MKA wins top award for Seattle Aquarium’s Ocean Pavilion

Seattle-based Magnusson Klemencic Associates is the top winner in the American Council of Engineering Companies of Washington’s annual Engineering Excellence Awards program. The firm took the 2025 Platinum Award for the Seattle Aquarium’s Ocean Pavilion on the revamped Seattle waterfront.

Feb. 10, 2025 A Special Section of DJC.COM

Sponsored by ACEC’s Washington state chapter, the awards program recognizes projects that represent a wide range of engineering achievements and demonstrate the highest degree of skill and ingenuity.

DJC special section team Section editor: Shawna Gamache Section design: Jeffrey Miller Web design: Lisa Lannigan Advertising: Matt Brown

Twenty-six projects, local and national, were honored in this year’s program, as well as the Engineer of the Year. Local awards were given at three levels: gold, silver and bronze. The top national awards will go on to compete on May 20 in the ACEC National Engineering Excellence Awards at the Grand Hyatt in Washington, D.C.

Project entries were evaluated by a six-judge panel: Robert Axley, president emeritus, Wood Harbinger; Steve Johnston, engineer emeritus, Landau Associates; Supriya Kelkar, deputy executive project director, Sound Transit; Lisa Lannigan, editor, Daily Journal of Commerce; Kathy Robertson, engineer emeritus, Pickets Engineering; Larry Swartz, engineer emeritus, P2S.

ACEC Washington is a professional trade association representing consulting engineering, land surveying and affiliated scientific and planning firms statewide.