Lecture by David Lake, FAIA

Dallas Arboretum by Lake/Flato Architects - photo from firm website

One of our 2009 Design Awards jurors, David Lake, FAIA, will present the work of his firm, Lake/Flato Architects, at the University of Oregon on Friday, October 9, at 5:30 PM in 177 Lawrence Hall. AIA members are eligible to receive one (1) AIA continuing education learning unit for attending David’s lecture, which will also be open to the public.

Lake is a principal with Lake/Flato Architects of San Antonio, Texas. The firm believes that architecture should respond to its particular place, enhance a site or neighborhood, and be a natural partner with the environment. Its designs evolve from an appreciation for the pragmatic solutions of vernacular architecture, the honesty of modernism, and the context of rich and varied landscape. In 2005 Lake/Flato Architects was awarded the National - AIA Firm of the Year Award.

In 2009 alone Lake/Flato Architects received the following awards:

• National AIA Committee on Architecture for Education
• National AIA Committee on the Environment Top Ten Green Projects
• National American Institute of Steel Construction Design Award
• National Congress for New Urbanism Award of Excellence
• National McGraw-Hill Construction Best of the Best: Green Building
• National Valley Forward Association Environmental Excellence Crescordia Award

. . . among numerous other state and local awards.

David Lake's commitment to sustainability and environmental issues has always been central to his design approach. By employing sustainable strategies, he has designed architecture that conserves energy and natural resources, while creating high performance buildings and healthy built environments.

Oregon Day of Culture

October is National Arts & Humanities Month and October 8th marks the anniversary of Oregon's unique cultural tax credit. The Cultural Trust created the Oregon Day of Culture to celebrate all that culture brings us every day, in every community. You are invited to come and celebrate The Day of Culture and meet your local arts organizations at a special reception at the Midtown Arts Center on Thursday, October 8 from 5:00 to 6:30 pm.

This event is FREE and open to the public. The Midtown Arts Center is located at 1590 Willamette Street, Eugene, OR 97401.

• Join in a toast to the arts as Mayor Kitty Piercy proclaims October 8 Eugene's Day of Culture
• Experience the synergy of the Midtown Arts Center
• Meet and greet your local professional arts organizations
• Watch a dance class
• Visit the hall gallery of architectural design (featuring the 2009 People's Choice winners)
• Refreshments and door prizes!

Participating arts organizations include: Eugene Ballet Company, Eugene Concert Choir, Eugene Opera, Hult Center, Lane Arts Council, Oregon Bach Festival, Oregon Mozart Players, American Institute of Architects, Eugene Ballet Academy, Oregon Festival Choirs.

Architects in Schools 2009-2010

Architects in Schools (AiS) is a unique program providing elementary schools the opportunity to work with practicing professional architects and designers in curriculum-based activities. The program is funded by Architecture Foundation of Oregon (AFO), which coordinates the formation of exciting partnerships between design professionals and area schools. Architects, intern architects, landscape architects, and interior designers are all welcome to participate.

Thousands of students have participated in AiS over the years. It is just as vital and relevant today as it was when Marjorie Wintermute and Jody Proppe first initiated the program nearly 25 years ago.

Commitment
Architects in Schools is open to grades 3 through 5 and is offered to schools at no charge. The design professional’s commitment to the program usually totals approximately 20 hours between January and April as follows:

• 12 hours in the classroom (approximately two hours per week over a six-week period that works with the architect’s schedule)
• 8 hours of orientation, including pre-planning time with teachers, and
• Up to 2 additional hours of “floating time”

There is no charge for participation for design professionals or schools. Architects may receive Continuing Education credits and interns may receive IDP credits for completion of the entire program. Everyone receives a copy of the comprehensive curriculum, Architecture as a Basic Curriculum Builder.

Click the link below to download the 2009-2010 Architects in Schools Application for Architects:

http://www.af-oregon.org/pdf/ARCH0910app-otheroregon.pdf

Application submissions to participate in the 2009-2010 school year must be received or postmarked no later than Friday, October 30, 2009. For more information, contact Kim Ruthardt Knowles at (503) 317-7537 or by e-mail at kim_ais@msn.com. Applicants will be notified of participation status in early December 2009.

It’s been a while since I participated in the Architects in Schools program (I taught third graders at Coburg Elementary School), but it stands today as one of my most rewarding volunteer experiences. Consider sharing your passion and professional skills with the community through the AiS program. If you do, you'll see what I mean.

