Team picked for Westpark rehab

The Bremerton Housing Authority selected architects and civil engineers for redevelopment of Westpark into a mixed-income, mixed-use community.

BCRA of Tacoma was chosen as civil engineer, Tonkin Hoyne Lokan of Seattle as architect for the replacement low-income housing, Ross Deckman & Associates of Puyallup as architect for the multi-family housing and ARC Architects of Seattle as architect for the administration building.

Marathon Development of Bellevue developed the master plan and created the subarea plan. When complete, Westpark will have 28 acres of parks and open space, 110 multi-family units, 150 condos, 234 townhomes, 38 cottages, 97 single-family residences, commercial space and a new administration building for the authority.

The authority expects to have approval from HUD in August.

Tour Capitol Hill’s ‘Millionaire’s Row’

A tour of houses on “Millionaire’s Row” on Capitol Hill will be held Saturday, Sept. 8, from 10 a.m. to noon, with Museum of History and Industry Executive Director Leonard Garfield and historian Allan Seidenverg.

In the early 20th century, few streets in Seattle better reflected the city’s new-found wealth than 14th Avenue East on Capitol Hill.

Cost is MOHAI members $20, general $25. Day-of tickets cost an additional $5 and are subject to availability. Tickets available through http://www.brownpapertickets.com.

The tour will start at the Water Tower at the south entrance to Volunteer Park.

Callison projects in LEED C&S pilot

Callison has designed four local projects that qualify for LEED certification under the U.S. Green Building Council Core & Shell pilot program: West 8th, Westlake Terry, 2201 Westlake and High Street Block.

West 8th earned a gold pre-certification rating in the Core & Shell Program. The speculative, high-rise office building is in the Denny Triangle. It will reduce energy consumption nearly 20 percent and reduce water consumption by 40 percent.

Westlake Terry is expected to achieve LEED gold certification. It will have showers, bicycle storage and a nearby transit stop.

2201 Westlake will use under-floor air distribution for heating and cooling. Heat from the office building will be used to heat the residential tower.

High Street Block 8 has the first green roof in Issaquah.

ZGF designs for Dana-Farber

The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston broke ground on an outpatient care and clinical research facility to be known as the Yawkey Center for Cancer Care. It was designed by Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects in conjunction with Miller Dyer Spears, a Boston-based architectural and planning firm.

ZGF is the design architect and MDS is the associate architect. Walsh Brothers of Boston is the construction manager.

The 275,000-square-foot, 13-story building is designed to provide a collaborative environment across disciplines. Another goal is to integrate art and nature into the center and make the area more pedestrian-friendly.

The center will seek a silver LEED rating.

Spokane design students beat pros

Four master of architecture students from Washington State University Spokane designing the winning entry for a new Walla Walla Market Station. The team of Colin Anderson, Blake Bural, Nicholas Carpenter and Ben Fields entered the competition on their own outside of school to get some real-world experience. They beat 15 other teams, including professional designers.

The contest asked designers to explore the possibilities of a new station, calling for a farmer’s market and transit center. They also addressed public space, parking, and pedestrian and traffic flow.

The team won $3,000 for first place and $5,000 for making it to the semi-final round.

CDi Engineers wins WWU job

Western Washington University recently awarded the Boiler No. 5 Economizer and Auxiliaries project at the Bellingham campus to CDi Engineers, a mechanical consulting engineering firm in Lynnwood.

The project will include prime mechanical engineering services for installation of a stack economizer on a 100,000-pounds-per-hour industrial watertube boiler. The economizer will improve the boiler’s energy efficiency.

Subconsultants are Elcon Associates, electrical engineering, and EISI Consulting Engineers, structural engineering.

Springwood center earns LEED silver

Photo by B. Sparks [enlarge]

The $3.4 million, 10,800-square-foot center was designed by ARC Architects.

The Springwood Youth Center has earned LEED silver from the U.S. Green Building Council.

The $3.4 million, 10,800-square-foot center was designed by ARC Architects in consultation with King County Housing Authority and its nonprofit partners. It provides a community center and programs for low-income people in South King County.

