When designers at Seattle architect NBBJ presented their vision of the city’s Two Union Square development in the late 1980s, their model conformed to the clients’ request for a midsize building with a small, heavily ornamented “jewel box” in front. It was a rather conventional design and, according to partner Bill Bain Jr., a terrible idea.
“I walked up to the model and I put my arms around the jewel box and I ripped it off the base, and I put it on top of the medium-sized one in the back,” Bain says. The clients were shocked, but Bain’s intent was clear—this project would not merely copy similar buildings in Chicago or New York.