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Alumni Featured in NY Times “Living Small”

Small Ranch by Best Practice Architecture. Photo by Benj Drummond
Photo by Benj Drummond

Congratulations to Best Practice (Ian Butcher, MArch 1999 and Kailin Gregga, BAAD 2002) whose Aspen Leaf Ranch design was published in The New York Times’ Living Small column. We caught up with Ian and Kailin to chat about Best Practice to learn more about the project, and what makes their firm tick.

Small Ranch by Best Practice Architecture. Photo by Benj Drummond
Photo by Benj Drummond

Best Practice was founded with the goal of fostering a place where people are encouraged to evolve and develop ideas based on the specifics of each project. “We’re known for leaning into eccentric conditions, and we aim to embrace the challenges that come from treating what seem like constraints as design opportunities,” notes Kailin. Ian adds, “We wanted to make a studio that was a great place to work, and to work with the extended and talented building community in Seattle. We are so lucky to work with talented fabricators, craftspeople and artists on our projects and seek out those collaborations. They are what lend a unique measure and feel to our projects and showcase a different way of being local.”

Read the complete article HERE.

(Another Best Practice project of theirs, Cloud Ranch, was featured in the NYT “on Location” in 2021. Check it out HERE.)

Professor Inanici Awarded 2023 Leon Gaster Award

Professor Mehlika Inanici has been awarded the Society of Light and Lighting (SLL) 2023 Leon Gaster Award. The Leon Gaster award is presented for the best paper included in the SLL Lighting Research & Technology Journal concerned with lighting applications, and recognizes the role that Leon Gaster made as the founder of the Illuminating Engineering Society in 1909. The award was first made in 1929 and one award is given annually. Inanici will receive the award at the SLL Annual General Meeting, Awards and Presidential Address on May 14 2024 in Leeds, England.

Faculty and Alumni Elevated to AIA College of Fellows

This year, 98 architects in the U.S. and beyond were elevated to the AIA College of Fellows, including Professors Ann Marie Borys and Kate Simonen. Nine of the department’s permanent and affiliate faculty are now AIA Fellows. In addition, three UW Architecture alumni were also elevated to Fellowship: Samuel Batchelor, designLab Architects in Boston (M.Arch, 2004); Douglas Ito, SMR Architects (BA Architecture, 1992); and Robert Misel, The Miller Hull Partnership LLP (BA Architecture, 1989). Doug Ito is also the recipient of the 2024 Whitney M. Young, Jr. Award, which recognizes an architect or organization that champions a range of social issues. UW Architecture will host a reception/celebration for alumni and friends at the AIA Conference in Washington, D.C. on June 5 at ZGF Architects. Register here to attend.

In Memory of L. Jane Hastings

In her long career as an architect, Jane Hastings was involved in the design of more than 500 projects. Equally important were her many contributions to the architectural profession, to education, and to the city and region. She is loved and remembered by an extraordinary number of friends and colleagues. Even those who never met her may gain a sense of who she was from reading her memoir, The Woman in the Room, her final gift to all of us.

design exCHANGE 2024

 

The 2024 design exCHANGE exhibit is an annual exhibition of unbuilt projects by local Seattle architecture firms. The projects showcased are located in the Pacific Northwest region and all around the world.

This exhibit is free and open to the public.

Exhibition April 26 – May 9, 2024
Gould Court

 


Opening Reception: Friday, April 26, 2024 5:30PM
This event is not open to the general public.

The 2024 design exCHANGE opening reception is an invitation only event to celebrate the opening of the annual design exCHANGE exhibit. The opening reception is open to members of the UW College of Built Environments and invited members of the Seattle design community. Please register to attend.

2024 AIA Seattle Awards

 

We are proud to announce that four members of the UW Architecture community have been recognized with an AIA Seattle Award this year!

“Each year, AIA Seattle celebrates leadership and achievement in design and the built environment through its member awards program, which recognizes individual leadership and achievement in design and the built environment at the local and national levels. Honorees are nominated by their peers and selected by the Fellows & Honors Committee each year to acknowledge excellence and strengthen ties between architects and the many professions that partner with them to make a difference through design.” – AIA Seattle

Gold Medal: Susan Jones, FAIA, atelierjones, Affiliate Associate Professor

College of Fellows: Bill LaPatra FAIA, LEED AP

Community Service Award: Emilia Cabeza de Baca, AIA – 2019 M Arch alum

Allied Organization Award: NOMAS UW – student organization

For more information about each award and to purchase tickets to attend the awards ceremony on January 23, visit the AIA Seattle event website.

