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A green year for landscape design
1998 DJC Landscape survey
The booming regional economy has fueled another record year for Brumbaugh & Associates in 1997 and the outlook for 1998 is more of the same. In response to the increased project volume, the Kirkland firm promoted two staff members to the associate level and added two new positions bringing total staff size to 10.
Principal Mark Brumbaugh sees similarities between the current development market and the robust environment of a decade back.
"Key differences in the commercial market include stronger financial backing resulting from REIT's, higher quality project design and development, more difficult and fewer development sites, and the supply demand to justify rent rates consistent with building costs," he said.
These factors have contributed to strong growth in all aspects of the firm's practice with particular emphasis on urban type office projects, healthcare facilities, and high-end multi-family developments.
Brumbaugh sees a trend towards the creation of neighborhoods within multi-family developments. Trammell Crow's large Issaquah Highlands project, which provides a variety of architectural styles and unit types (mid-rise, garden, townhome) combined with pedestrian squares and vehicular courtyards exemplifies this trend. The amenity rich apartment community will be adjoined by parks, a school system, single family homes, mixed-use commercial, and office development.
The Portland/Vancouver area continues to be an important part of B&A's project mix and currently includes nearly 2,000 units of multi-family development, an assisted care facility, extend-stay hotels, and a public park in Hillsboro. The park, Tansabourne Centre, links a series of open spaces and recreation opportunities to the adjacent residential and mixed-use commercial uses.
Office projects have become much denser, resulting in an urban/suburban hybrid typified by current projects such as Safeco's Redmond Campus, expansion of Microsoft's Headquarters, and Metzler's Lakeridge Corporate Square project. These projects place high density mid-rise buildings over parking in underground garages resulting in suburban office park site amenities combined with urban plazas and courtyards. This past year has also seen the return of urban high-rise projects including the Bellevue Technology Tower and similar Eastside and Seattle projects for the firm.
Worthy and Associates is celebrating its fifteenth anniversary this year with a with a full house of four landscape architects and two design and administrative staff. The firm's current projects include master plans for Discovery and Magnuson Parks, the Kirkland Nonmotorized Transportation Plan, the Seattle Street Tree Master Plan and Dr. Martin Luther King Memorial Park.
The firm specializes in public facilitation and consensus building around park designs, streetscape enhancements, habitat improvements, trails and nonmotorized transportation.
Worthy and Associates most recently completed Master Site Plans for two parks in the City of Lake Forest Park, and the firm is also designing neighborhood park improvements at two park sites in Bellingham and beginning master planning at four park sites in Everett.
This year has brought a rush of streetscape projects in Federal Way and Des Moines.
As multi-modal transportation improvements are implemented throughout the region, significant opportunities are arising for street tree and pedestrian enhancements. Worthy and Associates is continuing to play a part in habitat restoration of waterways. In 1995 the firm received the EPA's National First Place Award for Outstanding Storm Water Program in the municipal category, shared with King County Water and Land Resources, for the Soos Creek Basin Plan Capital Improvement Program.
Currently under contract with the State of Washington, Worthy and Associates is designing beach improvements and shoreline stabilization at Blake Island State Park.
Due to recent statewide failing water quality reports and salmon listings under the Endangered Species Act, aquatic habitat restoration will continue to gain momentum and increasingly will require the expertise of landscape architects. Over the last year, working with engineers, Worthy and Associates designed a pilot restoration site along the Sammamish River near Redmond City Hall that adds variation to the straight river channel and creates aquatic habitat.
Bruce Dees & Associates is currently at work on Celebration Park in Federal Way, the University of Washington Tacoma Campus, Thea Foss Esplanade in Tacoma, the University of Washington baseball field, Dickman Mill in Tacoma, and several projects at Boeing Longacres.
Seven employees in 1997 increased to eight, and the company expects to grow to nine employees in the coming year.
