What are they building? New home of Allen Brain Institute takes shape in South Lake Union

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen can be credited with being the brains behind the dramatic development of Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood, so it’s only fitting the Allen Institute for Brain Science will soon call the area home.

In this week’s edition of What are they building, we check in on the progress of the new headquarters – a six-story, 245,000-square-foot building at the northwest corner of Mercer Street and Westlake Avenue North.

You can’t miss the building as you exit I-5 and head for Seattle Center, rising up amid all the other construction going on in the area.

The Allen Institute is currently housed in several buildings around the city, headquartered in Fremont. The new headquarters will consolidate all of its groundbreaking work in one building, and allow the expansion of staff and scientific programs, the institute says.

A signature of the new building is a six-story atrium flanked by labs, offices and an auditorium. The mixed-use building, designed by architectural firm Perkins + Will, also features ground floor retail and a 90,000 square foot parking garage spanning four levels below the street.

The building is going up on the site of the historic Ford and Pacific McKay buildings. The original buildings were carefully dismantled and put in storage. Crews will painstakingly recreate the facade with 2,742 terracotta bricks salvaged from the original buildings.

The new building is scheduled to open in Fall of 2015.

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