February 20, 2002

Design Detailings: Lecture on "BAM As Built" photos

John Stamets' photos are on display at BAM. He will speak Thursday at 7 p.m. at the museum.

Seattle photographer John Stamets will present a slide lecture at Bellevue Art Museum at 7 p.m. Thursday, in conjunction with his "BAM As Built" exhibit at the museum. Stamets was the museum's artist in residence during construction of the new building, amassing an archive of 550 large-format photographs of the building as it formed.

A lecturer in photography at the School of Architecture, University of Washington, Stamets has compiled more than 20,000 photographs that exhaustively document construction and destruction of major architectural projects.

The slide lecture will include similar photographs of the Henry Art Gallery under construction in 1995-1997 (Charles Gwathmey, architect) and the Milwaukee Art Museum under construction in 1999-2001 (Santiago Calatrava, architect). A comparison of the construction photographs of these three buildings of the same type yields insights into the spaces today. No charge for the event. Bellevue Art Museum is on Bellevue Way and Northeast Sixth Street. Parking is free in the mall parking lots.

Accessories make the home

Seattle Design Center's Third Thursday series presents: "The Art of Accessorization." Discover how to use accessories to accentuate home designs and bring interest and personality to a space. The event will be held at 9 to 10 a.m. Guest speaker is Warren Echternkamp. He has 36 years of experience teaching designers how to use finishing touches and accessories in their design. The event will be held at Seattle Design Center, 5701 Sixth Ave. S.

Patkau on NW home design

John Patkau, Hon. FAIA, and a jury will offer observations on the state of the art and craft of Northwest residential design, as illustrated by homes featured in the 2001 Times/AIA Open House program. The event will be held at University of Washington's Kane Hall at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Cost is $18. For more information, go to aiaseattle.org.

UW offers project management program

The College of Architecture and Urban Planning Continuing Education program at University of Washington presents "Scope Management and Project Planning" Thursday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The seminar is designed to teach practical skills that can be used immediately on active projects. With these skills, project managers can understand and leverage relationships between the project scope, project schedule, team members' tasks and client's goals. The seminar will be held at the Mountaineers Building, 300 Third Ave. W. Cost is $300. For information, call Lyn Firkins at (206) 685-8222.

Degenkolb opens Seattle office

Degenkolb Engineers, a 61-year-old West Coast structural engineering firm, has opened a Seattle office. Located at 701 Fifth Ave., the firm offers structural design of new buildings and shoring systems, as well as rehabilitation, seismic analysis and strengthening of existing structures.

Stacy Bartoletti, a licensed structural engineer in California, Oregon and Washington moved from Degenkolb’s Portland office to head the firm’s new Seattle venture. Bartoletti has experience developing structural systems that secure existing buildings against potential earthquake damage and has worked with Hewlett-Packard to seismically strengthen manufacturing and office facilities in Washington, Oregon, California and China.

Following the Nisqually earthquake last February, Degenkolb was hired by Travelers Insurance to perform evaluations of more than 40 buildings in the Seattle area, including the Starbucks Center. The Degenkolb team also assisted the Port of Seattle on various marine buildings and structures.

Joining Bartoletti in Seattle are David Gonzalez, designer, and Sarah Bradford as the Seattle office coordinator. Engineers and CAD specialist based in the Portland office will join the Seattle staff as needed.

This week is Engineers Week

Founded in 1951 by the National Society of Professional Engineers, National Engineers Week runs through Saturday and is celebrated by thousands of engineers, engineering students, teachers and leaders in government and business. The National Engineers Week consortium includes more than 100 engineering, scientific and education societies, and major corporations dedicated to increasing public awareness and appreciation of engineering. Co-chairs for 2002 are the American Society of Civil Engineers, celebrating its 150th anniversary, and DuPont, celebrating its 200th anniversary. For more information, go to eweek.org.

Chinese Lantern Festival on Sunday

The Seattle Chinese Garden and the Seattle-Chongqing Sister City Association will celebrate the Chinese New Year with a traditional Chinese Lantern Festival on Sunday from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Brockey Center at South Seattle Community College, 6000 16th Ave. S., south parking lot entrance. Chinese New Year lasts 15 days and begins on the first day of the new moon. The Lantern Festival signals the close of New Year festivities.

Festival activities will begin at 3 p.m. A lion dance and lantern procession through the Seattle Chinese Garden site to the Song Mei Pavilion will take place at 4:30 p.m. (weather permitting). The cost for the event is $3. The festival will feature refreshments and traditional Chinese delicacies, a lantern display and lantern-making demonstration, tea ceremony and Chinese calligraphy. For more information, contact the Seattle Chinese Garden at (206) 282-8040 ext. 100.

Rice Fergus to design fire station

Rice Fergus Architects of Bremerton has been selected by the city of Renton to design Fire Station No. 12, a new fire station and emergency operations center for the city. The 15,000-square-foot station is located in the Renton Highlands at 1209 Kirkland Ave. It will include four double-deep apparatus bays, house the SCUBA team, and have office areas for on-duty personnel. The overall project budget, including property acquisition, is $5 million.

Rice Fergus Architects’ expertise includes designing emergency service facilities for Bremerton Fire Department, Bainbridge Island Fire Department, Central Kitsap Fire & Rescue, Pierce and Kitsap Counties.

Otak expands to Tempe

Otak has added a Tempe, Ariz., office, joining offices in Kirkland and Vancouver, Wash.; Lake Oswego, Corvallis and Bend, Ore.; and Carbondale and Denver, Colo. Ken Nelson, one of Otak's founding principals, opened the first office outside the Lake Oswego headquarters in Kirkland in 1987, and has moved to Tempe to manage the Arizona operations.

Otak expanded to Arizona to serve public and private clients throughout the Southwest in fields such as light rail transit, transportation, planning, public works and residential/commercial development. Projects already underway in the Tempe area include the Tempe comprehensive transportation plan, the Tempe regulatory code re-write and residential development in Phoenix.