Berger Partnership: In rapidly densifying South Lake Union, Sitka reimagines one of Seattle’s most common residential typologies: the mid-rise apartment. Rather than treating landscape as an amenity layered onto the architecture, Berger Partnership made it the organizing framework of the project. Inspired by the forests, shorelines, and meadows of Washington’s San Juan Islands, Sitka creates an immersive ecological experience within the city; one that reconnects residents to Pacific Northwest landscapes through their everyday routines.
Rather than presenting a single inward-facing courtyard, the project establishes multiple entrances and visual corridors that weave the development into its context. The stepped concrete podium follows changes in grade, creating portals that draw people through the site and into the central landscape. Voluntary setbacks expand the public realm with generous planting, seating, gathering spaces, and opportunities for outdoor dining and retail spill-out.
At the heart of Sitka is a landscape deeply rooted in Pacific Northwest ecology; native conifers, Garry oak, Pacific madrone, Roemer’s fescue, camas, yarrow, and lupine. The meadow itself is the product of years of work with native species and urban planting typologies, demonstrating that ecologically meaningful landscapes can also thrive within dense residential settings. Variable soil depths and an innovative geofoam landform make this immersive topography possible above the parking structure below.
Material selection reinforces this regional identity. Weathering steel, stainless steel, salvaged timber, and open-grate bridge construction reference the working waterfronts and driftwood beaches of the Pacific Northwest while eliminating galvanized materials to achieve Salmon Safe certification. Rainwater is celebrated rather than concealed, flowing visibly through corten steel runnels before contributing to the site’s broader water strategy.
Instead of concentrating amenities in a single place, the project creates a sequence of distinct landscapes with different perspectives, solar exposures, and microclimates, encouraging residents to engage with nature throughout the building. Multiple smaller roof decks, outdoor rooms, and an artist-designed treehouse provide spaces for gathering, working, gardening, and retreat, while a sloped vegetated roof brings daylight deep into the courtyard below.
By bringing the character of the Pacific Northwest into one of Seattle’s fastest-growing neighborhoods, Sitka challenges conventional multifamily development and offers a new model for integrating urban living with native landscape. Ultimately, the ambition was simple: to create a place people would fall in love with because it is beautiful—not solely because it is a model of sustainability.
Architecture office: Runberg Architecture Group
Photo credits: Built Work Photography
Other credits:
Client / Developer: Vulcan Real Estate
General Contractor: Exxel Pacific
Structural Engineering: Coughlin Porter Lundeen
Civil Engineering: KPFF Consulting Engineers
Project location:
1255 Harrison St, Seattle, WA 98109, United States
Year completed: 2018
