Propel Studio is the collaborating architect for a new construction mixed use apartment building in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood.

Mixed-use apartment design is one of our favorite project types. Whether a new mixed-use commercial development includes 20 units or 200+ units, Propel Studio has worked for years to assist our development partners - including owners, contractors, and property managers - to design, construct, operate and maintain these buildings.

The East Pine Apartments project is an example of how these commercial buildings can be creatively crafted to include modern aesthetics and unique features such as an occupiable green roof, rooftop deck or courtyard oriented housing layout, while meeting development and urban design goals of providing residential units and below grade parking for both vehicular as well as bicycles to address the extremely high housing demands and changing transportation needs of our urban areas.

A variety of housing unit types include mostly studio, with additional 1 bed and 2 bed units. Working closely with the developer of the project we further investigated acoustical performance, sustainable design strategies, integrating commercial retail spaces with modern apartment amenities, and thoughtful common spaces to truly create a community with fun spaces for interaction throughout the building.

The challenges of these project types - obtaining design review approval, managing and coordinating with a large team of consultants, documenting all materials and details for comprehensive bidding, etc. - is a challenge we enjoy. We have what it takes to design and manage these projects from supporting our partners through concept design and project feasibility to producing the construction documents and specifications to providing complete construction administration to building occupancy.

We’ve assisted many complex developments through the details of designing and optimizing for new and changing building codes, accessibility design, including exemplary sustainability strategies. The real task at hand is how to manage the information of these projects and we have proved our expertise of utilizing building information modeling to center the team’s communication during each phase of the development process.

Please contact us if you are considering a new development in the Pacific Northwest. For more details on this project or other examples of Propel’s role as a mixed-use apartment architect on other multifamily work, please visit this page.