November 19, 2003

Design Detailings: Berger/ABAM moves to 720 Olive Way

The Seattle office of Berger/ABAM Engineers has moved four blocks to Seventh Avenue and Olive Street, across from Pacific Place. The 8,500-square-foot office is significantly larger than the previous space on Fifth and Virginia, and has a high-tech conference center.

The new address is 720 Olive Way, Suite 1100, Seattle, WA 98101. The phone number is (206) 357-5600, and the fax is (206) 357-5601.

In addition to its Federal Way headquarters, Berger/ABAM has offices in Portland and Las Vegas.

MulvannyG2 grows its Portland office

MulvannyG2's new Portland office will be 35 percent larger than its pervious space.

MulvannyG2 Architecture's Portland office is moving in December to a larger space on the 12th floor of ODS Tower, which is located downtown and owned by Wright Runstad & Co. The address will be 601 S.W. Second Ave., Portland, OR 97204-3153. The phone number (503) 223-8030, and fax is (503) 223-8381.

The move is in response to the company's growth in Portland. The office's staff and billable work have grown 34 and 53 percent, respectively, said Brian Fleener, vice president and manager of the Portland office. The firm as a whole saw revenue rise 13 percent in 2002 and expects a 20 percent gain this year.

The new MulvannyG2 Portland office will increase its square footage by 35 percent to 13,528 square feet. The increased space will accommodate 70 employees.

The firm's interior design studio is creating the Portland office. It will feature an industrial look, with recycled flooring, post-consumer steel and re-claimed lumber throughout.

DLR designs Idaho public safety center

DLR Group has been selected to design the 40,000-square-foot Blaine County Public Safety Building in Hailey, Idaho. The facility will include 79 jail beds; a 911 dispatch center; sheriff's administration and patrol services offices; video visiting; a full-service kitchen; a laundry; and support services.

DLR Group designs justice, education, corporate, retail and sports facilities. It has 17 offices across the United States.

Bosnian gardens heal war wounds

Davorin Brdjanovic will give a lecture, "The Healing Landscape," tonight at 6:30, in the Architecture Hall 147 of University of Washington.

He will be speaking about the Bosnian garden project he created to help war refuge families stabilize their lives. Brdjanovic was in Sarajevo during the war 10 years ago, and later worked in partnership with the Friends Service Committee to develop gardens where Croatians, Serbs and Bosnians could reconstruct their lives.

The main goals of the community garden project are to build reconciliation among people that were in conflict during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and to offer work therapy for those who suffer post-war traumas.

$400K to diversify HCC engineering

A $400,000 grant from the National Science Foundation will make it possible for more women and minorities to attend Highline Community College to study engineering. The grant will fund the Engineering Scholars program, and provide 29 scholarships for the next four academic years to encourage academically talented, financially needy students from under-represented groups to pursue an associate of science degree in engineering.

Lisa Skari, Highline's executive director of Institutional Advancement, said she pursued the grant because "engineering faculty members are concerned that students in the program don't reflect the demographics of the campus. Students pursing their transfer degree in engineering are predominantly Asian American and white men, so faculty members would like to attract and retain more Native American, Latino, African American and female students."

Among the Highline students' reporting their ethnicity, 22 percent are Native American, Latino or African American, but only 12 percent of those students are enrolled in the engineering program. Women make up 63 percent of Highline students, but only 16 percent of engineering program students.