AIA Seattle Parti
Tuesday, January 23 6-8:30pm @ The Forum at Town Hall Seattle

Faculty Led Exhibits Abroad and in the United States

Overseas, the exhibition “The Wright Imperial Hotel at 100: Frank Lloyd Wright and the World” curated by Professor Ken Tadashi Oshima at the Toyota Museum of Art (Aichi, Japan) attracted a record 35,000+ visitors while on view October-December 2023. This year it travels to Tokyo to the Panasonic Shiodome Museum of Art (January 11 – March 10) and the Aomori Museum of Art (March 20 – May 12, 2024).

Here in the United States, an exhibit will open in June 2024. Mona Ghandi, Assistant Teaching Professor, is a recent winner and finalist of the DATMA (Massachusetts Design Art & Technology Institute) public art Installation peer reviewed national competition. Her interactive piece entitled “Mood-Vironment” is a full-scale interactive installation that interacts with the visitors’ emotions and changes itself accordingly. The piece will be built in New Bedford MA and will be on display until October 2024.

The Wright Imperial Hotel at 100: Frank Lloyd Wright and the World

Professor Ken Tadashi Oshima curated/authored The Wright Imperial Hotel at 100: Frank Lloyd Wright and the World, a major exhibition and fully-illustrated book currently at the Toyota Municipal Museum of Art designed by Yoshio Taniguchi. Five years in the making, this exhibition builds on the 2017 MoMA exhibition, Frank Lloyd Wright at 150: Unpacking the Archive, for which Professor Oshima was a co-curator, to celebrate the centennial of the 1923 opening of Wright’s Imperial Hotel in Tokyo.

In bringing together works from Columbia University’s Avery Library, MoMA, the Library of Congress and Japanese collections, this exhibition reexamines Wright as one of the first global architects pursuing this decade-long project at the nexus of his vast career spanning art, architecture, and design to writing, landscape, education, construction and urbanism. Highlights of the exhibition include film footage of the construction of Wright’s Fallingwater (1936-), a full-scale Usonian House installation and contemporary color animated film of Broadacre City (1929-35). The reexamination of Wright also considers his designs in the context of his travels and passions connecting different landscapes and cultures around the world, and pursuit of high-rises including his 528-story Mile-High Illinois skyscraper (1956). Today, a further evolution of Wright’s vision can be seen in the design of the new high-rise Imperial Hotel (2021-2036) by Tsuyoshi Tane (1979-) that bridges past/present/future.

Professor Oshima will also present this work on-line in collaboration with the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy and Foundation for the lecture series “Unpacking the Imperial Hotel at 100: Frank Lloyd Wright and the World”

Thursday, November 9, 2023
7 p.m. EST / 4 p.m. PST

 

2024 Exhibition Dates

The exhibition continues in 2024 at the Panasonic Shiodome Museum of Art (Minato-ku, Tokyo) January 11 – March 10, 2024 and Aomori Museum of Art (Aomori City, Aomori) March 20 – May 12, 2024.

UW Department of Architecture 2023 Fall Lecture Series

 


 

The Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture
Bugesera, Rwanda

 

Seeking Abundance

Katie Swenson | MASS Design Group

 

Wednesday, November 8 5:30PM
147 Architecture Hall

 

Katie Swenson is a Senior Principal at MASS Design Group, where she leads the Advocacy team. Katie’s work explores how critical design practice can, and should, promote economic and social equity, environmental sustainability, and healthy communities. She has over 20 years of experience in the theoretical and practical applications of design thinking. Katie teaches at the Parsons School of Design at The New School and lectures extensively on sustainable community development and affordable housing. She was awarded a Loeb Fellowship at the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 2019 and the AIA Award for Excellence in Public Architecture in 2021. Katie is a juror for the 2023 AIA Awards for Washington Architecture.

 

This lecture is free and open to the public. AIA Continuing Education credit is available for attendance.

 

2023 Scan Design Foundation Visiting Professor: Søren Nielsen

 

2023 Scan Design Lecture Poster

 

Wednesday, October 04 5:30PM
147 Architecture Hall

 

Søren Nielsen is the 2023 Scan Design Foundation Distinguished Visiting Professor in the University of Washington’s College of Built Environments. Søren is architect and co-owner of Vandkunsten Architects in Copenhagen, one of the country’s leading socially and environmentally engaged offices. Responsible for Vandkunsten’s R&D activities, Søren is devoted to design strategies for sustainability, in particular resource protection, building transformation and the social, cultural, and aesthetic aspects of reuse. With 35 years of practice, he has been the leading force behind multiple innovative projects for affordable housing, adaptability, circularity, and the use of biogenic materials.

