Situated within the industrial lowlands of Seattle, Washington, Merged stands as a Museum of Steel and Heavy Industry, honoring the city's rich history of steel production while also contemplating the environmental impact resulting from extensive industrialization. Positioned alongside the Nucor Steel Plant, the museum's design draws inspiration from the historical railway tracks that intersects the site, metaphorically echoing the marks left upon the earth by this industrial legacy.

 

The structure takes the form of a simple elongated rectangle, conceptualized as nature in its pure and delicate form until industrialization took place and left an inevitable scar and imprint. It is divided into three main parts – one is the substructure submerged into the earth, the second is a cantilevered body elevated of off the ground, the third, a structural tower expressing its flight from the harsh consequences of heavy industry. These three components reflect upon the ideas of past, present and future to represent the challenges of industrial practices necessary for humanity while it co-exists with the natural world. The structural tower is introduced to realize the concept of ascend. It suspends the main body of the museum as a stabilized cantilevered structure that lightly touches the ground. The tower hosts visitors for a panoramic viewpoint while providing a nesting habitat for birds currently inhabiting nearby bridge structures. This delicate relationship of building, ecology, and landscape frames the restored wetland below and mediates the inevitable impact of industry. It is a built representation to practice sustainability and to restructure the natural and man-made interventions for a better integration of industry and the environment.