Day 1, also known as Amazon Tower II and Rufus 2.0 Block 19, is a

office building An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific dut ...

in the Denny Triangle neighborhood of

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, located at the intersection of Lenora Street and 7th Avenue. It is part of the three-tower complex that serves as the headquarters of

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

. The name "Day 1" previously belonged to two buildings on Amazon's

South Lake Union South Lake Union (sometimes SLU) is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, so named because it is at the southern tip of Lake Union. The official boundaries of the City of Seattle Urban Center are Denny Way on the south, beyond which is Den ...

campus, but both structures have since been renamed. The building's east facade features a large sign reading "

Hello World ''Hello'' is a salutation or greeting in the English language. It is first attested in writing from 1826. Early uses ''Hello'', with that spelling, was used in publications in the U.S. as early as the 18 October 1826 edition of the '' Norwich ...

". The construction project was the most expensive in the city to finish in 2016 amidst the recent downtown housing boom. The building also houses the prototype

Amazon Go Amazon Go is a chain of convenience stores in the United States and the United Kingdom, operated by the online retailer Amazon. The stores are cashierless, thus partially automated, with customers able to purchase products without being checked ...

location, which opened to a private beta in December 2016 and to the general public on January 22, 2018.

Design and construction

The Amazon campus, designed by Seattle

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NBBJ NBBJ is an American global architecture, planning and design firm with offices in Boston, Columbus, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, New York, Portland, Pune, San Francisco, Seattle, Shanghai, and Washington, D.C.. NBBJ provides services in arch ...

and landscape architecture firm Site Workshop, was approved by the Seattle Department of Planning and Development in late 2012. Excavation on the 37-story Tower II began under the direction of

Sellen Construction Sellen Construction is a Seattle, Washington-based construction firm. Its clients have included Microsoft, Amazon.com, AT&T, Russell Investments, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle Children's Hospital, and Vulcan Inc. History Sel ...

in 2014. It opened on November 7, 2016. The project, covering the entire three-block campus, is also on track to receive

LEED Gold Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, construction ...

certification.

Spheres

The block also features three intersecting glass-and-steel spheres facing Lenora Street that will house five stories of additional work space for 1,800 employees and retail, totaling . NBBJ intends the spheres to be the "new visual focus and 'heart'" of Amazon's headquarters. The design was showcased by Amazon in 2013, thereby scrapping an earlier plan intending to construct a six-story rectilinear office building in that same location. The architects behind the organic design of the domes relied on the idea that better productivity can be initiated by introducing more sunlight and plants into the work space according to recent research. When revealed in 2013, the planned design for the spheres, separated from the building by a

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and

dog park A dog park is a park for dogs to exercise and play off-leash in a controlled environment under the supervision of their owners. Description Dog parks have varying features, although they typically offer a 4' to 6' fence, separate double-gated ...

, was generally met with support and earned the project international press coverage. One of the few critics included Seattle city design review board member Mathew Albores, who compared its pedestrian hostility to the

EMP Museum The Museum of Pop Culture or MoPOP is a nonprofit museum in Seattle, Washington, dedicated to contemporary popular culture. It was founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen in 2000 as the Experience Music Project. Since then MoPOP has organized ...

, offering no rain protection and little retail. The spheres opened on January 31, 2018.

References

{{Seattle skyscrapers Amazon (company) facilities Skyscraper office buildings in Seattle Denny Triangle, Seattle NBBJ buildings Office buildings completed in 2016 2016 establishments in Washington (state)

Design and construction

Spheres

See also

References