Celebrating Culture, Community, and Connection
by Natalie Shutt-Banks, AIA, NOMA and Sonja Bochart, IIDA, LEED AP, LEED AP BD&C, WELL AP, LFA
Embodying the values of cultural pride, community resilience, and regenerative design, the Lake City Collective Cultural Center is taking shape in Seattle, Washington.
Led by Lake City Collective—a BIPOC grassroots organization serving neighborhoods north of Seattle’s Ship Canal—this project is a powerful example of how architecture can elevate historically marginalized voices to honor heritage and foster belonging. LCC’s leadership includes Latinx community members who have long advocated for inclusive spaces that reflect the rich cultural diversity of the area.
A Cultural Center Rooted in Multicultural Identity
The vision for the Lake City Collective Cultural Center is bold: a multicultural hub that uplifts people, not just programs. It will serve youth, elders, and families—many of whom are Latinx immigrants and first-generation Americans—with spaces for celebration, healing, and public services. It’s a place where cultural traditions are honored and where the community can gather, share stories, and thrive.
Stakeholders engage in a biophilic design charette.
As Biophilia Consultants, our team is helping shape this space through a design process grounded in the Living Building Challenge—the world’s most rigorous green building certification. Our role fuses environmental justice, equity, and design excellence.
Biophilic Design as Cultural Expression
Our Essence of Place methodology guides this work. It’s an approach that centers cultural heritage, ecological history, and community wisdom as design drivers. For Latinx communities, this means honoring traditions of land stewardship, intergenerational connection, and celebration of life through color, rhythm, and ritual.
During our 8-hour biophilic design charrette, we gathered with architects, engineers, community members, and city leaders—including Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell—to co-create a vision for the center. The day included storytelling, an indigenous land acknowledgment, and a guided walk through Little Brook, one of Seattle’s most diverse neighborhoods.
We explored how biophilic design can reflect Latinx values: vibrant gathering spaces, natural materials that evoke ancestral landscapes, and design patterns that support wellness, ceremony, and joy.
Redefining Sustainable Design
We’re proud to be part of this transformative project alongside Miller Hull, the Architect of Record, and the Lake City Collective. It’s a blueprint for inclusive, community-led design—where Latinx voices are not only heard but centered.
It also challenges the notion that high-performance, sustainable buildings are only for the privileged. Lake City Collective proves that regenerative architecture can be grassroots-funded and culturally grounded.
Natalie Shutt-Banks, AIA NOMA
Architect, Associate
Natalie is an experienced architect who thrives when navigating between the vastness of all creative possibilities and the real-world constraints of any design problem.
Sonja Bochart, IIDA, LEED AP, LEED AP BD&C, WELL AP, LFA
Director
Sonja leads Lens using regenerative, living-systems strategies to advance well-being, place, and community, driving meaningful impact and transformative change for people, projects, and organizations.