Future Conversions to Galleries Prompts Project Documentation
The long-range expansion plan for the Seattle Art Museum Downtown is so ambitious and confusing, even to the trained eye, that SAM has its architect for tenant improvements creating a master document. It will contain just about everything that anyone working on the interiors in the future might need to know about the museum’s initial $86-million addition-renovation project.
The interior of the 12-story museum component was designed to accommodate the 25-year build-out—a series of two-story art galleries, offset and interlocking. But when SAM reopens next spring, it will only occupy four of the 12 floors. The other eight were redesigned and built as office space, with infill floors. The floors are being leased by Washington Mutual Bank, the museum’s partner in the 1.3-million-sq-ft development.