OAC honored by business magazine

OAC Services said it was named one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For by Seattle Business Magazine.

Results were based on confidential employee surveys about issues such as corporate culture, leadership and workplace environment.

All the winners are at seattlebusinessmag.com.

Seattle-based OAC Services is a professional services firm that has done federal, military, municipal, education, health care, commercial and residential projects.

DCI charity golf tourney Aug. 25

DCI Engineers will hold its annual Charity Golf Tournament to benefit Childhaven Aug. 25 at The Golf Club at Newcastle.

Childhaven provides care to over 300 abused and neglected children annually in Seattle.

Register for the tournament at http://tiny.cc/opmycy/.

DCI is a civil and structural engineering firm with offices in Washington, Oregon, California, Texas and Alaska.

Event focuses on design partnerships

AIA Seattle will hold a happy hour networking event from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Aug. 11 at SHKS Architects at 1050 N. 38th St. in Seattle.

The AIA's young architects forum and women in design committees organized the free event, which SHKS and Site Workshop will co-host.

The event will highlight partnerships that have led to successful projects.

SAF Pike/Pine tour is Aug. 13

Seattle Architecture Foundation is offering a tour Aug. 13 called “Pike/Pine: Change on an Urban Scale” that looks at architecture in this rapidly changing neighborhood.

The two-hour tour starts at 10 a.m. at Seattle Central College, outside Broadway Performance Hall at 1625 Broadway. It will look at buildings and streetscapes that give the neighborhood character, and explore whether that character can be preserved in this building boom.

Cost is $15. Register at http://tiny.cc/fotmay/.

MAS food drive set for July 25

Marketing Associates of Spokane will hold a Summer Social from 5 to 7 p.m. July 25 at Nectar Wine and Beer, 1331 W. Summit Parkway in Kendall Yards.

There will be a food drive benefiting Second Harvest, and a contest to design and build something out of the collected items.

The event is free. R.S.V.P, at http://www.maspokane.org. For more information, contact Andrea Barlow at ABarlow@vandervert.com or Leslie Hebert at Hebertl@coffman.com.

Second Harvest distributes over 2 million pounds of free food each month to help people in need in 26 counties in Eastern Washington and North Idaho.

Jensen converts Global Seas ship

Photo courtesy of Jensen Maritime [enlarge]

Jensen Maritime provided engineering services for converting a 170-foot long, 40-foot wide fishing vessel for Global Seas and Patti Marine Enterprises.

The vessel, now named Defender, underwent the conversion to make her the first fish pumping vessel in the Global Seas fleet, Jensen said in a press release. She will be used for fishing in the Bering Sea.

Work included structural and mechanical services.

Jensen is Crowley Maritime Corp.'s Seattle-based naval architecture and marine engineering company.

Get hiring tips at SDA webinar

The Seattle chapter of the Society for Design Administration will offer a webinar on “Hiring Dos and Don'ts” from 11 a.m. to noon July 26 at WSP|Parsons Brinckerhoff, 600 University St. in Seattle.

Cheryl L. Adams, a partner in Menaker & Herrmann in New York, will talk about the kind of questions interviewers can and cannot ask, and pre-hiring checks that can be done on prospective employees.

The webinar is free to members, $15 for member firms and $30 for non-members. Register at http://tinyurl.com/jlyzdbg/.

Michael Reed is new SEGD fellow

Reed

Michael Reed, a founding principal of Mayer/Reed of Portland, was recently named a fellow of the Society for Experiential Graphic Design for his significant contributions to the field.

For more than 40 years, the firm said Reed has helped shape public spaces — including airports, courthouses and urban bike trails — that improve the quality of life for people who use them.

Mayer/Reed provides landscape architecture, urban design, visual communications and product design.

Solarize Whatcom progress report

Sustainable Connections said it has worked with local business partners Ecotech Solar, Western Solar and Itek Energy to complete a community solar purchasing program called Solarize Whatcom.

The program has helped residents and business owners in Whatcom County navigate solar installation by providing free workshops and site assessments, brokering low interest rates, and assisting with contracts and installation.

Sustainable Connections said 47 contracts were completed, over $1.2 million was invested in solar, and 311 kilowatts will be saved every year.

NWAIA, AGC plan golf tournament

The Northwest American Institute of Architects and Associated General Contractors will hold a golf tournament at 1 p.m. Aug. 19 at Avalon Golf Course at 19345 Kelleher Road in Burlington.

The event will raise scholarship money for local students in architecture, engineering and construction.

The $95 cost includes lunch, a bucket of balls, 18 holes of golf and dinner.

Register at http://tiny.cc/q43fby/.

Tour UW campus with SAF July 23

Seattle Architecture Foundation will offer a tour of the University of Washington campus at 11:30 a.m. July 23.

The two-hour tour will look at the UW's first 150 years. The UW's 16th president, Henry Suzzallo, called on the state to create a “university of a thousand years.”

Gothic, Renaissance and Beaux Arts buildings are part of the tour, as well as quads and gardens.

