The eleven-story State Office Building nestles into the hillside and refuses to dominate the city. Linn A. Forrest also designed the Federal Building, an upright slab at Ninth Street and Glacier Avenue. That 1962 building, a concrete high-rise in a small-scaled city, provides a stark contrast to the State Office Building, which leans against the hillside, adjusting its plan to the uneven terrain. The first four floors, accessible only from Willoughby Street on the downhill side, house a parking garage. Most of the upper floors, which contain offices, are not located directly over the garage. Irregular in plan, they are arranged around an irregularly shaped atrium. Entrance is at the eighth level, on the Calhoun Avenue side, adjacent to the Capitol. Although the 1970s harsh concrete exterior does not conform to 1980s contextualism, the building's form is nicely sympathetic to its setting.
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Alaska State Office Building
1974, John Graham Company in association with Linn A. Forrest Architects. Fourth and Calhoun streets
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