March 23, 2005

Design Detailings: ACEC recognizes Sparling projects

Sparling worked on technology systems in the 1.2-million-square- foot Children’s Hospital in Denver. The hospital is designed by Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership of Portland and H&L Architects of Denver.

Two Sparling projects are finalists in a competition sponsored by the American Council of Engineering Companies.

For the Seattle Central Library, Sparling designed a hands-free wireless badge system for staff to communicate. In Denver, the company researched technology systems that would increase efficiencies in a 1.2 million-square-foot Children's Hospital set to open in 2007.

There were 175 entries from around the country in the ACEC competition. Winners will be named next month at the national convention.

CoCA show on art collaboration

A show called "Help Wanted: Collaborations in Art" runs through April 23 at the Center on Contemporary Art, 410 Dexter Ave. N. in Seattle.

Tonight at 7:30 there will be a multimedia presentation by artist Trimpin.

The show is organized by Gabe Kean, publisher of online magazine Born, and Jacob McMurray, senior curator at EMP.

Eleven installations are the collaborations of people in fields such as poetry, comics, architecture, video and programming.

For more information, see http://www.cocaseattle.org.

clater Partners moves to Olive Way

Sclater Partners Architects, an architectural design and planning firm in Seattle, moved to new offices at the Times Square Building at 414 Olive Way, Suite 300. It has also launched a new Web site, http://www.sclaterpartners.com. Phone is (206) 624-8682, fax is (206) 621-8445. The company was located at 2230 Eighth Ave.

Green building tips out on DVD

"Building with Awareness," a how-to documentary on design and construction of a green home, was recently released on DVD.

The DVD covers how to construct a mud plaster wall and maximize solar gain, for example. It features a New Mexico home with straw bale walls for insulation and adobe walls for thermal mass.

The documentary was directed by Ted Owens, who is an expert on energy- and resource-efficient building design who lives in a straw bale home.

The DVD is a product of Owens' Corrales, N.M.-based company Syncronos Design, and is for sale through http://www.buildingwithawareness.com and Amazon.com.

Peter Rasmussen wins AIA award

Rasmussen

Rasmussen was Tacoma's deputy mayor and chaired the Tacoma Planning Commission. The American Institute of Architecture southwest Washington chapter has members in Pierce, Thurston, Lewis, Mason and Grays Harbor counties.

How not to plan urban projects

Meredith Clausen, a professor of architectural history at the University of Washington, gives a free presentation about her newest book in Seattle on Wednesday, March 30.

The talk will be held at Rainier Square Conference Center, 1333 Fifth Ave. at 5:30 p.m. The book, which covers the Pan Am Building in Manhattan, is a case study in how not to plan a large-scale urban project.

Seattle Architecture Foundation is the sponsor. For more information, call (206) 667-9184.