Eugene Solar & Green Building Tour

Sunday, October 4 - 11:00AM to 4:00 PM

The City of Eugene and the Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB) will host an extensive solar and green building tour in Eugene on Sunday, October 4 from 11AM to 4 PM as part of the world's largest grassroots solar event. The Solar & Green Building Tour offers participants the opportunity to tour eight sites spanning from Crescent Village in North Eugene to Crescent Ridge in the South Hills. The tour will highlight how solar energy, energy efficiency and other sustainable approaches can reduce monthly utility bills and help tackle climate change. It will showcase a variety of building types, technologies and local firms. Two projects are LEED Platinum certified, the highest rating by the U.S. Green Building Council, and several are Earth Advantage certified. The tour will include new construction, residential remodels, a "mother-in-law cottage" infill unit, mixed-use, and affordable projects.

Eugene's green building and solar tour is part of the American Solar Energy Society (ASES) National Solar Tour where over 150,000 people in 3,000 communities will participate in open house tours of solar powered and energy efficient homes (http://www.nationalsolartour.org/). Attendees will be able to explore green buildings first hand and talk directly with the builders, solar contractors and homeowners. Lane Community College (LCC) will also introduce its new solar/electric vehicle charging station project.

The tour will begin at 11:00 AM at EWEB, 500 East 4th Avenue, with a kick-off presentation by Mayor Kitty Piercy. Self-guided tours will include eight sites in areas throughout the city. To minimize driving times, participants will choose from a 'north loop' or 'south loop' each having four different buildings. A biking tour of 3 central sites is another option.

A reception at La Perla Pizzeria, 1313 Pearl Street, will be held at the end of the tour, around 4 PM.

To participate, please register at SolarTour@eweb.org. $5 suggested donation per party.

For more information contact Jenna Garmon at Jenna.R.Garmon@ci.eugene.or.us or 541-682-5541.

September AIA-SWO Chapter Meeting Recap

2009 People's Choice Winner: East Blair Housing Co-op, by Willard C. Dixon, Architect (photo from Will Dixon's website)

The September 2009 AIA-SWO chapter meeting presented the results of our People’s Choice and Colleague’s Choice awards programs. In addition, we unveiled our 2010 AIA Northwest & Pacific Region Conference logo and promotional video. If you weren’t at the meeting, you missed a great event. Over 40 members and guests were on hand to celebrate the value of design in our community and herald AIA-SWO’s production of next year’s Region Conference.

2010 AIA Northwest & Pacific Region Conference
As I’ve mentioned previously, our chapter is the host for next year’s AIA Northwest & Pacific Region conference in Eugene, scheduled for October 13-16, 2010. This will be a huge undertaking. It will be our time to showcase the genius and brilliance of our cozy and undeniably quirky corner of Oregon. It’s our opportunity to rally around the idea that design truly matters in our lives. I have no doubt that we’re up to the task. Our goal is nothing less than an inspired and fantastic festival of forward thinking that attendees will talk about long after they have returned to their homes in Seattle, Honolulu, Tokyo, Boise, or Fairbanks.

We’re well on our way to achieving our goal of a first-rate conference. Exhibit A is our new 2010 logo, designed by the members of the AIA-SWO Emerging Professionals Group. The logo is an abstract representation of our conference slogan – An Emerald Vision – and a mnemonic device to remember the “triple bottom line” (Environment, Economy, Equity) that underscores the spectrum of values and criteria we are applying to our conference programming.

Exhibit B is our 2010 promotional video, which premiered at the 2009 Region conference in Anchorage. Kudos to Paul Dustrud and Don Kahle for succinctly capturing the essential thrust of what we’re proposing in a tightly produced and entertaining package. We may not be Honolulu, or Anchorage, or Tokyo, but when architects from around the Northwest & Pacific Region come to Oregon they’ll find that fun is an everyday affair in Eugene!

People’s Choice Awards
The AIA-SWO People’s Choice Awards is our annual public outreach event held at the Eugene Celebration. The purpose is to present the recent work of architects and landscape architects, and to encourage the public to critically engage the built environment. The emphasis is not on winning but on sharing and honoring all the work undertaken to make buildings and landscapes important and meaningful in our daily lives. Here is the list of the winners, who will also be featured in the Friday, October 9, 2009 edition of the Eugene Register-Guard. Congratulations to this year's People's Choice selections!