The center is located on the East Hill of Kent in the Springwood Apartments complex, which is owned and managed by the authority. The project also received the 2007 Editor's Choice Award from Recreation Management Magazine.

Jennifer Reese of ARC said the building cost $167 a square foot. “You can create a sustainable building within constrained budgets,” she said. “It was an integrated team effort.”

Consultants included SvR Design Co. (civil), Mazzetti & Associates (mechanical/electrical), Swift & Co. (landscape), MLA Engineering (structural), Welsh Commissioning Group, Inc. (commissioning) and Briere & Associates (contractor).

Eighty-two percent of the space is naturally lit by windows and skylights. It uses 20 percent less energy compared to a baseline building of the same size.

Lane and Coburn start a new firm

Keith Lane and Scott Coburn have started a new firm, Lane Coburn & Associates in Woodinville, providing electrical engineering consulting and design services around the country.

Combined they have 35 years of experience in electrical consulting and design/build. Lane and Coburn say they want to better coordinate electrical engineering plans with construction in the field.

“We have seen too many engineering plans that were over designed and under coordinated. You really need to get down into the details and understand all applicable codes in detail,” Lane said.

Scott Coburn has 20 years of experience as a journeyman electrician.

Redmond school wins design award

Mahlum Architects won the Pinnacle Award for design of the Rosa Parks Elementary School in Redmond from the Council of Educational Facility Planners International.

The school is in the Redmond Ridge neighborhood, and has been featured in Architectural Record magazine and School Construction News. The design recalls national park architecture, with shed roofs and large windows.

Spokane marketers elect new officers

The following people have been elected officers of the Marketing Associates of Spokane group: president Leslie White of Coffman Engineers; vice president Julie Culver of Northwest Mechanical Engineering; treasurer and co-programs chair Jennifer Van Vleet of Coffman Engineers; programs co-chair and special events co-chair Marty Orchard of Lydig Construction; membership co-chair Terri McRae of ALSC Architects; membership co-chair Kim Homdrom of Architects West; public relations and sponsorship chair April Brast of GeoEngineers; and special events co-chair Lori Ott of CLC Associates.

Aspect Consulting Seattle expansion

Aspect Consulting is expanding and moving to the Court in the Square building in Pioneer Square. As of July 30, the firm's Seattle address will be 401 Second Ave. S., Suite 201.

Aspect provides environmental, water resources and geologic engineering services from offices in Seattle and Bainbridge Island. Local projects include the Gates Foundation groundwater remediation, geology/hydrogeology work for the Sound Transit University Link Light Rail, cleanup of the SAM Olympic Sculpture Park site and a stormwater GIS system for the Port of Seattle.

Sparling wins Ore. campus contract

Clackamas Community College has awarded a one-year contract to Sparling's Portland Electrical Studio to provide electrical engineering services at the campus in Oregon City, Ore.

The 350,000-square-foot campus serves 26,000 students a year. Sparling will analyze the electrical system and needed repairs.

Sparling is currently working on Clackamas Community College's Harmony campus, with Mark Peckover and Kim Krull heading up the project.

NGA divests its software business

Northwest Geophysical Associates has divested the software development segment of the company to Geosoft, Inc., of Toronto, Canada. This will allow NGA to focus exclusively on geophysical services.

NGA has offices in Corvallis, Ore., and works for clients in geotechnical, environmental and groundwater industries. Rowland French, currently vice president and head of the geophysical services department, will become president, and Gerry Connard will remain as chairman of the board. All the members of the geophysical services team will continue with NGA.

NGA's past projects have included depth-to-bedrock mapping, aquifer characterization, contaminant leachate delineation, detection and delineation of buried materials, and site response studies for earthquake hazards.

BLRB picked for Montesano projects

The Montesano School District has selected BLRB Architects to provide architectural services for several district projects totaling an estimated $20 million, including Simpson Intermediate School replacement, modernization of Beacon Primary School and upgrades to the Junior/Senior High School.

The projects are scheduled for completion in the summer of 2010.

Tacoma-based BLRB has designed more than 550 school projects in Washington and Oregon.

