Coughlin Porter Lundeen

Jim Coughlin, Steve Porter and Terry Lundeen founded Coughlin Porter Lundeen in Seattle in 1994 with six people. The firm now runs more than 100 and works from offices in Seattle and Spokane. It offers structural and civil engineering under one roof along with seismic engineering and BIM-based virtual design, a combination that matters in a high-seismic region where foundation, site and lateral design decisions are hard to separate. Project experience spans commercial, institutional and residential work across the Pacific Northwest, including the Amazon Terry Avenue Building and Starbucks Center in Seattle and the PACCAR Environmental Technology Building at Washington State University. The firm is civil engineer on Bevel, Skanska’s proposed mass timber office tower in downtown Bellevue.

In a region full of soft soils and unreinforced masonry, the seismic group is where Coughlin Porter Lundeen’s work gets tested hardest. The firm states plainly that its seismic approach goes past baseline code compliance, targeting hyper-local vulnerabilities including soil liquefaction, seismic retrofits and unreinforced masonry in historic buildings, using performance-based design and tailored damping technologies. It also says it continues to contribute to the development of international seismic codes. Founding principal Terry Lundeen, now principal emeritus, is a case in point: four decades of structural work on offices, healthcare, laboratory and municipal buildings, service on local historic preservation boards, and a leading role in national seismic upgrade codes and standards.

Seismic and preservation projects named on the site include the Smith Tower renovation, Washington Hall, The Astor at the Washington Building in Tacoma, The Sanctuary and F5 Tower, Graystone and Populus Seattle. The structural practice, which founders Terry Lundeen and Jim Coughlin built, spans materials from cross-laminated timber to concrete and a range of framing systems. Coughlin, also principal emeritus, is credited with structural documents behind more than 60 million square feet of Pacific Northwest facilities, and is quoted arguing that comprehensive drawings make buildings easier and cheaper to construct.

The civil department, founded by Steve Porter, takes on greenfield sites alongside contaminated ground and steeply graded parcels, and Porter’s own Seattle portfolio includes the Microsoft campus, the Amazon Spheres, the Allen Institute and the decade-long transformation of South Lake Union. Recent civil and structural assignments cluster in schools, healthcare and technology: the Lake Stevens High School modernization, the Mercer Middle School replacement in Seattle, Seattle Children’s Autism and Behavioral Health Clinic, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center South Lake Union clinic expansion, Providence Swedish Performance Center and Clubhouse in Renton, Microsoft’s Thermal Energy Center in Redmond, the Global Technology East Campus refresh, and Pasco Fire Station 83.

Sustainability at the firm is framed narrowly and practically around stormwater management, mass timber and embodied carbon rather than as a general commitment, and that focus shows in its published insights, which in August 2026 included a guide to the Seattle stormwater code update. Technology means building information modeling and virtual reality used to reduce coordination uncertainty for owners, architects and contractors. Staff donate hundreds of hours a year locally and internationally, serving on nonprofit boards, supporting STEM students and donating engineering services. The Seattle office is in the 2nd and Seneca Building at 1191 Second Avenue, one block from the Symphony light rail station and six from the Colman Dock ferry terminal; Spokane operates from 510 W Riverside Avenue.