The 601 W 5th Avenue project, formerly known as the Key Bank Plaza Building, is a complete renovation, retrofit and expansion of an existing office building located in Anchorage, Alaska. The existing building, originally constructed in the early 1970s, suffered structural damage in the November 2018 earthquake requiring the building to be fully vacated.
The site is positioned in the civic core of the city, neighbored by the Alaska Center for Performing Arts to the south, the Egan Convention Center to the east, the Visit Anchorage Headquarters to the northeast, the historic 4th Avenue theatre to the north, and a full block public park within a 30 second walk from the project site.
The renovation scope includes major seismic upgrades, the replacement of all mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, construction of a new stair tower and freight elevator and the addition of approximately 40,000 sq ft of floor area to the southeast corner of the property creating a building form that is inspired by glaciers and their sharp, glassy angles. Exterior building improvements include the complete replacement of the existing precast concrete cladding on three elevations with a new high-performance triple glazed curtain wall, new metal panel rainscreen as well as a complete roofing replacement.
By reutilizing most of the existing structure, the reduction in demolition waste and embodied carbon in materials compared to new construction allows a brand new building to be created with a fraction of the environmental impact.
All the information about how to enter the 2021 WAN Awards is here.
We are very happy to offer support so please don’t hesitate to email Shakira Browne, Senior Event Manager with any questions at shakira.browne@haymarket.com.
Last year more than 40 countries took part in the WAN Awards with strong showings from Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific. And we saw some truly outstanding interior designs, take a look at the winners from last year here.