July 31, 2002

Design Detailings: AIA Southwest conference Aug. 7-11

The American Institute of Architects Southwest Washington Chapter is the host for this year's AIA Northwest & Pacific Regional Conference, Aug. 7 through Aug. 11. Two hundred architects from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and Hong Kong are expected to attend.

"The A02 Urban Adventure: Remaking a City" conference includes tours of major new architectural projects in Tacoma and the retrofitting of the Capitol Building in Olympia. Projects will be discussed on site with at least one of the lead architects from the design team.

John Ruble of Moore Ruble Yudell will speak on the design process of the University of Washington Tacoma Campus; Arthur Andersson of Andersson Wise speaks on the Washington State History Museum; and Scott Allen of Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen discusses the Tacoma Art Museum. Other speakers include Dale Chihuly; Mahlon Clements; Ilmar Reinvald of Thomas Cook Reed Reinvald and Arthur Erickson. The tour will culminate in a "fireside chat" with all of the speakers mentioned above, moderated by Mark Hinshaw.

Optional tours include the city of Olympia’s Percival Landing, Olympia Farmers Market, Heritage Park and the inside of the State Capitol Building, which is currently undergoing restorative construction; Lakewold Gardens, an estate garden on 10-acres adjacent to Gravelly Lake; and Thornewood Castle, otherwise known as Steven King’s "Rose Red."

There will be a practice and products fair, co-sponsored by AIA Washington Council on Friday at the Sheraton Tacoma Convention Center with national, regional and local suppliers. The products fair is open to other design related professionals.

The cost for the whole conference is $345 for AIA architects, and $395 for non-AIA architects and design professionals. For information about times and places, visit http://www.aiasww.org or call Karin Poppy McCarthy at (253) 627-4006.

Yudelson gives green talk in Oslo

Interface Engineering recently announced its sustainability director, Jerry Yudelson, has been selected to present a talk on "Value Propositions for Green Buildings," at SB02 -- the largest ever international conference on sustainable buildings. The conference will be held Sept. 23-25 in Oslo, and will feature 144 presentations by speakers from around the world. (http://www.sb02.com).

There are only seven U.S. presentations among 144 from around the world, according to Yudelson, who has 20 years experience with renewable energy systems. He is the only speaker selected from the Pacific Northwest to present at the conference.

"What I look at in my paper is how different owners value green buildings differently, depending on how long they plan to own the building, how strong their internal and external sustainability constituencies are, what values they are trying to embody in the building, and what other benefits the green building can bring to the organization or business," said Yudelson. "If you’re an architect trying to persuade an owner to build green, this paper helps you to assess how to make the case."

Yudelson will be making a similar presentation at the First Annual International Green Building Conference and Exhibition in Austin, Texas, in November. The event is sponsored by the U.S. Green Building Council and will feature about 185 presenters.

Elliott Bay Design wins ferry contract

Seattle-based Elliott Bay Design Group secured a four-year level-of-effort contract with Washington State Ferries. This is the fourth such contract awarded the firm. Recent projects completed under the previous contract include a Fleet-Wide ADA Compliance Survey and the M/V Spokane and M/V Walla Walla generator replacement project.

DBIA design-build forum today

The newly formed chapter of the Northwest Chapter of Design Build Institute of America will hold its first event -- the Design-Build Forum and chapter meeting today, beginning at 9:30 a.m. The event will be held at the West Coast Grand Hotel, 1414 Fifth Ave., Seattle.

The Design-Build Forum includes a panel discussion: Does Design-Build Work? Each owner on the panel will give an overview of his organization’s experience with design-build, with an eye to the advantages or disadvantages of using design-build as a project delivery system. Panel members include Scott Haskins, resource management branch director, Seattle Public Utilities; Chris Hunt, purchasing agent, city of Boise.

The session will be moderated by Ed Wundram, The Design Build Consulting Group. The luncheon program will include a presentation on "How a Design-Build-Operate Partnership can Create Value for a Building Owner" by Clete Casper, managing director for Seattle/Portland region, CarrAmerica Realty Corp., and Dean Allen, president, McKinstry Co.

For information, call (202) 682-0110. The cost for the event and lunch is $55 for DBIA member and $65 for non-members.

Following the form and chapter meeting, DBIA will be presenting two courses in Seattle on Aug. 1 and 2 at the West Coast Grand: "Successful Design-Build Project Delivery" and "Design-Build Contract and Risk Management." Registration can be made on line at http://www.dbia.org or by calling the number above.

Law firm puts up AEC Web site

ConstructionWebLinks.com, a guide to construction, engineering and architecture resources, has drawn more than one million user sessions, according to the New York-based law firm Thelen Reid & Priest, LLP. The site indexes, profiles and links to more than 5,000 Web sites of interest to construction industry professionals.

Thelen Reid & Priest launched ConstructionWebLinks.com to help professionals in the construction, engineering and architecture communities locate information on the Internet.

'Tenacious' WSU students help Boeing

A new method for measuring the exact thickness of a coat of paint, designed as part of a student senior project at Washington State University, is generating interest at the Boeing Co.

Because specifications are so detailed on plane orders, some components made of composite materials are often just under the required weight limitations. Adding a few extra paint strokes and going over the weight limit means workers have to dismantle the components, remove the paint and redo it. The process takes days of extra work, costing the company time and money. For composite materials used in modern airplanes, there hasn't been an effective method of measuring very thin layers of paint.

"It happens often enough that it has been identified as a problem that needs to be taken care of,'' said Edward Sergoyan, a lead engineer for Boeing.

Working with Bob Olsen, a WSU professor in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Sergoyan suggested that students do a feasibility study to come up with potential solutions as part of a senior design project. Working on the year-long project, the four-person team of students came up with two potential approaches, said Sergoyan.

In the first method, called the resonance method, the students inject a small microwave signal into a box with an open side. The changes that occur when the open side came into contact with the paint determine the paint thickness. In the second method, called the capacitance method, students put two electrodes on top of the paint and connected a voltage between the two electrodes. An electric current is created, and the students determined that the impedance, or how much current can't get through, depends on the thickness of the paint.

The system they devised would not require taking apart the plane to measure paint thickness. Instead, the system could be used directly on the aircraft after assembly.

"Compared to re-painting and taking the plane apart, this is dirt cheap,'' said Olsen, the students' adviser. "These students were innovative, and they worked well together. They were tenacious."

Boeing is evaluating reports and the test data. The company will then see if it is appropriate to build a prototype tool, which may be a project for next year's senior designers, said Sergoyan.