A Decade Later, Bullitt Center Is Still Redefining Green Architecture

When the Bullitt Center — the world's first green commercial building — was conceived in 2011, its creators had a vision of a net-zero emission building that would spark conversations about the relevance of green architecture. Almost a decade later, it still speaks volumes about what sustainability practices can contribute to create planet-friendly buildings.

The six-story commercial building opened in 2013, and even today, Bullitt Center is still considered to be one of the world's greenest commercial structures, designed and built to ensure its place as a "living building." The Living Building Challenge is founded on seven principles that qualify an establishment as green including: net-zero energy use; net-zero water use; sustainable materials; site-specific design; and significant attention to health, equity, and beauty.

"What Denis (Denis Hayes, Bullitt Foundation CEO) has long understood was that buildings account for about 40% of greenhouse gasses produced in the United States, and his understanding led him to convince the board to put the Bullitt Foundation's assets into a groundbreaking, high-performance building," said Rob Pea, an associate professor and program coordinator at the UW Department of Architecture, in an interview with the Emerald. "The idea was to make a building that does no harm to the environment and is good for people."

Hayes not only runs the Bullitt Foundation, a nonprofit that supports and promotes climate and environmental protection in the Pacific Northwest, but he was also the principal organizer, with Sen. Gaylord Nelson, D-Wis., of the first Earth Day in 1970.

According to Pea, Bullitt Center needed to demonstrate that its construction could be environmentally viable, generating as much energy as it used in a year, collecting water for its needs, and repurposing its waste. For the first few years, the building employed compostable toilets. The composting system was replaced in 2021 with a vacuum toilet system, which conserves water.

Bullitt also employs solar energy for electricity generation, using 575 solar panels in a 14,000 square-foot array on the building's roof. Deborah Sigler, program coordinator for Tours and Outreach at the UW Center for Integrated Design (CID), located in the Bullitt Center, told the Emerald that the center produces 244,000 kilowatt hours of energy annually, and sells their surplus energy to Seattle City Light.

Sigler said that the building uses rainwater harvesting and greywater treatment systems, where water from sinks and showers is triple filtered, disinfected, and returned to use for toilet flushing.

Pena said that the Bullitt Center's triple-glazed windows and deployable shades ensure sufficient insulation and interior temperature control. The primary structure of the building is concrete, steel, and Northwest-grown timber certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.

"[This] was definitely one of the most ambitious environmental projects that Miller Hull worked on," Brian Court, FAIA, a partner at the Miller Hull Partnership, said in an Emerald interview. The Miller Hull Partnership, a Seattle-based architecture firm that focuses on sustainable architecture, was one of the principal project partners in the construction of Bullitt Center. "We couldn't really think about it as a conventional building, but had to focus on the larger details with an eye of efficiency."

Court said that the construction was a partnership between the architects and the City, involving multiple discussions to ensure that the project adhered to the expectations of the Living Building Challenge. In addition, they needed to reduce potable water needs by repurposing non-potable water for toilet flushing and irrigation.

"Once we got to the construction process, it involved a lot of discussions to create a balance with its environmental features, for example, with negotiations about energy generation with Seattle City Light," Court said. "There had to be a balance between energy consumption, especially in the winter and summer, and ensure that the building was feasible for people to function in."

When the Bullitt Center first opened more than a decade ago, its approach to architecture appeared unique and unconventional when compared to most building designs. However, with green architecture becoming a common topic of conversation in the 21st century, Bullitt still serves as a reminder of the potential of sustainable living buildings. Sigler said that the building still receives thousands of visitors each year.

"Bullitt has broken a trail on a whole generation of not only thinking about how to build green buildings, technology levels, but also at the policy level," Pea said. "It's influenced design thinking, and it's probably one of the most frequently used design case studies for green buildings around the world." He also said that its relevance has increased enough to demonstrate that the project was living proof that architecture involves attributes of sustainability parallel to the impending climate change.

With respect to green architecture's influence, Seattle has witnessed local projects heading towards sustainable building and design. Rainier Beach High School, a four-story building of about 300,000 square feet, aims to develop a green and sustainable approach to construction. The project plans to deploy geothermal wells for heating and cooling and solar panels for energy generation, prioritizing nontoxic, recycled, and environment-friendly building materials. Stormwater will be filtered through rain gardens, removing pollutants naturally. The renovation project is designed to accommodate 16,000 students who will enjoy "100% fresh air ventilation" and exposure to natural daylight in all classrooms and throughout the building.

📸 Featured Image: Designed to be the greenest commercial building on earth a decade ago, the Bullitt Center, 1501 E. Madison St., led the way to construction offices with net-zero emissions. (Photo: Phil Manzano)