The firm will continue to emphasize waterfront parks and athletic facilities, expanding urban design work and environmentally sensitive sites. The addition of a civil engineer to the staff has allowed closer coordination and integration of stormwater and water quality issues into landscape design projects.
Landscape architecture projects are becoming more complex, requiring more multi-disciplinary efforts, especially in wetlands and environmentally sensitive areas.
While there are expanding markets for both public and private work, according to partner Peter Hummel, one of the challenges of working in the area is that the remaining undeveloped land often has many environmentally sensitive components, and regulatory requirements can present a great challenge to development.
Current projects at WCA, Seattle, include Fortson Square Redevelopment, Pioneer Square Neighborhood Collaborative Art Project, Cedar Park Playground, Winfield Estates, CamWest Real Estate Development, Hawthorne Memorial Park Master Plan in Mount Vernon and Miller/Woodlawn Cemetery Improvements in Bremerton.
Last year the firm completed the Sunset Lane Cemetery master plan, in Port Orchard, and in Seattle the firm completed design for Evergreen/Washelli Memorial Park expansion, Lake View Cemetery Expansion, and Sunset Hills Memorial Park Expansion.
Business has been very good, and firm size has increased by one over this time last year in order to accommodate current work load.
"We are finding our strengths in three primary areas," said president Cliff Willwerth. "Public spaces, cemeteries and multiple unit residential developments. We will continue to pursue these markets, with a special concentration on collaborative public space projects."
"The field of landscape architecture is growing stronger with the increasing awareness of the interaction between development and the environment," said Willwerth. "As we continue to learn major and minor lessons of environmental balance, economic development and the influences that shape our society, we as a profession are finding new ways of interacting with developmental, environmental and government forces to provide appropriate alternatives to traditional design regimes."
Osborn Pacific Group Inc. has a burgeoning backlog of projects for 1998.
Maintaining a staff of five in its Seattle office, gross revenues have remained stable, but services have expanded to include wetland delineation, mitigation, and creation, stream relocation, and fisheries enhancements.
While public sector projects constitute the majority of the firm's work and include new commissions for the East Everett Athletic Fields master plan, continued master planning and environmental design at Boundary Dam, design and construction documents for the Lynnwood Interurban Trail, two new substations for Snohomish County PUD, three new transit centers, Seattle Public Utilities Tolt Pipeline 2, and two new interchanges-one on SR 90 and the other on SR 520, Osborn Pacific Group's business development is focused on expanding services to the private sector. In particular, the firm's marketing plan includes the hospitality, assisted-living and health care, and multi-family residential project types.
Current projects include Stafford Creek Corrections Center, Lake Otis Parkway in Anchorage, the Pinehurst and Mariner Substations in Everett, East Everett Athletic Fields, and Tolt Pipeline. Projects completed last year include North Fort Lewis, Harborview Research and Training Facility, Highland Park Elementary School, Bothell High School, Western Washington University Playfield, Snohomish County PUD Quil-Ceda Substation, Chester Creek Trail in Anchorage, Submarine Base Bangor Gym Spa, and King County Metro's North Creek Sewer Project.
Nakano Dennis Landscape Architects is working on several large scale projects. Holly Park Redevelopment is the master plan for 1,200 new units of affordable housing in Seattle. The firm is also developing a campus master plan for the University of Puget Sound. The firm is participating in many of the downtown Seattle expansion and renovation projects, including the Convention Center Expansion, King Street Improvements, and Seahawks Stadium EIS. Last summer Nakano Dennis completed construction documents for Fairview Olmsted Park and Central Parks Trails for the Seattle Parks Department
The firm has hired one new designer, and expanded services to include a number of Visual Simulation projects, such as the Seahawks Stadium EIS and Overlake Hospital.
Kobayashi & Associates, inc. has been maintaining a small core staff for the last few years. However the firm has expanded the office with a network of professionals. The majority of the projects for the core staff has been local and design-oriented, while the projects for the expanded office team have been in international and oriented toward master planning.
