Although it can be easy to distort, the classic before & after image pairing can sometimes be a fun and illustrative way to see particularly an adaptive re-use project come alive.
Such definitely seems the case with TVA Architects' design for this Social Security Administration call service center in Auburn, Washington. Earlier this spring the project received an Honor Award for Sustainability/Adaptive Reuse at the General Service Administration's biennial GSA Design Awards ceremony in Washington, DC. in March. And the GSA is no slouch when it comes to architecture.
The building transforms a World War II-era warehouse into an administrative workplace. It's on track for a Silver LEED designation from the USGBC thanks to an integrated design and construction process that allowed the project a whopping full year earlier than originally scheduled.
Like Richard Meier, TVA has made glassy and white buildings somewhat of a trademark here, and the glass-festooned new multi-story entry makes for quite an incredible improvement over the old warehouse. At the same time, through what seems to be a corrugated-like look in the other materials, there's a bit of the old government Quonset hut look here, while the overall form recalls a barn, which I suppose is appropriate given the vast farmland in the Northwest (at least until Measure 37 fully sinks its vampire's fangs into Oregon's neck).
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