When Waugh Thistleton Architects and Mithun sat down to design Bevel, the brief was as clear as it was ambitious: build an office tower in Bellevue, Washington, that challenges how North America thinks about commercial construction. The result is a 12-storey, 55-meter mass timber building developed by Skanska that, upon completion in August 2026, will claim the title of the tallest mass timber commercial office building on the continent.
That distinction matters. While tall timber has appeared in multifamily housing and student accommodations across North America, no commercial office building has yet pushed through the boundaries of Type IVB construction code. Bevel does exactly that, and in doing so, it draws a new line in the sand for what sustainable workplace design can look like at scale.
Designer: Waugh Thistleton Architects and Mithun
The building’s structural logic is unapologetic about what it’s made of. Mass timber columns, beams, and ceilings are left fully exposed throughout every office floor and across the ground-floor public areas. There’s no cladding to soften or conceal the material — the timber is the experience. Paired with full-height perimeter windows and floor-to-ceiling glazing in the lobby, the building pulls natural light and the Pacific Northwest landscape into nearly every corner of its 18,580 square meters…