Recent local design projects include Market Street Condominium Landscape Development Kirkland; Terrace Town Homes Landscape Development, Redmond; Woodland Park Zoo Restaurant Landscape Development, Seattle; and Boeing Headquarters Auditorium landscape. The firm has also completed Osaka Memorial Japanese Garden in Chicago.
Since the majority of international work has been from Pacific Rim countries now in economic turmoil, there has been a slow down in this market. Despite this situation, the firm is working on the implementation phase of Mikawa District Residential Development, a residential development for 350 units with a mixture of housing style ranging from traditional Japanese to western style. Site plan features a view corridor to the historical Mt. Hakusan as a part of open space and recreational system and community amenities. The firm is also working on Fukuhara University Campus Landscape Master Plan in Japan. The plan guides the redevelopment of the existing campus on 100 acre ground with a strong emphasis on clarifying entrances by their function, and establishing landscape axis and zones.
Talley & Kolb, Inc. is a two-person firm, with twin specialties in university campus master planning and residential garden design. Current projects include the open space component of the University Community Urban Center Neighborhood Plan and the University of Washington Friday Harbor Laboratories Master Plan.
Last year, the firm completed the University's North Campus Plan and the Southwest Campus Amenities Plan.
Talley & Kolb is currently engaged in a large number of residential garden projects at every stage of completion from concept design to punch list. Garden sites are located in Capitol Hill, Madison Park, Washington Park, Wallingford, Bellevue and Kirkland.
For residential garden design, many clients own two or more properties -- one in town; the other in the San Juans or around Puget Sound, sometimes giving the firm the opportunity to design two distinctly different environments for the same family.
This has been busy year for Portico -- marked by significant growth, plenty of interesting projects, and a move to new, larger offices in Olympic Tower.
While the staff size currently stands at 30 individuals, the firm is planning for further growth in 1998.
This year Portico will see a number of its projects under construction including: Heritage Park: Washington State's Capitol Campus Expansion; Sammamish Library; Mystic MarineLife Aquarium Expansion, Mystic, Connecticut; portions of the $20 million "Great Northwest" habitat at Metro Washington Park Zoo in Portland, Oregon; and the Dallas Zoo Children's Zoo.
Other current projects include providing building, site and exhibit design services for the National Audubon Society's first Audubon Center located at the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, Naples, Florida; planning for the Cleveland Botanic Garden conservatory; planning and design guidelines for the Sea-Tac International Airport Landscape Master Plan; and exibitry design services for The Children's Museum of Richmond, Virginia.
Murase Associates, Inc. now has 22 professional staff members. Projects include work on King Street Station, Union Station redevelopment, SeaTac's expansion plans, and the Benaroya Concert Hall Garden of Remembrance. The firm's design of the Port of Seattle's Pier 69 Administrative Headquarters and the new Water Pollution Control Laboratory in Portland has received national design awards. A large part of the work load continues to be schools, universities, medical facilities, park planning and recreation design.
The firm is presently about the same size as a year ago. But Murase anticipates adding more staff this year, having recently been selected by the National Park Service for landscape architectural services for up to five years of park service work nationally. Other upcoming projects include RTA-related work such as station area planning, and RTA civil and commuter rail stations.
R. W. Thorpe and Associates (RWT/A), with a staff of nine, specializes in the mitigation of visual impacts with creative landscape design, and markets its strength in permit processing and team design. Recent projects include memorial gardens, assisted living centers, retail/commercial stores and restaurants. Current work includes a 500-acre golf course master plan with landscape design and the firm has been involved in several 500 to 2,000 acre master planned communities located in Washington, Colorado, Alaska and other Western states in the last few years.
JGM (Jongegan Gerrard McNeal), Bellevue, is well into its fourth decade of practice in landscape architecture, urban design, and planning. The firm specializes in park, trail and open space planning and design, commercial and residential development, transportation and environmental planning.
