DET-01Civic reuse
Pier shed conversion
Waterfront industrial shed to public market and light industrial stalls.
▸ Open to the public, 2024
Source drawing
Source ofYOUArchitect · adaptive reuse
Sofia Nara
I turn industrial and civic buildings into working places without erasing what they already know how to be.
01Schedule
- Discipline
- Lead adaptive-reuse architecture from schematic through construction.
- Known for
- Adaptive reuse, Waterfront sheds, Historic coordination
- Focus
- Structure, Public use, Long life
02General notes
I trained at Berkeley and Washington, then spent nearly a decade at Harbor + Field on warehouse and multifamily reuse before founding Northline Studio in 2018. The work I want is the hard middle: buildings with history, sites with constraints, and clients who will fund the structure before the finishes.
03Elevation
2018 - present
Principal, Northline Studio
Adaptive reuse practice.
2012 - 2018
Project Architect, Harbor + Field
Industrial and multifamily reuse.
2009
M.Arch, University of Washington
04Details
DET-02Housing
School-to-housing shell
Former elementary school adapted for senior housing with retained gym volume.
▸ Certificate of occupancy, 2023
DET-03Workplace
Warehouse workspace campus
Three-building warehouse complex to maker and office campus.
▸ Phased occupancy complete
05Dimensions
8 adaptive-reuse projects
Schematic through occupancy at Northline Studio
Studio of 12
Architecture and interiors
Licensed architect
Washington state
06Scope of work
Adaptive reuse design
Full architectural services for industrial and civic conversion.
Feasibility studies
Structure, zoning, and cost framing before acquisition.
07Callouts
What does Sofia do?
She is a principal architect at Northline Studio in Seattle, focused on adaptive reuse of industrial and civic buildings.
What has she delivered?
Eight adaptive-reuse projects from schematic through occupancy, including two waterfront shed conversions now open to the public.
Where is she based?
Seattle, Washington.
08Specifications
Structure is the brief
Program changes. Structure does not. Start there and the rest of the design is honest.
Keep the scar
A crane rail, a loading dock edge, a chalk line under new paint. Erase everything and you have a new building with worse bones.
09References
Blueprint·shown with a fictional demo record
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