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

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

in the Denny Triangle neighborhood of

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

, 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: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

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

South Lake Union South Lake Union (sometimes SLU) is a neighborhood in central 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 ...

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

Hello World Hello World may refer to: * "Hello, World!" program, a computer program that outputs or displays the message "Hello, World!" Music * "Hello World!" (composition), song by the Iamus computer * "Hello World" (Tremeloes song), 1969 * "Hello World" ...

". 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 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

architecture firm In the United States, an architectural firm or architecture firm is a business that employs one or more licensure, licensed architects and practices the profession of architecture; while in South Africa, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark and ot ...

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

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 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, constructio ...

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

lawn A lawn () is an area of soil-covered land planted with Poaceae, grasses and other durable plants such as clover lawn, clover which are maintained at a short height with a lawn mower (or sometimes grazing animals) and used for aesthetic an ...

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 fence, separate double-gated entry an ...

, 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, United States, dedicated to contemporary popular culture. It was founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen in 2000 as the Experience Music Project. Since then ...

, 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 Buildings and structures in Denny Triangle, Seattle NBBJ buildings Office buildings completed in 2016 2016 establishments in Washington (state)

Design and construction

Spheres

See also

References