Blog Posts By Author: Susan Frieson

PARK(ing) Day 2011 is in a few days, and the Seattle team is in full swing preparing for the big reveal. Our theme embraces environmental issues regarding green spaces in keeping with the organization's mission, in a fun way. Our concept is Give & Take: WATG's Seattle office will Give a Seed & Take a Promise of giving back to the planet. Passersby are encouraged to write down that promise on the spot as a reminder. Seed balls are being made in-house as the handout. It's all meant to be fun & informative without being overwhelming. Fun is key -- a giant PLINKO game is being constructed! The temporary 'park' will be on 1st avenue, near the famous Pike's Market and will take up two parking spaces.

Stay tuned as we continue to prepare and actually participate!

This recently announced move changes the practice that has been in place since early 2009, following inconsistencies and poor service that have been frustrating to LEED project teams.

All I can say to this is, "It's about time!"

GBCI was spun off from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) in 2008 to run the LEED certification process, as well as the accreditation of LEED professionals. In turn, GBCI hired outside "Certification Bodies," or CBs, to perform the LEED reviews, while it managed the overall process. Now, GBCI is taking over those reviews directly.

Certification for our Bardessono project stretched out over a year, and we hit a few snags with the review team. We now know that our review team was a CB, or Certification Body, which may explain some of the issues we ran into. Clarifications, email arguments, reissuing documents that were apparently misplaced by the review team … all these led to a lot of frustration and delays. Our LEED consultant/administrator had to write and call several times to find out exactly where we were in the process. In the end, we earned Platinum certification for our project and for our client; but, hopefully, the process will be less arduous in the future.

It took just under a year after the property opened but at the end of January, we received word posted on our USGBC project site that Bardessono had completed the final certification review and was being awarded Platinum certification. Talk about wanting to turn cartwheels in the office and scream FINALLY! What a relief. I have to say, the review process was challenging, interesting and stressful towards the end. We ran into a few hiccups – having to issue clarifications, reissuing information that the review team had received yet we believe was lost at some point. Checking and rechecking – dotting I’s and crossing T’s. During that time in the back of my mind I thought – what if we miss this and receive LEED Gold – do we write Highest Amount Gold Points Achieved below the plaque? Missed it by ONE point? No – that wouldn’t do. In the end, the perseverance of a dedicated design team along with a determined owner/client paid off. Bardessono is an excellent product and I understand it’s faring well despite the economy. Guests are impressed and have returned. I’d do it all again, in a heartbeat.

Green features of Bardessono were recently profiled in Hospitality Design.

The property will obtain approximately half of its electricity needs from a 200-kilowatt photovoltaic solar system mounted and concealed atop the hotel's flat-topped roofs. To heat and cool guestrooms as well as the property's domestic water supply, a system of 82 geothermal wells were drilled to work with a specially developed ground source heat pump system.

Read the rest of the article to find out more.

There is no doubt that advanced computer programs have enhanced the architectural profession for the better. BIM (Building Information Modeling), along with more advanced graphics programs have allowed us as professionals to better convey the intention of the design and give some form of life to the package.

But for me there is no feeling quite like seeing those thoughts actually rise out of the ground. I love watching what was a drawing transform into the actual finished product and being a part of that process. Seeing the foundation, the bones, the guts, the skin of the building continue to progress gives me a sense of giddiness.  The building comes alive and I’m a part of it! There are headaches—Excedrin comes in handy—but the coordination and cooperation of the entire design team along with contractor and owner can be a rewarding experience.

"Veterinarian? You don't even like to feed the dog!" was my father's reply when I said that I wanted to apply to the University of California at Davis and study veterinary medicine.

He did, however, make another observation that would pan out.

"I've noticed that you like to go through your mother's Better Homes and Gardens magazines comparing the floor plans of the 'befores' and the 'afters.' Why not go into Interior Design?" This inspired the healthy "one-upmanship" which is prevalent in my immediate household. Instead of interior design, I thought to myself, "HA! I'll go into ARCHITECTURE!" And so it began.

Being an African American woman in a traditionally white male profession has had its ups and downs, no doubt. I graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with roughly 50 percent women in my graduating class, and I was among the five to six who were black. Going out into the "Real World," I found the percentage of women in architecture firms astoundingly low: two or three women for every 15 men in most firms at the time. I didn't see anyone who looked like me for quite a few years. Was it hard? It could be isolating. I think this truly explains why I have kept in touch with the black women architects, construction managers and designers that I've met over the years.

We broke barriers. Stared adversity (real and perceived) in the face and went for what we knew. Simply put, no matter what, I love the profession. Who wouldn't? Where else does an artist at heart get to draw something that may get built and contribute to society? I have to say, the ride has been a good one.

Being an architect in a mainstream firm with roughly 50 percent women has been a total blast! I've had the opportunity of working on an all-woman team early in my career at WATG. This may seem minor, but I don't know of many large firms that would field a team of all women that kicked butt and took names!

From my experience and observations, WATG has consistently recognized that women in the design and construction field contribute as much as men.

So is it really a man's world? Look out boys, here we come! GO girls, GO!