Unfortunately, buildings built in the United States today are generally not designed to last; especially industrial warehouses. But if we look at the older warehouse structures along Seattle’s waterfront, we see buildings that have survived and been re-purposed many times over during the last century. A warehouse building is well suited to re-use. It is open –with long spans– ready to be put to virtually any future use. Of course today’s warehouses are not built as robustly as those constructed a century ago, and they lack the nostalgic value of the older structures – but are those reasons enough to demolish them when they are no longer needed for their current use? What ongoing value resides in these structures, and how can we capitalize on that worth by giving them second, and third, lives? This is a question the City of Kirkland, Washington took on when choosing to transform a ‘big box’ warehouse into a new public safety building, combining police and courtroom functions.
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