Seattle’s tech, biomedical, and nonprofit sectors are experiencing rapid growth, causing an unprecedented demand for power in the city’s downtown business area. The problem is most electrical substations—which transform and distribute electricity—are also mostly glum, concrete facilities relegated to desolate stretches of cityscapes. Not so with NBBJ's design for the Denny substation. The architecture firm took the same care and attention to detail that's usually reserved for major public buildings and applied it to infrastructure. In addition to providing much-needed power downtown, the structure also offers event spaces, housing, and public gardens.