Photo Courtesy of Mack Urban

Viktoria Apartments, Seattle

Located near Seattle's iconic Pike Place Market, the 249-unit, 287,000-sq-ft Viktoria Apartments feature an open floor plan offering design flexibility and enhanced views for the area's growing number of urban professionals. The mixed-use residential tower includes retail space, five levels of above-ground parking and a rooftop terrace level with a theater space and yoga room.

Originally conceived as a condominium, the structure was revamped for the booming rental market. It is a concrete structure that includes a glass and precast concrete exterior facade. The project features a shear wall core design allowing long spans and eliminating internal columns. The project is LEED certified under the U.S. Green Building Council system.

The team worked within a tight building footprint. After numerous studies, the structural engineer came up with a plan to thicken the central core's slab from 8 1/2 in. to 16 in. for 6 ft around the building's perimeter. The engineer said that this eliminated restrictive internal columns and provided open living units and a parking layout without structural obstructions.

The approach also eliminated the need for transfer beams that would otherwise have been required to shift interior column locations.

The clean layout streamlined the installation of interior walls, increased architectural design flexibility and improved structural efficiency, the engineer says. Sideway motion was minimized to eliminate the possibility of contact with surrounding buildings during earthquakes.

Among the project's hurdles was the discovery that the foundation of an adjacent building crossed over the Viktoria's property line. The team closely coordinated efforts, and the engineers adjusted the building's foundation to bridge over the existing foundation. In the end, the construction schedule stayed on track.

Key Players

Owner/Developer Goodman Real Estate/Mack Urban

General Contractor Turner Construction

Lead Design Firm Weber Thompson

Structural Engineer Cary Kopczynski & Co.

Civil Engineer KPFF Civil Engineer

MEP Engineer Rushing

Geotechnical Engineer Hart Crowser

Acoustical Engineer SSA Acoustics

Building Envelope Morrison Hershfield Corp.

Vertical Transportation Architectural Elevator Consulting

Curtain Wall Walters & Wolf

Environmental SoundEarth Strategies Inc.

Fire Protection Patriot Fire Protection