This lecture is free and open to the public. AIA Continuing Education credit is available for attendance.

 

BuildingWork featured in ARCHITECT magazine online

Source: ARCHITECT, Photo: Doug Scott

 

The La Conner Swinomish Library by BuildingWork, a Seattle-based firm founded by Matt Aalfs, AIA (MArch 1999) is featured in ARCHITECT magazine online. As noted in the article, the project “represents a multitude of collaborations and innovations. First, the new building is constructed from cross-laminated timber, making it one of the first publicly funded buildings in the country to be built entirely from CLT, according to its architect. Second, and perhaps more important, the library results from a unique partnership between an architecture firm and a local tribal community.” In addition to Matt, the project team consisted of partner Kate Weiland, AIA (MArch 2009), and project architect Jake LaBarre, AIA (MArch 2009). The project illustrates the commitment of UW Architecture and its graduates to issues of material innovation, community engagement, and social equity.

ARCHITECT Magazine OpEd by Alumna Mona Johnston Zellers

Source: ARCHITECT, Photo: Av Goodsell

 

Alumna Mona Johnston Zellers, AIA (MArch 2010), a partner with Johnston Architects, recently penned an OpEd in ARCHITECT magazine titled “Fostering a Supportive Community for Women Architects.” In this insightful article, Mona reflects on the relationship between a strong and supportive workplace culture and professional growth, particularly among women architects.

We invite you to dive into Mona’s captivating OpEd HERE.

We applaud Mona for this remarkable achievement and dedication to making our profession more equitable and inclusive!

Alumni in the National Press

We are thrilled to share that Sam Miller, FAIA (MArch 1992), a partner with Seattle-based LMN Architects, and Justin Schwartzhoff (MArch 2014), LMN’s Sustainability Lead, are featured in an online article in Architectural Record magazine titled “Continuing Education: Architects Zero in on Zero to Define Building Performance.” In this captivating article, Sam and Justin, along with other industry experts, share their thoughts on the complexities of defining and achieving “net-zero energy” buildings.

We invite you to immerse yourself in this thought-provoking article HERE.

This is but one example of our grads’ practice, research, and advocacy having a national impact in making our buildings more sustainable and leading climate-responsible practices across the industry.

We are immensely proud of our alums’ accomplishments and the recognition they have garnered.

Source: Architectural Record, Photo © Benjamin Benschneider

 

Source: Architectural Record, Image courtesy LMN Architects

2023 Design Build Studio Ribbon Cutting Celebration

 

2023 Design Build Studio | World Cultural Kitchen for the UW Farm, at the Center for Urban Horticulture.

 

The Neighborhood Design Build Studio invites you to the ribbon cutting celebration for this years project, the World Cultural Kitchen for the UW Farm, at the Center for Urban Horticulture. The students have designed and built a circular trellis topped by three roofed areas. The finished project will be used for cooking and farming demos by the UW Farm, celebrations that are hosted at the Center for Urban Horticulture, and as a unique meeting place for visitors to the Union Bay Nature area. The studio is a consensus based group project, working this year with 8 graduate and 8 undergraduate architecture students (2 of which are construction management double majors) to create a beautiful and durable structure to meet the needs of the client. After refining a loose program, the class creates a schematic design presentation to the client, develops a construction document set and budget, and then prefabricates the building elements in studio and installs the final design on site. The ribbon cutting celebrates the hard work and creative solutions to the challenges that have emerged along the way.

 

Thursday, June 8 5PM-8PM
The Center For Urban Horticulture
3501 NE 41st St, Seattle, WA 98105

 

Two M.ARCH Students Recognized in the 2023 Husky 100!

 

The department of Architecture is proud to announce that two of our Master of Architecture students have been recognized as part of this year’s Husky 100!
Please join us in congratulating Jacquelyn Crane and Dana Austin Bass!

 


 
Jacquelyn Crane 2023

Master of Architecture, Sustainable Systems and Design emphasis; Design Computing Graduate Certificate


 
Dana Austin Bass 2023

Master of Architecture; Graduate Certificate in Housing Studies; B.A. Architectural Design; B.S. Real Estate

 

Each year, the Husky 100 recognizes 100 undergraduate and graduate students from the UW Bothell, Seattle and Tacoma campuses in all areas of study who are making the most of their time at the University of Washington. The Husky 100 include students who have founded start-ups, created artwork, served as mentors, conducted research and advocated for social justice. They work on our campuses and in our communities. They are leaders and innovators.

