Merge

Standing out in a sea of ‘same’.

Overview

Globally renowned real estate investment group Tishman Speyer reached out to Rapt Studio to create a unique and ownable brand for their forthcoming, 5-acre multi-building workplace campus in Bellevue, Washington. As their first ground-up development in the region, Merge represents their entry to a new market.

Once a bedroom community to Seattle, Bellevue has experience immense investment over the past two decades. A snapshot of the market in 2022 revealed:

• 9 buildings in construction within a 4x6 block radius

• 35% YOY median gain in housing cost (2022) in the state’s top school district

• continued development of the country’s most ambitious transit project

A cultural analysis of Bellevue revealed that the city is still developing its own sense of place and identity. It doesn’t hold the storied history or liveliness of neighboring Seattle. Locals comment on its cleanliness and quietness. An audit of existing and in-the-pipeline buildings and developments in Bellevue’s urban core embody a language higher, taller, greater, more, more, more.

We immediately noticed a shared tone and language across existing and in-the-pipeline developments. A language of newer, taller, better, ‘more than’. When everyone is striving for the luxury of commodity - the ‘members-only’ version of participating in the urban community, we developed a position of approachability — community is the new luxury.