MULT-FAMILY HOUSING
Willard C. Dixon, AIA
East Blair Housing Co-Op
Client: East Blair Housing Co-Op

RESIDENTIAL
Nir Pearlson, AIA
Reinhart Gray Residence
Client: Catherine Reinhart & Scott Gray

UNBUILT
Chuck Bailey Architect AIA LLC
Fun in the Sun
Client: Walter & Sandy Racette

RESIDENTIAL LANDSCAPE
Stangeland & Assoc. Inc.
Three R’s Make a Wright: Restore, Recycle, Revitalize
Client: Rob Steiner

COMMERCIAL LANDSCAPE
Cameron McCarthy Gilbert & Scheibe Landscape Architects LLP
Slocum Center
Client: McKay Investment Company

INTERIORS
Mahlum Architects with Robertson/Sherwood/Architects pc
Thurston Elementary School
Client: Springfield Public Schools

COMMERCIAL
Nir Pearlson, AIA
Duvall Law Building
Client: Hugh Duvall

PUBLIC/INSTITUTIONAL
PIVOT Architecture
Eugene State Office Building
Client: State of Oregon Legislative Administration

2009 Colleagues' Choice Winner: Indigo Place, by 2fORM Architecture

Colleague's Choice Results
The “Colleague’s Choice” vote is an ancillary event to the People’s Choice program and meant to be a fun way for our AIA-SWO and ASLA members to weigh in on the question of which of their peers’ projects were most worthy of recognition.

MULT-FAMILY HOUSING (3 way tie)
Rowell Brokaw Architects PC
Crescent Village West

PIVOT Architecture
Prairie View Affordable Housing

2fORM Architecture
Indigo Place

RESIDENTIAL
Arbor South Architecture, PC
The SAGE

UNBUILT
Chuck Bailey Architect AIA LLC
Fun in the Sun

RESIDENTIAL LANDSCAPE
Stangeland & Assoc. Inc.
Three R’s Make a Wright: Restore, Recycle, Revitalize

COMMERCIAL LANDSCAPE
Dougherty Landscape Architects (DLA Inc.)
Cal Young Middle School Courtyards

INTERIORS
Mahlum Architects with Robertson/Sherwood/Architects PC
Thurston Elementary School

COMMERCIAL
TBG Architects & Planners Inc.
The Ten Coburg

PUBLIC/INSTITUTIONAL
PIVOT Architecture
Eugene State Office Building

People’s Choice Exhibit Schedule
The boards of the winning 2009 entries will be on display at the Midtown Arts Center (1590 Willamette Street in Eugene) through the month of October (and probably into 2010). If you haven’t already seen the boards, don’t miss the Oregon Day of Culture reception on Thursday, October 8 from 5:00 to 6:30 pm at the MAC when the entire community is invited to celebrate Eugene's vibrant cultural scene and meet local arts organizations. I’ll post more about the Day of Culture as the event nears.

Register-Guard Special Insert
As mentioned above, look for the special Register-Guard insert inside the Friday, October 9 edition of the paper. Also, you will be able to find an expanded, full-color online version of the insert at the Register-Guard’s web site at http://www.registerguard.com/ immediately after the publication date.

Raffle Prize Winners
The winners of the People’s Choice and Colleague’s Choice raffle prize drawings will be identified in the Register-Guard insert (actually, we’ll contact the winners directly just before the insert in published). Once again, The Farmers’ Union Marketplace (The Green Store and Down to Earth Home & Garden) is our raffle prize sponsor. Please extend our appreciation of the Marketplace’s generous support of AIA-SWO by patronizing both The Green Store and Down to Earth!

Acknowledgements

I would be remiss if I did not thank the members of the People’s Choice Awards committee for generously offering their time and energies toward the success of the program. We couldn’t have done it without them:

• Kurt Albrecht
• Greg Brokaw
• Paul Dustrud
• Shawn Jenkins
• Barbara Harris
• Matt Koehler
• Jesse McMillen
• Andika Murandi
• Jodi Sommers
• Michael Soraci

. . . plus all the AIA-SWO and ASLA members who staffed the exhibit (thank you!)

September Program Sponsor
Thanks again to our September 2009 program sponsor, KONE, one of the world's leading elevator and escalator companies. KONE offers the best people flow experience by developing and delivering solutions that enable people to move smoothly, safely, comfortably and without waiting from one place to another. KONE also provides maintenance services for automatic building doors. The company operates some 800 service centers in around 50 countries and delivers approximately 50,000 new elevators and escalators per year. Its service base consists of approximately 650,000 elevators and escalators and more than 270,000 automatic building doors.