March 22, 2006

Design Detailings: Green experts Lerner, Cole coming in April

Two sustainability experts will speak at separate events on Monday, April 10, in Seattle.

From 5:30 to 7 p.m. at Seattle Central Library, Ray Cole will address the role of buildings in helping the environment. Cole has taught at the University of British Columbia School of Architecture for 28 years, focusing on environmental issues. He is co-founder of the Green Building Challenge, an international collaboration to study green building performance.

From 7:30 to 9 p.m., Jaime Lerner will speak at the recital hall at Benaroya Hall, 200 University St. Lerner is an expert in sustainable growth and in public transportation. He recently completed a term as president of the International Union of Architects. Lerner is former mayor of Curitiba and governor of Parana State in Brazil.

Both events are free and require no RSVP.

GeoEngineers buys High Desert

GeoEngineers has acquired High Desert Geo-Technologies. High Desert is a Bend, Ore., company that specializes in custom GIS solutions and services for property, asset and land management.

The Bend company will become GeoEngineers' 14th office. The staff will remain as part of GeoEngineers.

"The people at High Desert are a natural extension of our technology group and broaden our capability to provide our clients with easy online access to their business information," said Kurt Anderson, GeoEngineers' CIO and corporate manager in charge of the Bend operation.

Founded in 1980, GeoEngineers now has a staff of 270 staff.

Callison remodels Houston mall

Callison says its design for renovation of West Oaks Mall in Houston played a role in the mall's 20 percent jump in occupancy in just one year, and its recent sale.

After two years of ownership and a $10 million investment in the renovation, Somera Investment Partners and CoastWood Capital Group sold West Oaks for an undisclosed amount last September. Somera and CoastWood bought the property in late 2003, when it had a 70 percent occupancy rate. After the renovation, occupancy rates were more than 90 percent. Investment Properties of America is the mall's new owner.

The 780,000-square-foot renovation updated the interior, entries and landscape.

New name for Putnam Collins

The structural engineering firm Putnam Collins Scott Associates has changed its name to PCS Structural Solutions. The 40-year-old Seattle and Tacoma engineering firm was founded by Ray Chalker and was originally called Chalker Engineers.

"Our new name is reinforcing to the marketplace that structural design is our core," said PCS President Dan Putnam.

The firm performed nonlinear analysis on the $200 million Washoe Medical Center, now under construction by Sellen Construction in Reno. For the $75 million Mount Tahoma High School, PCS provided integrated steel delivery, in which the structural steel was designed and purchased before the remainder of the design was complete and before a contractor was hired.