These students are united in their efforts to actively connect what happens inside and outside of the classroom and apply what they learn to make a difference on our campuses, in their communities and for the future. Through their coursework, research, volunteer and leadership efforts, internships and jobs, they have created their own unique Husky Experience.

Read More

design exCHANGE 2023 – Call for submissions!

design exCHANGE 2023
 

Exhibit Duration: May 15, 2023 – May 26, 2023
Closing Reception: Friday, May 26, 2023, 5:30PM

Gould Court, University of Washington College of Built Environments
3950 University Way NE
Seattle, WA 98105

Entry Deadline: Board must be uploaded to Riot Creative Imaging by 5PM on Monday May 8, 2023
(one week before shows begins)

design exCHANGE 2023 will highlight emerging architectural and landscape projects designed by regional practitioners. This preview of un-built work and the design process behind built projects gives students and the public a rare glimpse into the studio process and provides a forum for public discourse between the region’s academic community and practitioners. An overview of the design innovation and influence of regional practitioners both large and small, design exCHANGE 2023 offers an exciting preview of future projects to be built regionally, nationally and globally. The closing night reception, with food and live music, is open to students, professionals, and the Seattle design community.

 

design exCHANGE Entry Form

Designing With Intention: Three Generations of Black Architects

Hands holding glasses in one and pointing to a picture on the table with the other
 
In the historically white–dominated field of architecture, Black architects have created some of Seattle’s most important landmarks and continue to change the industry. Their work is grounded in guiding principles of community-centered design and empowering underserved communities. Join three generations of Black architects in the Pacific Northwest for a discussion on their work, inspirations, challenges, and hopes for the next generation.

Presented by MOHAI in partnership with AIA Seattle Diversity Roundtable, The Black Heritage Society of Washington State, The Nehemiah Initiative Seattle, NOMA Northwest, University of Washington College of Built Environments, and the Seattle Office of Planning and Community Development.

View discussion here.

Speakers include:
Renée Cheng, University of Washington College of Built Environments, moderator
Donald King, Donald King Architecture
Whitney Lewis, GGLO
Meredith Everist, Baylis Architects

 
View the City of Seattle’s commenting policy: seattle.gov/online-comment-policy

2023 National AIA Architecture Awards

UW Architecture connected to four of the sixteen 2023 National AIA Architecture Award winning projects and more!

 

 

The AIA Architecture Award is the highest recognition the U.S. architecture profession grants to a recently completed project. This year, as in most, Seattle-based firms won more than their share of awards. This includes two projects by Seattle’s LMN Architects (Scott Crawford, M.Arch 2008/MS Arch 2010, and Sam Miller, MArch 1992, Partners) which received awards for the Mukilteo Multimodal Ferry Terminal and the Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences Middle School. The Seattle office of Perkins + Will was recognized for the University of Washington Life Sciences Building (Devin Kleiner, MArch 2004, Associate Principal and Project Architect). On the other side of the country, designLAB architects (Sam Batchelor, MArch 2004, Partner) of Boston was recognized for the Worcester Blackstone Visitor Center.

In addition, Seattle-based Miller/Hull (Professor Emeritus Dave Miller, Founding Partner and Brian Court, MArch 2002, Ben Dalton, MArch 2005, Rob Misel, and Sian Roberts, MArch 1992, Partners) won a 2023 National AIA Interior Architecture Award for its Student Success District at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

Congratulations to all of these notable alumni and firms!

In Memory of Douglas Kelbaugh, former Chair and Professor in the Department of Architecture (1985-98)

It is with great sadness that we note the passing of Douglas Stewart Kelbaugh, former Chair and Professor in the Department of Architecture, on February 18, 2023, at the age of 78. We extend our deepest sympathies to his wife, Kathleen Nolan, son, Casey, and daughter, Tess.

Douglas S. Kelbaugh FAIA was born in Brooklyn NY on January 25, 1945, graduating from Memorial High School in Houston, Texas in 1963. He received his B.A. in architecture Magna Cum Laude from Princeton University in 1968. He then participated in a Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) program in Trenton NJ for two years (1968-70). He graduated with his M.Arch. from Princeton in 1972. While in graduate school Doug joined in anti-war protests and peace marches in DC, also building inflatables for events on campus and play structures for the “People’s Workshop”—a Community Design Center in New Brunswick NJ. After graduating Doug worked as a senior planner and architect for the Department of Planning and Development, City of Trenton (1972-78).