Tacoma landscape firm wins awards

The new Heritage Recreation Center at South Hill, jointly developed by Pierce County Parks and Recreation and the Puyallup School District, received the Spotlight Sports Complex Award of Merit from the Washington Recreation and Park Association at its 2007 annual conference. The project was designed by Bruce Dees & Associates, a Tacoma landscape architecture firm.

The 38-acre site is located between Rogers High and Zeiger Elementary schools. It has a lighted baseball field, four lighted softball fields and six soccer fields. There is also a concessions/restroom building and a children's play area.

New book features Seattle public art

Photo by YaM Studio [enlarge]

The Plaza at King Street Center was designed by artist Jack Mackie with NBBJ architects and Hewitt Architects landscape architecture.

Ronald Lee Fleming's new book, “The Art of Placemaking: Interpreting Community Through Public Art and Urban Design,” includes a number of Seattle area projects in a national survey of public art. The King County projects were managed by 4Culture.

Local projects include Lorna Jordan's Waterworks Garden in Renton; Jack Mackie's The Plaza at King Street Center, with NBBJ and Hewitt Architects; Linda Beaumont's Full Circle at Harborview Medical Center; Mark Eric Gulsrud's Security Screen at the Regional Justice Center in Kent; and Elizabeth Conner and Cliff Willwerth's Waterway 15 on the north shore of Lake Union.

“Ronald Lee Fleming has devoted decades to fighting the placelessness that modern technology and commercialism impose everywhere today,” said Nathan Glazer, author and Harvard professor. “He has shown us how to define a place through public art so as to induce pride in residents and interest in visitors. This book is an encyclopedic summing up of the best work on making places out of the anonymous anywhere.”

The book offers guidance on public art, and interviews with artists and public art administrators. It also examines several “dead spaces” where past approaches to art and urban design have failed.

Fleming is founder of The Townscape Institute and specializes in urban design, public art, historic preservation and environmental education.

Mariner Moose Den done by Dillon Works

Dillon Works, a Mukilteo-based custom design and fabrication company, has completed the Mariner Moose Den at Safeco Field.

Dillon Works designed, fabricated and installed a Northwest log-cabin-style den with a faux fireplace in the center-field concourse adjacent to the children's play area.

Two spots open on market council

Two positions are open on the 12-member Pike Place Market Public Development Authority Council. The PDA council sets the direction for activities of the PDA. Members must reside in Seattle.

Candidates with a background in finance or development are encouraged to apply. Send a letter of interest and a resume by July 24 to rebecca.hansen@seattle.gov. Paper submittals may be sent to Mayor Greg Nickels, c/o Rebecca Hansen, 600 Fourth Ave., Box 94749, Seattle 98124-4749.

Callison projects join LEED study

Two Callison projects have been selected by the United States Green Building Council for inclusion in the LEED for Neighborhood Development Pilot Program. The projects are City Creek Center in Salt Lake City and Ever Vail in Vail, Colo.

Projects in the pilot program will help in developing the LEED neighborhood program, which will combine smart growth, new urbanism and green building.

City Creek Center will be done in 2011, with retail, housing and office towers on two city blocks across from Temple Square. There will be six acres of open space.

The one-million-square-foot, mixed-use Ever Vail will combine retail, a hotel, housing, office, restaurants, mountain operations facilities and a garage. Two creeks will be restored and a brownfield site will be redeveloped. Callison said it will be the largest LEED-certified resort in the United States.

ORB finishes pool projects

Image courtesy ORB Architects

The Fife Swim Center renovation included a new lobby and entrance.

ORB Architects recently completed several aquatic and recreational projects in Fife, Tacoma and Othello.

ORB worked with the city of Fife to upgrade the Fife Swim Center, with an expansion of the locker rooms, new family changing rooms, new restrooms, and remodeling and reconfiguration of the lobby and entrance.

The Metropolitan Park District of Tacoma hired ORB to design three new spray grounds to

replace wading pools at Jefferson Park, McKinley Playfield and South Park. The work included recirculation, filtration and sanitation systems, as well as paving, storm drainage, landscaping and lighting.

ORB also worked on a new zero-depth leisure pool, a six-lane lap pool, lazy river, water slide, spray park and bathhouse for the Othello Park and Recreation District. The design-build team included Apollo Construction and WMS Aquatics.