December 15, 1999

Design Detailings: Sneak a peek at new Seattle library

Internationally renowned architect Rem Koolhaas, of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture in the Netherlands, will unveil his first images of the new $159 million, 355,000-square-foot downtown library at noon today.

The event will be held at Benaroya Hall, 200 University St., in the Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall and is free and open to the public. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.

The new library will be built on the existing site at 1000 Fourth Ave. Construction is tentatively scheduled to begin in April 2001.

Koolhaas and his design team will also host an open house for the public with city Librarian Deborah Jacobs and other library officials from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 18, at the Central Library in the Lee Auditorium. The purpose of the open house is to kick off the public process for the design phase of the central library. The public will be invited to sign up to participate in any of 10 library user "work groups" that will recommend ways the new library can provide better service. The work groups will meet between Jan. 2 and Jan. 16. People are also invited to provide suggestions by filling out a questionnaire, which will be available at all Seattle Public Library locations and on the Web site.

Jon Magnusson looks at future trends

Jon Magnusson, principal of Skilling Ward Magnusson Barkshire, at a dinner talk sponsored by the American Society for Engineering Management will share some insights on how his firm reached prominence and what lies ahead in the next millennium. The event will be held today at 6:30 p.m. at the Rock Salt Steakhouse on 1232 Westlake Ave. N. in Seattle. The cost is $23. Call (206) 695-6670 for more information.

Input sought on City Hall design

The design team for the city of Seattle's new City Hall and public plaza will be presenting initial design approaches and take comments and suggestions from citizens in a public design discussion on Thursday, Dec. 16. The event will be held from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the United Methodist Church on Fifth Avenue and Marion Street in downtown Seattle.

Presenters include Peter Bohlin, lead architect for the new City Hall; Kathryn Gustafson, lead landscape designer for the adjacent open space plaza; and Beliz Brother, lead artist for City Hall and the plaza.

Joining them will be NBBJ's Rick Zieve, lead architect, and Pam Beyette, lead artist, for the new Justice Center, which will be constructed on Fifth Avenue, across from City Hall.

David Hewitt of Hewitt/Isley Architects, the firm which designed the Civic Center master plan, will moderate the discussion.

Mayor Paul Schell will be on hand to offer introductory remarks and to participate in the discussion.

Following presentations from each member of the design team, the audience will have an opportunity to question the team as well as to leave their comments and questions on response cards.

Bellevue firm certified DBE

CivilTech Corp., a structural, geotechnical and software engineering firm headquartered in Bellevue has been certified as a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) by the Alaska's Department of Transportation and Public Facilities.

Dykeman honored for volunteerism

The Human Services Council of Snohomish County awarded The Dykeman Architects the Business Partnership Award for 1999. This award is for volunteer design services to build homes for low-income families in Snohomish County. Dykeman received the award with Habitat for Humanity, its partner on the project.

Mahlum marketer named SMPS fellow

William Strong, director of marketing for Mahlum Architects, has received certification as a Society of Marketing Professional Services Fellow. With 11 of his 21 years in marketing spent at Mahlum, Strong was recognized for his consistent dedication to education in the organization.

Gensler wins AIA firm award for 2000

The national board of directors of the American Institute of Architects has named Gensler Architecture recipient of the 2000 AIA Architecture Firm Award.

The annual award, the highest honor the AIA confers on an architecture firm, will be presented at the 2000 Accent on Architecture awards ceremony Jan. 28 in Washington, D.C.

The award recognizes a practice that has produced distinguished architecture consistently for at least 10 years. Previous recipients include I.M. Pei & Partners, Cesar Pelli & Associates, Skidmore Owings and Merrill, and Perkins & Will, the 1999 winner.

From its early roots in corporate office design, San Francisco-based Gensler has grown from a three-person office in 1965 to the world's largest architecture firm, boasting 16 offices and 1,700 employees. Its 1,200 active clients are as diverse as its projects -- including airport and transit terminals, educational buildings, entertainment and retail centers, hotels, office buildings and campuses, studios and theme parks.

AIA Gold Medal goes to Mexican firm

Ricardo Legorreta was selected by the national Board of Directors of the American Institute of Architects to receive the 2000 AIA Gold Medal award. The highest honor the AIA confers on an individual, the Gold Medal recognizes an architect whose significant body of work has had a lasting influence on the theory and practice of architecture.

Legorreta is the 57th AIA Gold Medalist, joining the ranks of such visionaries as Thomas Jefferson, Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan, Le Corbusier, Louis Kahn, I.M. Pei, Cesar Pelli and 1999 AIA Gold Medal recipient Frank Gehry. In recognition of their legacy to architecture, the name of each Gold Medal recipient is chiseled into a granite wall of honor in the lobby of the AIA headquarters in Washington.

During the span of his 45-year career, Legorreta has integrated interior design, landscape architecture, and architecture into a single discipline. He chose to establish a design style rooted in Mexico's indigenous architectural traditions.

Born in 1931 in Mexico City, Legorreta studied architecture at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico and established his firm Legoretta Arquitectos in 1959. His early important buildings were the Camino Real Hotel in Cancun, offices for IBM and the Kodak laboratories. His first important commission outside of Mexico was the residence of actor Ricardo Montalban. His current design commissions include The Mexican Museum in San Francisco, the Hispanic Cultural Arts Center in Dallas and the Bank of Finance in Managua, Nicaragua.