Asia Pacific Cultural Center
The Asia Pacific Cultural Center gives a permanent home to an organization representing 47 countries and more than 50 cultures, serving over 225,000 people annually through cultural programming, youth mentorship, small-business outreach, mental health services, and environmental justice initiatives. Delivered on a tight $10.5 million budget for 18,500 square feet, the project fits a ten-part program (performance hall, commercial kitchen, gallery, gift shop, dance studio, classrooms, offices, and library) through disciplined material choices rather than costly variety.
The design draws on two references shared across the Asia Pacific community: navigation across the Pacific Ocean and a common relationship to bamboo. A wave motif threads through acoustical ceilings, flooring patterns, and lighting to guide visitors, while bamboo - indigenous to nearly every represented nation - is concentrated where it has the greatest impact: a two-story 47-nation display case, casework, library shelving, and stair treads. The building is conceived as a bamboo forest nested within the site's protected Garry Oaks, Washington's only native oak, with the existing trees shaping the building's scale, placement, and orientation rather than being cleared for it.
Framed views, covered porches inspired by Japanese engawa, and three distinct garden zones extend the building into South Park, keeping APCC active in the community even when closed. The project achieved LEED® Silver certification and opened to the public in August 2025.
