July 8, 1998

Rewriting the rules for architects

By CLAIR ENLOW
Journal A/E editor

Alan Sclater has rewritten the rules -- on retail design and codes, and on the architect's relationship to the client in standard contracts. On a nationwide scale, he's helped to bring both into line with contemporary realities.

Alan Schlater

For this and more, the 56-year-old Seattle architect was recognized in May as a new member of the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

From California to the midwest to the Northwest, Sclater has been in the midst of a retail revolution that changed the landscape: the shopping center. He used his early experience in design and design management of malls to help rewrite nationwide codes for buildings with large interiors.

After studying architecture at the University of Southern California School of Architecture, Sclater began working in 1962 with the Los Angeles firm Burke Kober Nicolais Archuleta, which was rapidly developing a specialty in shopping centers.

It was a time when department stores like Bullocks decamped main street to set up their own "fashion centers" in the open California landscape. There was a height limit in Los Angeles, land was cheap, and the possibilities for making a fashion statement were as large as a new building. Californians were already in their cars and ready to drive.

Fashion centers became malls. With their architects, Bullocks and other department stores took the winning concept out to less gentle climates nationwide. The trend gathered strength in the '70s and '80s, even as the movement to revive downtown shopping districts began.

After working on retail projects in Southern California for 10 years, Sclater moved to Chicago to open the Chicago office of Charles Kober Associates. Already a shareholder in the firm, he became licensed as an architect for the first time. As demand for his design specialty grew, Sclater became licensed to practice architecture in 22 states.

Bellevue Square

He had already lectured widely on retail design when he became a Uniform Building Code Committee member with the International Conference of Building Officials and developed new regulations governing mall construction between 1975 and 1977. Sclater's language was adopted in all three model codes around the country, each variations of the national Basic Building Code.

In 1977, he became a founding partner in the Jerde Partnership, a firm that emphasized master planning in addition to architectural design. As he managed the growing firm, he also continued to work on codes and standards into the 1980s through the AIA and the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC).

Sclater and his associates have shown that in some cases, a well designed mall can play downtown very well.

"Bellevue Square," said Sclater, "started as a place where local merchants stopped to sell their wares."

It become a regional shopping center designed by Charles Kober Associates in 1979 after Sclater rejoined former partners in Seattle to become managing principal for the reconstruction of the 32-acre retail complex. With a 12-step phasing plan, Sclater allowed existing stores to continue business throughout the construction process.

The office of Sclater Associates, Architects, in the Centennial Building.

The project was recognized with five national and regional design awards and became the heart of an emerging suburban city. Its light-filled, multi-level interior streetscape became a new design standard by which the mall could be measured. Don Carlson was a design partner with Kober for Bellevue Square.

Charles Kober Associates became Kober/Sclater, and worked in Seattle on the expansion of Bellevue Square as well as many other urban and suburban retail projects around the nation.

Sclater is proud of the part he and his design associates played in making retail a part of the urban fabric. But when it comes to urban design, Sclater is a realist. "The market is where the people are," he said.

His firm recently advised the City of SeaTac not to channel retail onto streets where there is little traffic in hopes of building a city center.

"That's the 'field of dreams' approach," said Sclater. "It doesn't happen that way in retail. You have to go where the people are."

Sclater, whose firm at 414 Stewart is now called Sclater Partners, Architects, has always been more involved in planning and construction management of his projects than actual design. As an architect, he is committed to the belief that, "The way we work influences what we design."

Sclater was one of the authors of the most widely used standard form agreement between owner and architect. The new document allows architects to more easily expand services and take a greater leadership role in projects.

"There are more specialized services. We needed a document that wasn't one-size fits all."

Now he is involved with the AIA in an effort to produce an International Building Code by 2000. "There is pressure from architects as well as the private sector to have such a code," he said.

The design world moves fast, and Sclater hopes the new document will give architects the tools they need to help shape it.