In 1978 Doug joined with Sang Lee to form the partnership Kelbaugh + Lee. This firm did numerous projects and received awards for multiple pioneering passive solar buildings and other designs. Kelbaugh’s activities in the early solar design movement were marked by the design of the first Trombe Wall house in Princeton NJ (1973-75). Over the course of his activities in practice, Kelbaugh’s firms won over 15 regional and national design awards and competitions, and their designs appeared in over 100 books and magazines, and in many exhibitions in the USA and abroad. While at Kelbaugh + Lee, Doug began visiting teaching appointments, including lecturer positions at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania. Over time he became convinced that design of urban areas rather than single buildings would make a bigger impact on the issues of global warming and climate change.

In 1985 Doug accepted an appointment as Professor and Chair of the Department of Architecture at the University of Washington. During this time, he was instrumental in bringing a younger generation of faculty into the Department. He also instituted the Department’s student-run publication, Column 5, and initiated a program of design charrettes that took on urban design issues in Seattle. Through the charrette program Doug became involved in the New Urbanism movement. He partnered with Peter Calthorpe, another co-founder of the passive solar and New Urbanism movements, in the firm Calthorpe, Kelbaugh & Associates (1989-98).

Doug’s first books grew out of the design charrette program and reflected his growing commitment to urban issues. In 1989, he edited The Pedestrian Pocket Book (Princeton Architectural Press), a national bestseller in urban design that introduced the concept of Transit-Oriented-Development to a broad audience. In 1997, Kelbaugh authored Common Place: Toward Neighborhood and Regional Design, a book on urban theory, design, and policy, followed by its sequel, Repairing the American Metropolis in 2002.

In 1992, Doug stepped down as Chair of the UW Department of Architecture and in 1998 he accepted appointment as the Dean of the Taubman College at the University of Michigan, a position he held for ten years. At Michigan he continued creating and participating in design charettes, and he brought numerous notable speakers to Michigan leading to his edited book The Michigan Debates on Urbanism: Everyday, New, and Post, published in 2005. He was the co-editor of Writing Urbanism in 2008. From 2008 to 2010 he served as executive director of design and planning for a Dubai-based development company with a portfolio of large sustainable projects in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

Kelbaugh co-chaired multiple national and international conferences on energy, urbanism, and design; he spoke to hundreds of professional and community groups and wrote numerous articles on sustainable design. His most recent book, THE URBAN FIX: Resilient Cities in the War Against Climate Change, Heat Islands, and Overpopulation, was published in 2019.

Among his many accolades, he was Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, Fellow of the Congress for a New Urbanism, and in 2016 was awarded an AIA/ACSA Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architectural Education—the highest award given to an educator by the two organizations with only one Topaz award given each year. In announcing this award, Kelbaugh was praised for the “transformative impact he has had on architectural education” by Harrison Fraker, Dean Emeritus at University of California at Berkeley’s College of Environmental Design. Fraker also noted that during his time as the University of Washington, Kelbaugh “demonstrated a more activist role for schools of architecture in their cities.”

Following retirement, Doug returned to Seattle in 2020. He taught the class “Climate Change, Architecture and the City” in the UW College of Built Environments during Autumn Quarter 2020 and was schedule to give a lecture, “Architecture, Urbanism and Climate Change” on Thursday, February 16, 2023.

Through the course of his thirteen years at the University of Washington, Douglas Kelbaugh championed sustainable urban design and placemaking, transformed our curriculum, and strengthened relationships between faculty and local practitioners. His impact on the people and culture of the Department of Architecture is immeasurable and he will be sorely missed.

Northwest Nordic Troll Project

Come and meet Environmental Artist and Activist Thomas Dambo to hear about the upcoming Northwest Nordic Troll project!

Tuesday, February 7 @ 5:30
Gould Hall Court

The Northwest Nordic Troll Hunt is a public art project that will feature tea series of giant hand-built trolls by internationally acclaimed environmental artist, Thomas Dambo from Denmark. The trolls will be built during the summer of 2023 on publicly accessible sites across the greater Puget Sound region. Fashioned entirely out of recycled materials, the art installations turn trash into treasured trolls who tell a tale of protecting nature and honoring our land. This is with a focus on understanding human impact on life in the water, salmon, and orca protection, as well as advocating for environmental protection of the watershed.

See some of his work in action here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjmR2zueoYg

2023 Alumni Awards – Call for Nominations!

The Department of Architecture at the University of Washington is pleased to announce the return of the biannual Alumni Awards!

After a hiatus in 2021 due to COVID restrictions, we are soliciting nominations for notable alumni who have made significant contributions in two distinct categories.

The Distinguished Alumni Award honors an alumna or alumnus whose career achievements in the profession of architecture and the broader community have made a significant contribution to the built environment of the Puget Sound region and beyond. The recipients of this award are individuals who have had a distinguished career as evidenced in the excellence of their built work, the significance of their impact on the community, and the generosity of their commitment to the education of architects.

