Insights
Blurring Boundaries: The Rise of Experiential Retail Experiences
07/10/2025
Retail is evolving beyond transactions. In a world craving connection and calm, today’s most successful brands are creating immersive, hospitality-inspired experiences that prioritize emotional impact over traditional commerce.
Insights
2025 Workplace Trends and Insights Report
06/03/2025
As part of our mission to support companies navigating the evolving landscape of workplace design, Graphite has published its 2025 Workplace Trends and Insights Report, a guide to the latest trends, challenges, and design strategies shaping the return to in-person work.
Insights
The Future of Retail: Consumer Trends Shaping Design and Experience in 2025 and Beyond
01/31/2025
As part of our mission to help both established and emerging brands navigate the ever-changing retail and customer landscape, Graphite’s Retail and Brand Experience Studio 6B has published its first annual Consumer Insights & Retail Futures Report—an in-depth review of global trends, influences, and emerging shifts shaping the future of brand engagement.
News/Press
Amazon Frontier featured in gb&d magazine
01/07/2025
Graphite's Amazon Frontier project was recently featured in gb&d magazine's "12 Outdoor Workplaces We Love" feature.
Awards
West Main wins ENR Northwest Best Project Award
01/02/2025
Graphite's West Main project was recognized by Engineering News-Record with top honors in the Office/Retail/Mixed-Use category in ENR's 2024 Regional Best Projects awards program.
News/Press
Amazon Frontier is a Playground for Employees and Neighbors in Seattle
11/17/2024
A profile of Graphite's Amazon Frontier project, including an interview with founding principal Peter Krech, is featured in "Green Building & Design" magazine.
News/Press
Graphite-designed Mirra virtual gaming venue featured on GeekWire
10/22/2024
Air hockey, kraken tentacles, and laser rhythm: Inside new virtual-reality entertainment venue Mirra
Insights
Pattern Language: An Exploration of Digital Printing on Architectural Glazing
10/01/2024
Architectural Glazing has long been an important expressive tool which, when selected and detailed thoughtfully can contribute to the successful transformation of architectural concepts to reality. A growing number of glass treatments have expanded aesthetic options in addition to the added performance modern insulated glazing offers.
News/Press
Graphite's innovative curtain wall design featured in Construction Specifier Magazine
09/09/2024
The curtain wall design of Graphite's West Main and Amazon Nitro projects were recently profiled in Construction Specifier Magazine.
News/Press
Amazon Nitro featured in "Business of Furniture" magazine
07/09/2024
Amazon Nitro featured in "Business of Furniture" magazine
News/Press
Graphite Design Group Introduces Brand Experience Ideation Studio
05/14/2024
Award-winning designer Alex Shapleigh joins Graphite to expand the firm’s Retail and Brand Experience capabilities.
News/Press
New Office and Retail Development Activates Seattle’s Eastside
05/10/2024
Situated in Bellevue, Seattle's vibrant neighboring city, West Main is reshaping the skyline and symbolizing the city's evolution. The three-tower 1,030,000-square-foot office and retail development designed by Graphite Design Group in collaboration with Compton Design Office for Vulcan Real Estate is attracting some of the world’s largest names in tech and hospitality.
News/Press
Sustainable mixed-use districts: Crafting urban communities
04/01/2024
The Denny Regrade neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, shows what a thoughtfully designed mixed-use district can offer for urban life. Graphite's work in the Denny Regrade was recently featured in a profile at Building Design and Construction. Read more about Graphite and our work in the Regrade here.
News/Press
Designing a New Frontier in Seattle’s Urban Core
02/20/2024
Completed in March 2021 at the height of the Covid pandemic, three years on Amazon Frontier is now a bustling addition to the Regrade campus and surrounding community. It's innovative office design showcases the uniquely flexible floor and interconnecting “treehouse” stair, a model of adaptive vertical workspace. Read more about this remarkable project here.
