Bellevue Downtown Station
Sound Transit
Location
Bellevue , Washington
Owner
Sound Transit
Prime Consultant: HJH (HNTB, Jacobs Engineering Group, Hatch Mott MacDonald)
General Contractor: Absher
Structural and Civil Engineering: KPFF Consulting Engineers
Mechanical and Plumbing Engineering: Hatch Mott MacDonald
Electrical and Fire Protection Engineering: Rushing Co.
Traffic Consultant: Lin & Associates
Artist: Paul Marioni
Project Size
30,408 square feet
Project Status
Completed
Services
Architecture, Planning, Urban Design
As part of the United States’ largest transit expansion to date, Sound Transit’s Link light rail is completing a 14-mile extension running east from downtown Seattle across Lake Washington to Mercer Island, Bellevue, and Redmond. The eight new stations connecting Bellevue and Redmond are complete, with the remaining two stations connecting the east side to Seattle slated to open in 2025. LMN Architects led design oversight for six of the ten stations on this extension as the primary architectural consultant to H-J-H (HNTB, Jacobs Engineering, Hatch Mott McDonald), and served as primary architectural designer on four stations.
The largest and most complex station on the corridor, the Bellevue Downtown Station sits adjacent to Bellevue City Hall and transforms the city’s civic center with an elevated plaza and iconic glass canopy. Located directly across from the Bellevue Transit Center (BTC), the new at-grade station establishes the area as a multimodal hub, allowing for convenient transfers between bus and rail. The station planning involved a redesign of City Hall Plaza, strengthening the visual presence of City Hall and creating a new center of gravity for the city of Bellevue. A tree-inspired entry canopy takes visual cues from the nearby BTC shade structures and reinforces Bellevue’s motto, “City in a Park.” Buff-colored terra cotta panels in the station nod to the materiality of nearby City Hall with its red terra cotta cladding. Paul Marioni’s intricate glass windscreen panels grace the north and south station platforms, and a companion piece—the terrazzo floor inspired by ripples in a pool of water—is a work made in collaboration with his daughter, Marina. Hanging above the station’s main entry, a 20-ft diameter drum-shaped lightbox inspired by historic cycloramas showcases artwork by a rotating selection of artists.
Photography: Adam Hunter
