The new home of Seattle Unity in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood reflects the organization’s mission to foster an open and welcoming community. While the building houses a spiritual community and their offices, it is intended to be inclusive and accessible to the surrounding neighborhood and greater community.
Photo: Aaron Leitz
Seattle Unity
Seattle, Washington
A curving corner element inset with glass bricks gently guides pedestrians to the front entry, creating visual impact while establishing Seattle Unity as a serene and welcoming building. The building also features Kebony wood screening on two exterior facades, adding a warm contrast and natural texture to the lighter stucco surface. Through the interior, an inviting and contemporary design eschews visual clutter and ornamentation for clean lines and straight-forward, functional solutions. The interplay of shadow and light, as well as warm materials and natural textures, animates these spaces while remaining understated.
On the second floor, a double-height Meditation Hall occupies the upper portion of the curving corner zone. This reflective, quietly spiritual space is somewhat organic in form, with lighted glass bricks and a dramatic skylight above introducing soft light and glowing accents that foster a sense of meditative serenity. The curving form and height of this space also subtly recalls the sense of ascension within spiritual spaces and the verticality of urban environments. This is an intimate space that could be used for smaller services, or for community events like yoga or meditation.
Creating Inclusive Gathering Spaces for All
A shared prefunction space buffers the Meditation Hall from the more active, extroverted Sanctuary, where Seattle Unity holds its services and other large events. This room is expressed as a warm wooden tansu box, with wood wall paneling as well as wood ceilings and floors. Framed views from the Sanctuary into Denny Park create a sense of immersion within the tree canopy and heighten connections to the surrounding landscape. Custom lantern lighting fixtures provide a gentle glow within the space, adding to the sense of craft and warmth within the hall.
The upper-most level of the building is dedicated to Unity Hall, a large event space that can host community functions, from pancake breakfasts to weddings. This space spills onto an exterior terrace with views to the park and surrounding neighborhood, and includes covered portions for year-round use.
A Treehouse in the City
The building is oriented to frame views to nearby Denny Park, evoking a sense of being elevated within a treehouse and immersed in the canopy. The shape of the building frames a series of outdoor gathering spaces, furthering this sense of connection to nature. Views are also framed between the building’s volumes, including a glimpse of the Space Needle between its round and rectilinear forms. The design responds to the dense urban site of the project, vertically stacking program areas to make the most of a small footprint.
Places of worship are spaces for introspection and personal reflection—I wanted to create an architecture for Seattle Unity that nurtures and protects the vulnerability that happens during those sacred momentsTom Kundig, FAIA, RIBA
Design Principal
CASBS Administrative Building at Stanford University
Stanford, CA
Shearwater
Ocean Springs, Mississippi
Team
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Nick Ladd
Holly Simon -
Elizabeth Bianchi Conklin
Justin Dennis
Gus Lynch
Daniel Renner
Christopher Hall -
Michelle Arab
ChiaLin Ma
Awards
2025
Chicago Athenaeum American Architecture Awards, Honorable Mention