November 4, 2009
The Lacey/Thurston County Regional Athletic Complex has been named project of the year by the International Northwest Park and Recreation Association. The $18.9 million center was completed in April on a 78-acre site formerly owned by the Ostrom Co. and used for mushroom farming.
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The 2009 Stanley D. Wilson Memorial Lecture is presented by Shannon & Wilson and the University of Washington's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Miller has served on the ACEC Board in numerous capacities including as a director, vice-president, and most recently as chair-elect. Joining Miller are new officers: Chris Robertson, Shannon & Wilson, chairman-elect; Carol Slaughterbeck, Herrera Environmental Consultants, vice chair; and Nancy Walker, MWH Americas, vice chair.
This year's directors are: Bob Axley, Wood Harbinger; John Franklin, CH2M Hill; Steve Johnston, Landau Associates; Mark Napier, J-U-B Engineers; Arnie Rusten, BergerABAM; and Kurt Gahnberg, TranspoGroup.
ACEC Washington president and CEO is Bill Garrity.
The foundation says the tour will focus on the “profound effect that money, green construction, adaptive re-uses and streetcars can bring to a community.” The two-hour tour begins at the main entrance to Whole Foods, 2210 Westlake Ave. The cost is $15. Register online at www.seattlearchitecture.org or call (800) 838-3006. The cost is $20 on the day of the tour if space is available.
Nearly 100 firms in Washington participated, reporting on more than 8,500 positions in eight categories. In addition to salary reporting, the survey includes data on health and retirement benefits, perks, and other corporate policies for non-salary compensation. Members of ACEC Washington that participate in the survey receive a complimentary copy, while non-members have the option of purchasing the survey at a reduced rate. Learn more at www.acec-wa.org/resources.
October 28, 2009
It commemorates the 10th anniversary of the National Design Awards and showcases the winners recognized during the first decade. Kundig was awarded the 2008 National Design Award in Architecture.
Classes begin Jan. 7, 2010, and will be held Wednesday and Thursday evenings, from 6 to 9 p.m., on the UW Tacoma campus. Participants earning the credential must complete three courses over nine months. The instructor, Catherine Crook, is the GIS analyst for the Port of Tacoma and has taught GIS classes for the Department of Forestry. For more information and to apply, visit www.tacoma.washington.edu/pdc, or call (253) 692-4618.
The magazine editors assembled an initial list of candidate firms and then surveyed 16,000 randomly selected Architect readers. Finalist firms were ranked based on caliber of design, sustainable practices, 2008 awards and fiscal responsibility.
NAC also recently ranked 34th in Building Design + Construction magazine's ranking of the top 300 architecture firms in the U.S.
Owners Peter Brachvogel, an architect, and Stella Carosso say the new company designs modest-sized homes based on accommodating what they call “overlapping living patterns.” The homes have front porches, which extend the living space. There are 10 designs for homes that range in size from 570 to 3,500 square feet. The designs are sold through houseplans.com for $1,500 and through perfectlittlehouse.com for an additional $250.
The 20-year-old firm has worked on projects ranging from small single-family remodels to mixed-use projects and town planning.
The site lets users share ideas on new trends related to the design and construction of steel buildings and bridges. Users can post, download and vote on the effectiveness of various tools, such as documents and software. Users also can form networks and participate in blogs and online discussions.
A panel will address how energy consumption can be reduced by software, the role of information technology in building systems, and how sophisticated hardware and software is reducing energy demands in businesses and homes.
Panelists include: Doug Bors, president of Sophometrics, Jim Hanna, vice president at Optimum Energy and Bob Stolarski, Puget Sound Energy's director of customer energy management.
Learn more at www.wacleantech.org/featuredevent.html
The scholarship is open to any high school senior graduating from high schools in the chapter's six-county area who will be attending a university with an accredited architectural program.
AWB will auction off the pumpkins after the award ceremony. Tup Tim Thai's pad thai, donuts from Mighty O, and other appetizers and beverages will be provided. Learn more at the Web site awb-seattle.org.
For the third quarter, 51.3 percent of firms reported average or above billings compared to the second quarter, a significant increase over the 32 percent reported last quarter.