The Graduate of the Last Decade (GOLD) Award recognizes the accomplishments of an alumna or alumnus of the UW Department of Architecture within ten years of their graduation. The recipients of this award show great promise for expanding the impact of the profession of architecture through creative forms of practice and civic engagement.

This third cycle of the alumni awards is being conducted under the theme of “an architecture for the public good.” Our hope is that this will encourage nomination of graduates who have been active in proposing and executing projects, and pursuing models of practice, that establish a strong connection between architecture and the broader public.

Nominations will close on Monday, 6 February 2023 @ 6:00 pm PST

Click here to submit your nomination today!



For more information, please contact Brian McLaren.


Past Awardees

Distinguished Alumni Award
2017 | Lee Copeland and Steven Holl
2019 | Tom Kundig and George Suyama

Graduate of the Last Decade Award
2017 | Scott Crawford, Mariam Kamara, and Suk Lee
2019 | Jess Blanch, Jake LaBarre, and André Taybron


UW Architecture Jack Travis Reception and Lecture

Jack Travis established his namesake design studio in June 1985. To date the firm has completed projects for clients such as film director Spike Lee, actor Wesley Snipes, John Saunders of ABC sports and fashion retailer Giorgio Armani. Currently Travis is working on the flagship exhibition for the Museum of Black Civilization in Dakar, Senegal. Jack Travis encourages investigation into Black history and culture where appropriate in his work, and includes forms, motifs, materials and colors that reflect this heritage.

Please join us for a reception and lecture from architect and designed Jack Travis this Friday, December 2nd. The reception will take place 5PM-6PM in Gould Court followed by the lecture in Gould 332 from 6PM-8PM. Please RSVP here.

Governor Inslee visits Architecture in Rome studio

Governor Jay Inslee and his wife Trudi paid a surprise visit to the UW Rome Center on Tuesday, November 8th during a layover in Italy on their way to the Climate Change Conference in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. He met with faculty and students in our Architecture in Rome studio program, and engaged them in a lively conversation about the important role that architects will play in helping to reduce carbon emissions and mitigate the effects of climate change in the future.

Grazie for joining us, Gov. Inslee!

Governor Jay Inslee with students and faculty of the 2022 Architecture in Rome Program.
Governor Inslee with faculty members Jennifer Dee, Sonia Cohan and Peter Cohan

Daquan Proctor awarded WRNS Scholarship

Daquan Proctor head shot with building image from WNRS flyer

The UW Department of Architecture is pleased to announce that Master of Architecture student, Daquan Proctor, was awarded the WRNS Studio Foundation Scholarship in January 2022.

The WRNS Studio Foundation scholarship and advisory program seeks to cultivate a thriving higher education scholarship program that will encourage more Black students to pursue careers in Architecture, by providing multi-year educational financial support and enhanced access to enduring professional relationships. Recipients will be assigned an advisor from WRNS Studio for the duration of the awarded scholarship term to help establish contacts and build relationships within the field.

Congratulations, Daquan!

Prof. Simonen hosts meeting with Gov. Inslee

Gov. Inslee meets with Kate Simonen and others in Gould Hall

Architecture Chair and Professor Kate Simonen was asked by Governor Inslee to host a substantive discussion as he continues to develop policies and charge working groups to achieve better carbon futures. In Gould Hall on December 6, Governor Jay Inslee met with approximately twenty building professionals, think tank leaders, and researchers. Professor Simonen framed the discussion on how we can achieve lower carbon in construction, including with building materials from lower emissions manufacturing.  The Governor also toured the campus with President Cauce. Following the meeting, he expressed that he is “thankful for this group of collaborative and intelligent minds to continue the fight against climate change.”

Prof. Simonen is the director of the Carbon Leadership Forum, whose goal is to eliminate embodied carbon in buildings and infrastructure by inspiring innovation and spurring change through collective action.

“There’s a tremendous economic opportunity for Washington to be a leader in supplying lowcarbon materials,” noted one of the stakeholders in attendance. “It’d be great to bring in workers and manufacturers that can put a face on and speak to that opportunity.”

“It was great to be sitting next to the Governor and in the room with [Rep.] Davina Duerr discussing embodied carbon policy options for Washington State,” said Simonen. “We had a productive discussion about both demand and supply side strategies.”  Following the meeting, Inslee expressed that he is “thankful for this group of collaborative and intelligent minds to continue the fight against climate change.”