In 1997, JGM administered the construction of several projects: Mill Pond Park, Auburn; Petrovitsky Park, King County; and the Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent for the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs. The 156-acre memorial for veterans was dedicated in September by Senator Patty Murray. JGM received a 1995 WASLA Honor Award for the cemetery's exemplary design and environmental sensitivity.
Current projects in the office include Lake Boren Park and China Creek Park, Newcastle; White River Trail, Auburn; Ship Creek Trail, Anchorage; New Soccer Fields and a trail bridge over the Sammamish River in Marymoor Park, King County; Martha Lake Park, Snohomish County; Mt. Vernon Gateway, Mt. Vernon and Cedar River Regional Park, Renton.
Gaynor Landscape Architects/Designers, Inc., of Seattle, combines art and architecture in several current projects. They include the Meadowbrook Wetlands Restoration and Creek Daylighting, a low budget, community-generated project that has been ongoing since 1990, and the "Reflective Refuge" at Meadowbrook Pond, a Seattle Public Utilities detention-flood control pond and Seattle Arts Commission One Percent for the Arts installation.
Gaynor has collaborated extensively on transportation projects, creating sensitive and unique solutions to wetland and stream mitigation, stormwater facility and pedestrian amenity designs.
Current projects include "Growing Vine Street" and the new I-90 Sunset Interchange in Issaquah.
On the I-90 Sunset Interchange project, Gaynor is assisting engineers at Parson Brinckerhoff with aesthetic design concepts for bridges, walls, trails and native plantings as well as construction documents for a multi-functional stormwater, native habitat, and trailhead park.
"Growing Vine Street" is a prototype project defining the City's pedestrian-oriented Green Street concept. Working in concert with the Belltown community, the design team of Carlson Architects, Buster Simpson and Peggy Gaynor have devised the idea of a "water fissure" (swale), changing the street's topography and thereby revealing historic layers of pavement. The design team is currently working with City staff and ongoing developments to realize the unique vision for Vine Street.
The greatest challenge for EDAW's Seattle office in 1997 was to maintain quality and service while growing. During the year, the office expanded with strategic hires that included a senior landscape architect, two designers, a CADD/GIS specialist, a recreation planner, and two biologists.
Major landscape architectural projects during the year included the site analysis and design for the Reebok One World Headquarters in Boston; Site Improvements for Sand Point/Magnuson Park; Phase 2 of the East Capitol Campus Plaza, a renovation of the eastern half of the state's capitol grounds in Olympia; Master Planning and Phase I Redevelopment of the Overlake Hospital campus; the Seattle Center Flag Pavilion; and the first phase of the Master Plan implementation for Echo Glen Children's Center near North Bend.
The growth trend EDAW experienced is expected to continue in 1998.
"We plan to maintain our strong design and planning profile while expanding our client base and services," said Bob Shrosbree, who leads the landscape architecture studio for the firm. "We are also working with a range of computer applications on our design and planning projects, such as 3-D modeling, ArcInfo, ArcView, and other leading edge technology. Actually, much of the technology we use in computer automated planning transfers to very interesting applications in design. While these tools are letting us explore new ways of working, we are still very "hands-on" in terms of our design process."
Robert W. Droll, Landscape Architect, (RWD) of Lacey experienced solid growth in projects, revenue and staffing in 1997 and has moved into new offices to accommodate 1998 clients and projects. RWD's steady growth stems from personal attention to clients' requests and project details, geographic expansion and market niche focus. Alan Rice has joined RWD's team of 3 professionals bringing a high level of computer and visual assessment skills to the firm.
The three-person firm's projects in 1997 included the Chehalis Western Trail, Olympia Woodland Trail, Port of Olympia Plaza, Providence Walk, Roo-Lan Health Care, Grand Mound Development Guidelines, McAllister Park Groundwater Protection Manual, St. Peter Hospital, Pasco Streetscape Master Plan and Olympia Skate Park. RWD continues its transportation and community development design work with projects in Lacey, Olympia, Kennewick, Boise and Walla Walla.
Copyright © 1998 Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce. |