Additionally, 55.4 percent of firms reported average or above inquiries for the same time frame, up from 32.2 percent last quarter. One in five firms reported work directly related to stimulus funds.
Despite increased optimism, the job market remains weak as only 11.8 percent of firms plan to hire in the upcoming quarter, down from 14.3 percent previously. The ASLA Business Quarterly survey looks at key statistics including billable hours, inquiries and hiring plans. The third quarter survey was conducted Oct. 1-16, with 381 firms responding.
The program begins this fall, with the second and third courses offered in successive quarters. Bellevue College's Interior Design program is accredited by the Council for Interior Design Accreditation.
For more information, call the college's program office at (425) 564-2341 or visit the Web site at www.bellevuecollege.edu/ArtsHum/interiordesign/
The Tempe Transportation Center, designed by Otak of Portland, won four more awards.
The Arizona AIA chapter gave it the Kemper Goodwin Award for collaboration and the SRP Sustainability Award. The center also won Southwest Construction Magazine's Best of 2009 Arizona Award for Green Building, and the Arizona Masonry Guild's Excellence in Masonry Architectural Award.
To date, the center has won nine awards.
The center is the hub for rail, bus and bike transportation, serving the new 20-mile light rail system. It also has retail and houses the city's transportation offices, traffic management center, community room and transit store. The 40,300-square-foot project cost $20.2 million.
It was designed to achieve LEED platinum, and is the city's first building to recycle graywater as well as stormwater, and is Arizona's first bicycle commuter facility. The signage program is the nation's first to use construction scrap, old bus tires and abandoned bicycles.
Otak was the city of Tempe's prime consultant and lead architect. Other project partners include Architekton, Adolfson & Peterson Construction, Baker Engineers, A Dye Design, Akali Lighting, LSW, Struktur Studio, Natural Logic, Natural Systems and Solarac.
International design and engineering firm Atkins has been awarded architectural and infrastructure design on the third and final phase of Durrat al Bahrain, a series of islands at the southern tip of Gulf state Bahrain.
Phase three requires design and documentation of infrastructure, landscaping and architectural engineering of 570 villas and other buildings on four of the planned 13 islands. Completion of two inner islands and two outer islands, will complete construction of the luxury residential resort.
Atkins began working on this project in 2004 and construction of the first two phases is underway. Phase three is expected to start next year.
October 21, 2009
The North Carolina Cancer Hospital, designed by Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects, opened this fall.
ZGF Design Partner Allyn Stellmacher said the goals of the 315,000-square-foot project were to improve care and further research.
Spaces are organized to bring teams of caregivers and researchers into patient rooms to collectively discuss treatment plans. Teleconferencing allows community physicians to also participate.
Because family support is critical to a patient's recovery, patient and exam rooms are large enough to accommodate relatives. Rooms have natural daylighting and views of gardens and courtyards.
The project also includes a new 125,000-square-foot Physicians' Office Building and the reconstruction of a pedestrian bridge.
The hospital cost $178 million and the office building cost $29 million. Skanska was the general contractor.
ZGF is also working on design of a 68-bed, $227 million hospital in Hillsborough, N.C.
Positions are open on the Northeast, Northwest, Queen Anne/Magnolia/South Lake Union, Southeast, Southwest, Downtown, and Capitol Hill/First Hill/Central District boards.
Board members should expect to work 12-14 hours a month attending and preparing for twice monthly evening board meetings. Dec. 10 is the application deadline.
For more details or to apply, go to seattle.gov/designreview or contact Tom Iurino at tom.iurino@seattle.gov or (206) 684-0435.
Seattle-based Notkin analyzes and designs health care, educational and government projects.
The event will be at Pravda, Suite 200, 1406 10th Ave. on Capitol Hill. Tickets are $10 to $13 and available at brownpapertickets.com.
Among the speakers are Microsoft Chief Environmental Strategist Rob Bernard and Saatchi & Saatchi Global CEO Adam Werbach.
Seattle Greendrinks, Re-Vision Labs, EnergySavvy.com and Kevin Moore Consulting host Bloom.
