and landscaping are going on right now along 5th Ave and Mercer Street, as well as the interior of the campus. The Gates Foundation researches and provides grants to impact global health, extreme poverty and development, education, and information technologies.
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