Zimmer Gunsul Frasca

ZGF continues to pursue projects nationally in several market sectors. The Seattle office employs 108 people, a slight increase from 105 people in 1999. Repeat clients in commercial, health care, education and private sectors have comprised the majority of the firm’s work in the past year.

The firm, which was established in Portland, has a diverse national practice of public and private commissions, with offices in Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Growth continues in all offices in both public and

private sectors. The firm’s current projects include Millennium Tower in Seattle; Safeco Insurance Co.’s Redmond campus; a conference center for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City; Williams College Unified Science Center in Williamstown, Mass.; Cancer Care Alliance outpatient facility in Seattle; Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup and the Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research Center at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md.

“We expect a modest slowdown in the upcoming year in the private corporate and commercial sectors as the demand begins to catch up with what is on the boards or in construction,” according to associate partner Brad Hinthorne. “The single most influential factor in the Northwest continues to be the growth of the high-tech and biotech industries and their demand for affordable and ‘wired’ space,” he said. “Aggressive construction schedules and the need for increased infrastructure and bandwidth affect overall budgets and place additional scrutiny on money spent for exterior treatment or interior public spaces.”

Sustainability in design is also a driving force in designing buildings, particularly in the public sector, according to Hinthorne. Use of sustainable materials for building construction and finishing is now widely practiced. “We are constantly looking for alternative materials and equipment that offer advantages in resource use, energy efficiency or longevity as a means of enhancing the long-term performance of the building,” he said.