Structures: New Bullitt Center strives to show what ‘green’ can be

The quest to create the world’s greenest building has been full of challenges, but Bullitt Foundation leaders knew that when they planned the foundation’s new $30 million headquarters on Seattle’s Capitol Hill.

Architects and builders had to source all the materials within a close area, ban the use of common chemicals and convince their vendors to provide environmentally friendly alternative products.

Seattle architecture firm Miller Hull Partnership designed the six-story, 52,000-square-foot building to last 250 years – significantly longer than the 40 years expected out of most commercial buildings its size.

The 60-year-old Bullitt Foundation was founded by Dorothy Bullitt, who carried Seattle’s KING broadcasting to prominence. After her death in 1989, the family sold the company and poured much of the proceeds into the foundation’s support for protecting Northwest forests and oceans.

In the past few years, the foundation has narrowed that focus to urban ecology. Once completed this fall, the Bullitt Center will be a symbol of that focus, the example the environmental group hopes others will follow.