August 13, 2003

Design Detailings: UW's Prakash speaks on Asian design

"Ajanta and Khajuraho: The Symbolic Role of Painting and Sculpture in South Asian Architecture," will be the topic of a lecture Saturday by Vikram Prakash. He is chair and associate professor of the University of Washington Department of Architecture. Prakash will discuss the interdependence of the arts in South Asia. The 3 p.m. event will be held at Seattle Art Museum, 100 University St., with a reception to follow.

The event is co-sponsored by People for Progress in India, in conjunction with SAM’s current exhibit, "Painted Visions from India and Pakistan, Past and Present/Intimate Worlds: Masterpieces of Indian Painting from the Alvin O. Bellak Collection." Cost is $7, and includes admission to the museum. For information, call (206) 232-8619.

Berger/ABAM makes ENR list

Berger/ABAM Engineers has been named by Engineering News-Record as one of the nation’s top 500 design firms for civil and structural engineering in the general buildings, transportation and water supply market categories. Berger/ABAM’s parent company, Louis Berger Group, Inc., in East Orange, N.J., ranked 22 of 500.

The 2003 ENR survey report was compiled by ranking design companies throughout the nation according to their revenues for professional services provided in 2002. The firms were individually classified as architect, engineer, engineer-contractor, engineer-architect, architect-engineer, environmental, geotechnical engineer, planner or other. Companies’ percentages of revenue were analyzed by market categories, including general building, manufacturing, power, water supply, sewerage/solid waste, industrial process, petroleum, transportation, hazardous waste and telecommunications.

Industra joins Portland's URS office

The URS Corp., Portland office and former employees of Industra Engineers & Consultants recently announced that they will join forces effective immediately. The former Industra employees have joined the URS team in its downtown offices at First and Southwest Columbia.

Mike Roberts, Industra's managing vice president, said several clients have already awarded new projects to URS as a result of the added resources, including the fast track design of a major new $10 million chemical manufacturing plant in Edmonton, Alberta.

Industra was most recently a wholly owned subsidiary of BE&K Engineering Company of Birmingham, Ala., and had provided engineering services in Portland since 1986. URS Corporation offers a broad range of planning, design, program and construction management services. URS has Northwest offices in Bend, Boise, Spokane, Seattle, Anchorage, and Vancouver, B.C.

Tours: Art Deco to adaptive re-use

Upcoming Historic Seattle tours include Art Deco Seattle Discover Tour, 10 a.m. to noon, Saturday. Cost is $12. In the upbeat period following World War I, architects combined modern structural advances with a lively catalogue of organic designs that expressed the power and rhythm of 20th century America. Visit rich interior lobbies, and see how Seattle architects incorporated distinct Pacific Northwest images into Art Deco skyscrapers, commercial building, and department stores. The tour begins at the Foundation Gallery, 1333 5th Ave.

On Tuesday, tour the Butterworth Building from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Built in the 1920s, the neo-classical gateway to the Pike/Pine corridor originally operated as the Butterworth Manning Ashmore Funeral Home. Waiting rooms and altars are now offices, and a former chapel will soon be converted into a martini bar. Tour guests will learn the difficulties of adaptive re-use projects, including how to handle "otherworldly" former tenants. Meeting place and other details will be sent with registration confirmation. Cost is $10. For both tours, contact Seattle Architectural Foundation at (206) 667-9184.