Photos: Mark Stone / University of Washington

Taiwan’s “Mother of Libraries”

We are saddened to share the news that Wang Chiu-hwa, one of Taiwan’s most prominent female architects, passed away on June 14 at the age of 96. Wang came to the University of Washington from China in 1946 and graduated with her BA in 1947.

Wang Chiu-Hwa student ID from UW

At that time, the UW did not yet offer a postgraduate degree in Architecture, so after graduating, Wang went on to earn her M.Arch at Columbia University.  She then practiced in the US until 1979, with projects completed in New York, Cleveland, and Detroit.  She came to Taiwan in 1979 and continued a successful career in practice and teaching at Tamkang University. She was often called the “Mother of Libraries” in Taiwan, for her work in modernizing the library design in Taiwan since that time.  Stemming from her love of learning and education, Wang earned this nickname not only for the many libraries she has designed but also for pioneering the earliest modern, open-stack university library in Taiwan.

Wang Chiu-Hwa, Chang Ching Yu Memorial Library (1983–1985), Chung Yuan Christian University, Chung-li (Zhongli), Taiwan, [circa 1983–circa 1985], chromogenic colour print. M+, Hong Kong. Gift of Wang Chiu-hwa, 2017. © Wang Chiu-hwa

Wang has described architecture as “an indispensable part of a complex built environment, full of human emotions and social significance, transcending form and function, beauty and practicality.” She has also said that “as a designer, you must concern yourself first and foremost with the well-being of the majority, not just the interests of a few wealthy people.” (See Taiwan Ministry of Culture, The Mother of Taiwanese Libraries, Wang Chiu-hwa.)

A public school designed by Wang and Goodman in New York. Architects: Wang Chiu-hwa, Percival Goodman, Project file, Public School 345 (1966–1967), Brooklyn, New York, USA, [1966–1967], mimeograph copy on paper; ink on paper, typewriter ink on paper; printout on paper; gelatin silver print, chromogenic colour print. M+, Hong Kong. Gift of Wang Chiu-hwa, 2017. © Wang Chiu-hwa

In 2020, President Tsai Ing-Wen presented her with the Taiwan National Award for the Arts, which is the highest honor for the profession in that country.

Much of Wang’s archive now resides with M+, a new museum of contemporary visual culture based in Hong Kong.  This acquisition marked the beginning of M+’s efforts to uncover the histories of women architects, whose work often lacks documentation and research. Wang was a key honorary founder of Women in Architecture Taiwan. It was one of her wishes to encourage women architects to do great work in the field.

You can learn more about Wang’s remarkable career and contributions to architecture here:

We are honored to count her among the many distinguished alumni of the UW Department of Architecture.

 

Remembering Daniel Streissguth

With great sadness, we share the news that UW Professor Emeritus Daniel M. Streissguth passed away on Saturday, November 20, at the age of 96.

Prof. Streissguth made significant contributions not only to the University of Washington Architecture department but to our greater region as well. Starting as a student and rising to a professor and designer, Dan’s enthusiasm and passion never wavered. He was as committed to his craft as he was to his students. Dan’s kindness and friendship knew no bounds; he was an integral part of the CBE community. As Dan led the design for our own Gould Hall we are grateful to always have a permanent reminder of his impact and legacy. He will be dearly missed.
A tribute to Dan’s life can be found on this page:

2020 AIA Honor Awards

The AIA Seattle Honor Awards for Washington Architecture is a nationally-recognized program that provides an important opportunity for the design community to share and celebrate its achievements, both among practitioners and with the community-at-large. The 70th Annual Honor Awards for Washington Architecture was held last week, and gave us all plenty to celebrate.  Their first-ever virtual live event revealed and celebrated 20 award winners and the greater design community.   Among the awardees were a sizable number of UW Architecture alumni, faculty, and PAC members.   We are pleased and proud that this community maintains such strong ties with our department and its students.

A partial list of the UW community’s awardees can be found below, and the complete awards catalog is now available online at this link.   (If you were among the awardees and we missed your name, give us a shout.)

Congratulations to all who were recognized for their stellar design work in our region!

Honor Awards Committee

Cody Lodi
Hilary Schnack
MacKenzie Cotters
Kailin Gregga
Siyu Qu

Award of Honor

Burke Museum of History & Culture

Olson Kundig: Tom Kundig, Julia Khorsand, Oliver Landa

Wagner Education Center, Center for Wooden Boats

Olson Kundig: Tom Kundig, Alan Maskin

Energy in Design Award

Keneda Building

Miller Hull: Ron Rochon. Brian Court, Matt Kikosocki, Steve Doub

Award of Merit

Blakely Elementary School

Mithun: Brendan Connolly

New Orleans Children’s Museum

Josh Distler, Susan Olmsted

Byrd Barr Place

SHKS:   The Byrd Barr Place project has involved a team including David Strauss (UW Affiliate Associate Professor), Andreas Baatz (UW grad), Alan Corrao, Theresa Freeman, Adam Hutschreider, and Pia Westen.

