Reinvention of Indoor & Outdoor Amenity Spaces
Cooper Apartments Amenity Refresh
A sleek, modern take on the industrial aesthetic of journeyman coopers.
Repositioning a community is always a balance of mixing old with new. With a small, underutilized lobby, drab community spaces, and an outdoor space that wasn’t living up to its potential, this multifamily property needed a new vision to help it compete in the Seattle market. A new brand identity, a strong design aesthetic, and refreshed amenity spaces elevate this property into an attractive community for the client’s target tenant.
This community presented us with the unique challenge of blending three separate schemes from three previous remodels into one cohesive palette and theme. In response, we developed three totally new schemes that unify the spaces without erasing their individuality.
Uniting the spaces is the concept of the cooper, the profession from which the community gets its name. Curves, arches, blackened steel, wood slats, and handmade wood joinery throughout offer a sleek, modern take on the traditional wooden barrels, casks, and vats made by journeymen coopers.
Relocating the original leasing office to an otherwise unused area of the building allowed us to create more substantial community spaces with the added benefits of making the leasing office more accessible and the tenant amenities more secure.
The clubhouse, which benefited from this move, now offers multiple welcoming spaces for residents and their guests to enjoy. A comfortable seating area and a television sit adjacent to a family-style dining table, and the updated community kitchen around the corner feels connected to the rest of the space while shielding the lounge areas from any food prep bustle.
Trimmed in black with the space’s signature wood slatting within, the clubhouse’s barrel-like cutouts welcome guests into cozy nooks. A direct nod to the cooper, the booths are at once whimsical, yet wholly on brand.
Here, and elsewhere throughout the project, the industrial elements of wood and metal are enlivened by a mixed palette of fresh greens and blues accented by juicy burnt orange and golden-brown hues.
Through a new glass folding wall in the clubhouse, an underutilized outdoor pool was filled in favor of an expansive courtyard, doubling the clubhouse’s impact. Discrete zones break up the spacious outdoor space into areas for lounging, dining, and barbecuing. Assorted seating options, hardscape, turf, plantings, and an accessible deck provide options for any gathering or quiet afternoon. And ample overhead bistro lights take visitors to the space from day to night with ease.
Notes & Credits
Interior Design & Landscape Architecture by Board & Vellum.
Lighting Design Consultation by Luminous NW.
Photography by Cory Holland.
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