Redmond, Washington

[editor]

I popped over to Redmond, Washington last month to shoot some pictures for the Towrs architecture web site (plug! plug!). Not all that much to see there. It doesn't seem to have a real downtown. It's like a small bedroom suburb, rather than an actual town.

That may explain the Microsoft campus. It's like a big gated suburban village, rather than a corporate office park. I was pretty disappointed with what I saw there. Dozens and dozens of boring flat office buildings with virtually no character. This is a company that can do anything with its architecture, but chooses to do nothing. A wasted opportunity. It's so bland I only bothered to take a couple of snaps of Microsoft.

The best architecture in town is, without a doubt, the city hall. Great job on that one. Modern, but very local. Good colors and aesthetic. Very nice.

But if it wasn't for Microsoft, I don't see any reason for this town to exist.

The Clise Mansion

King County District Court

Microsoft Building 92

Redmond City Hall

Redmond Marriott Town Center

Redmond Town Center

Willowmoor Farm Windmill

[brijonmang]

Ahhh I wish we had that kind of evergreen backdrop down here...the mountains can come too!

[little frau]

Really nice photos! Thanks for sharing.

What's inside the iron gates? Looks like it could have been used in a 40's film noir.

[editor]

Really nice photos! Thanks for sharing.

What's inside the iron gates? Looks like it could have been used in a 40's film noir.

It's that mansion and windmill in the earlier photos. The park where that was shot used to be a private estate, but the county bought it and now it's public. The county rents the mansion out for weddings and conferences and stuff, while the rest of the property is open to anyone.