Honorable Mention

Ainsworth + Dunn

Weinstein AU: Ed Weinstein, Kirsten Wild, Emily Aune

Olympic High School

SKL: Rick Sundberg, Jeremy Imhoff

Seattle Asian Art Museum

LMN: Sam Miller, Lauren Patnoe

Seattle Light Denny Substation

NBBJ: CJ Brockway, John Savo

Kenmore Hangar

Graham Baba: Maureen O’Leary

M.Arch ’13 Mariam Kamara in NYTimes

T Presents: 15 Creative Women For Our Time. The New York Time Style Magazine. Photo by Nicholas Calcott.
In its August 10 issue, the New York Times Style Magazine presented a special feature, 15 CREATIVE WOMEN FOR OUR TIME. “Whether in the realm of art or design, food or fashion, these talents have stayed true to themselves and, in doing so, have pushed the boundaries of their respective fields.”

 

One of our 2013 alumni, Mariam Kamara, was one of the women recognized. “Since completing her Master of Architecture at the University of Washington (and a thesis project on gender and public space) in 2013, Kamara has built her practice on layers of narrative. Her buildings read as missives from the people who inhabit them: about their history, the ways they move through space, and their needs and aspirations, all gleaned through careful observation and conversation. Constructing clear geometric forms almost entirely from three locally produced materials — cement, recycled metal and unfired earth — Kamara shapes space from the inside out, using environmental and cultural cues to generate her designs.”

 

In 2017, Mariam was recognized in the GOLD category of the Department of Architecture’s inaugural Alumni Awards.  We were honored to have her return to campus as a speaker in our Spring 2019 Lecture Series.  Her lecture, titled “Decoding Context: Material, Sustainability and People-Focus Architecture,” can be viewed online here.

 

We are thrilled to see one of our graduates receive this widespread recognition. Congratulations, Mariam!

 

Seattle Street Sink Prototype

Handwashing is a proven strategy for reducing transmission of the Coronavirus. However, not everyone has access to handwashing facilities, especially when cafes and restaurants are closed due to the pandemic. This is especially true for those experiencing homelessness.

Seattle has responded by opening rest rooms in city parks and other locations and by contracting with private vendors to provide mobile handwashing stations across the city. However, these stations are subject to vandalism and are very expensive to maintain because they are closed loop systems. In other words, the water supply and the waste water need to be constantly replaced and removed respectively as the stations are not connected to either a water supply or drainage outlet.

In April, Elizabeth Golden was contacted by Tiffani McCoy of Real Change, a support organization for those experiencing homelessness, who was soliciting ideas that would both expand the number and reduce the cost of handwashing stations throughout the city. Elizabeth enlisted the help of Rick Mohler and Jeff Hou (Landscape Architecture) to develop a handwashing station that would be connected to an existing water supply thus eliminating the need for constant refilling. Brice Maryman (UW MLA ’03), a Principal with MIG, was recruited to help solve the problem of managing the greywater from the sink.

The team devised a design comprised of off-the-shelf components that would connect to a hose bib on public or private property and manage the grey water onsite. The design consists of a stock utility sink with an auto shut-off faucet (so that the water cannot be left on) and soap dispenser that drains into a standard livestock watering trough filled with soil and water loving plants – a combination handwashing station and rain garden.

With an approved design and cost estimate in hand, Tiffani sought a host for the prototype design. She found one in the ROOTS young adult shelter in the U District and its Executive Director Jerred Clouse. The team then got to work specifying, procuring and assembling components, specifying and procuring plants and soil and developing instructions and informational graphics for the installation. The prototype was installed in the alley outside ROOTS between NE 42nd and 43rd Streets on May 19. The installation will be monitored, refined and replicated at sites throughout the city and beyond.

UPDATES!
December 2020: Elizabeth Golden shared the news that the Seattle Street Sink was awarded $100,000 in funding by the Seattle City Council’s amendment to the Mayor’s 2021 budget. This will fund the installation and maintenance of over 60 sinks to be distributed citywide. It will also fund a student to conduct a citywide analysis to determine areas of greatest need.   Congratulations to the team!

October 2020: The Seattle Stranger covered the story about the new Street Sinks popping up around town:   https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2020/10/16/47549576/that-sink-in-the-ally-is-supposed-to-be-there