News/Press
Amazon Office Space Converted Into Supportive Housing for Mary's Place Nonprofit
01/23/2024
Mary's Place Family Center is featured in The Architects Newspaper in recognition of Amazon's gifted space within its Nitro South tower.
Insights
Graphite Sustainability Initiative- Living Building Challenge and Beyond
01/02/2024
Explorative study of sustainable practices and methods to combat climate change and promote carbon reduction in South Lake Union.
News/Press
Amazon’s Rooftop Prairie Welcomes Nature into the Heart of Seattle
08/09/2023
Graphite's Amazon's Nitro South project and landscape collaborator Site Workshop is featured in in Seattle Times article. Read the featured story here.
Awards
Mary’s Place Family Center Design Recognized with Award of Excellence by Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat
07/31/2023
Graphite’s design for Mary’s Place Family Center – located in Amazon Nitro South at Block 21 - was recently conferred an Award of Excellence in the category of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion by the Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.
News/Press
Graphite Participates in Seattle's Office to Housing Call for Ideas
07/01/2023
Graphite Design Group recently submitted two concepts for the City of Seattle's Office to Housing Call for Ideas program.
On The Boards
Designed to Deliver
01/01/2023
At Graphite, we believe Design is a team sport, and have crafted a process to ensure nobody is left on the sidelines.
Read more about our process here.
News/Press
Parque Kirkland named 2022 Multifamily Executive Award Winner
10/04/2022
At the Multifamily Executive Awards ceremony in October 2022, Henbart Development's Parque Kirkland was honored as an outstanding project in the "Garden Style" apartment category.
News/Press
Mary's Place Family Shelter at Amazon in the Regrade
06/02/2021
Working in tandem with Mary’s Place, the Amazon Global Real Estate and Facilities team, Seneca Group and GLY construction, the Graphite design team was able to radically re-imagine what a family shelter could be by occupying sections of eight floors in the company’s complex.
Insights
Sustainability
Retail
03/13/24
We seek to align sustainable design practices with the right clients as they grow and pursue their own environmental goals.Sustainability
Living Building Pilot Program
03/13/24
We explore opportunities to pursue added height and building area over baseline development models. These development bonuses provide real returns on investment for substantial sustainability upgrades.Sustainability
Adaptive Re-Use
03/13/24
Mary's Place Family Shelter converted six stories of Class A commercial office into a temporary shelter for hundreds of families in the Denny Regrade neighborhood.Sustainability
Mass Timber
03/13/24
Graphite is equipped with knowledge and expertise on Mass Timber construction. We know the variables, the speed of construction, and understand the value in the market of this exciting alternative to steel or concrete construction.Sustainability
Mixed-Use Districts
03/13/24
Explore the Denny Regrade, a neighborhood of a variety of densely planned uses that provide a sustainable solution, becoming the new, energized hub of the city.Sustainability
Mixed-Use Buildings
03/12/24
Density delivers sustainability. The closer things are, the less energy is used, the more resources are saved, and the fewer emissions it takes to get from one place to another.News/Press
Vulcan's Block 37 Receives Preliminary Design Review Approval
06/17/22
After returning to Seattle’s West Design Review Board for its second Early Design Guidance (EDG) meeting, Vulcan Real Estate has received full support to move forward with its 289,000 square foot commercial proposal.News/Press
Jeff Bezos gives Washington governor a tour of homeless shelter attached to Amazon Headquarters
06/03/21
Jeff Bezos played host to Washington Governor Jay Inslee in a recent tour of the Mary’s Place family shelter that is attached to Amazon’s corporate headquarters campus in Seattle.Insights
Graphite Sustainability Initiative- The Development Strategy
02/03/21
Graphite's sustainability considerations for flexible area usage in South Lake Union.Awards
2019 Night of the Stars Include Arbor Blocks, Office Development of the Year
11/25/20
WINNER: Arbor Blocks CategoryOffice Development of the YearNews/Press
Google Takes Occupancy of Vulcan’s South Lake Union Campus
11/25/20
Connect Seattle October 8, 2019