Meet at the War Memorial flagpole on Memorial Way Northeast, between Parrington and Kane halls. Cost is $15. Register at http://tiny.cc/3pnhay/.

Learn about tech's impact on design

Gray Magazine will hold a program titled “Learning from Tech: Dispatches from Design's Next Frontier” at 6 p.m. July 18 at Hotel Sorrento, 900 Madison St. in Seattle.

A panel will discuss technology's far-reaching implications for the design industry, from near-future gadgets to far-future paradigm shifts.

The panelists are Mike Harnisch of Microsoft, Joey Rodolfo of Buki, Matt McElvogue of Teague, Plamena Milusheva of LMN Architects and Surya Vanka of Authentic.

Tickets are $25 at http://tiny.cc/9elhcy/.

SMPS workshop on InDesign July 28

The Seattle chapter of the Society for Marketing Professional Services will hold a workshop on “InDesign Advanced Strategies” at 7:30 a.m. July 28 at the Skanska USA Building at 221 Yale Ave. N.

The speaker is Steve Laskevitch, co-founder of Luminous Works and an Adobe certified instructor in InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator and Lightroom.

Topics include the styles InDesign supports, search features, tips for creating long and/or complex documents and considerations for electronic publications.

Cost is $75 for members, $80 for member firms and $90 for non-members before July 20, and $10 more after that. Register at http://tiny.cc/6ludcy/.

Weyand is president of PHnw board

Weyand

Tim Weyand, CEO of NK Architects, was appointed president of the Passive House Northwest board.

Weyand has over 20 years of experience in high-performance architecture and practice management, NK said in a press release.

He holds a master's degree in architecture from Harvard University Graduate School of Design, and a bachelor's degree in environmental design from the University of Colorado, Boulder. He previously worked at HOK, NBBJ and Perfido Weiskopf Architects.

NK principal Joe Giampietro also is on the Passive House Northwest board.

Building envelope clinic July 15

Soprema will hold a free building envelope clinic from 9 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. July 15 at the Seattle Art Museum, 1300 First Ave.

Topics include VC roof membrane, wall systems and design, and vegetated roofing. There will be a cocktail reception and prize raffle at the end of the program.

R.S.V.P. to jkendrick@soprema.us.

Soprema sells roofing, waterproofing, wall protection and civil engineering products.

SCJ named top place to work

SCJ Alliance said Business Examiner Media named it the 2016 top place to work as a medium-sized employer.

It said the judges were impressed by its core values. In a press release, SCJ President Perry Shea said trust, stewardship, compassion, integrity and freedom guide how the firm does business.

SCJ provides civil engineering, transportation planning and design, environmental and urban planning, landscape architecture and design, and public outreach.

SEL expands in Sao Paulo, Brazil

Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories opened a 50,000-square-foot regional integration center in the Techno Park business park in Campinas, Sao Paulo in Brazil.

Employees will design and build systems for the protection, control and automation of electric power. The team can build 1,000 integrated panels per year, Schweitzer said in a press release.

It said the expansion will create 15 to 20 immediate new jobs, and an additional 100 as the facility ramps up over the next two years. That will double the SEL Brazil headcount to over 200 employees. SEL opened its first office in Brazil in 2000.

Tour Queen Anne July 16 with SAF

Seattle Architecture Foundation is offering a tour of Queen Anne titled “The Evolution of an Urban Neighborhood” at 10 a.m. July 16.

The two-hour tour includes landmark houses, renovated buildings, viewpoints and hidden estates.

Cost is $15, at http://tiny.cc/yanjay/.

Meet at West Queen Anne Elementary School, which is now condos, at 1401 Fifth Ave. W.

AIA: Healthy demand for design services

In May, demand for design services increased by the most in nearly a year, the American Institute of Architects reported.

The Architecture Billings Index for May was 53.1, up from 50.6 in April.

The index reflects the approximate nine to 12-month lead time between architecture billings and construction spending. Any score above 50 indicates an increase in billings.

In a press release, the AIA said multifamily projects are still active and demand for new commercial and retail properties is solid.

AIA Chief Economist Kermit Baker said business conditions at design firms have hovered around break-even for much of the year. He said the recent surge in design for institutional projects could be a harbinger of growth.

The West scored the highest, at 53.8, followed by the South at 53.7, the Northeast at 51.2 and the Midwest at 49.9.

ASLA announces 2016 honors

Kurt Culbertson of Design Workshop won the American Society of Landscape Architects Medal and Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates received the Firm Award in the society's 2016 honors awards.

The honors, ASLA's highest awards, will be presented Oct. 24 at the organization's 2016 Annual Meeting & EXPO in New Orleans.

ASLA said in a press release that Culbertson, CEO and chair of the international practice, is a longtime leader in sustainable development, and communities around the world have benefited from his projects.

Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates had offices in Brooklyn, N.Y., and Cambridge, Massachusetts. ASLA said the firm continues to impact the urban renaissance being experienced across the country. Its projects include award-winning parks, campuses, residences and urban spaces.

For all the winners, go to http://tiny.cc/uotkcy/.