Category: News

In spite of the many challenges we faced, it was a year of many accomplishments for the College of Built Environments (CBE), below are some highlights of the many events and achievements to celebrate from 2021.

CBE welcomed students back to in-person education in the Autumn with a series of tours of notable places and spaces in Seattle hosted by our professional partners. The College adopted its 5-year Strategic Framework through a highly collaborative process. We were proud to welcome Washington Governor, Jay Inslee, to the College for a discussion on climate solutions led by Carbon Leadership Forum Director and Chair of the Department of Architecture, Kate Simonen. We continued our #CBEchronicles lecture series in partnership with our faculty-led Humanities, Histories, and Futures group. We also hosted several successful events – the Runstad Real Estate Leadership Dinner, Mind’s Eye Sketchbook: Celebrating 50 years of art and observation by John Owen dedicated to the Urban Design and Planning department Endowed Equity Fund, and the Construction Management Hall of Fame. We were excited to launch the inaugural Aspire Program, connecting UW students with industry leaders to explore equity in real estate.

Members of the CBE community were featured in publications such as The Seattle Times, Fast Company, Forbes, and The New York Times.

The College and our members received numerous awards this year, highlighting a few of these accolades: John Schaufelberger, professor of Construction Management and Dean Emeritus, received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Associated Schools of Construction; Rick Mohler, associate professor of Architecture, was elevated to the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows; Thaïsa Way, professor of Landscape Architecture, was awarded the Bradford Williams Medal in recognition of excellence in writing about landscape architecture; the Nehemiah Interdisciplinary Studio: Building Beloved Community received a Lincoln Institute of Land Policy Curriculum Innovation Award; Kate Simonen, chair of the Department of Architecture, was awarded the AIA Seattle Community Service Award. And finally, the Scan Design Foundation was awarded UW Presidential Laureate status for their generosity over the years totaling more than $10M and encompassing programs within the College of Built Environments, the College of the Environment, the College of Arts & Sciences, and UW Medicine.

We were grateful to expand the ways we support Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) students at the college with the creation of the BIPOC landscape architecture scholarship and the Urban Design and Planning Endowed Equity Fund. And we were thrilled to partner with MIG Inc. in creating the MIG Scholarship Fund For The Design of Equitable and Inclusive Environments.

Despite difficult and unprecedented challenges the last year, students persevered and we were immensely proud to award over 340 degrees across our bachelor’s, master’s, and Ph.D. programs.

It was also a productive year for CBE research. Our scholars published over fifty-five peer-reviewed research articles, books, and other research output. In 2021 we conducted over $3 million in funded research; you can learn about this work at the CBE Research Portal. We also launched the CBE Inspire Fund, which supported six projects in its inaugural year. The Fund is designed to support college research activities for which a relatively small amount of support can be transformative. And, in alignment with our Strategic Framework, CBE scholars are working in transdisciplinary “communities of practice” to explore new research frontiers in the topics of climate solutions; humanities, histories, and futures; and technology in the built environments.

Our top news stories of the year were:

1. These acoustic panels reduce noise within buildings by up to 60% | Fast Company
2. So you can’t afford a house in Seattle. Are investors to blame? | The Seattle Times
3. The internet is killing the environment. These students came up with a brilliant design fix | Fast Company
4. Using Afrofuturism principles to keep, grow Black culture in Seattle’s Central District | KNKX
5. A Seattle Skyscraper’s Rise Helps Shatter a Glass Ceiling | Seattle Met
6. Architecture students envision a greater Gould Hall | UW Magazine
7. Seattle Black Faith Leaders Urge Mayor Durkan Not to Sign Amended Density Bonus Bill | The Urbanist
8. ​​Renovated Mills Offer a Perk in the Age of Social Distancing: Space | The New York Times
9. Biden has big plans for homelessness — but will they help Seattle? | The Seattle Times
10. Climate Pledge Arena goes on offense with sustainability goals | KUOW

In 2022, we’re excited to continue working across disciplines and sectors to realize a more just and beautiful world. As part of that work, we’re bringing in 5 new thought leaders through our faculty cohort hire; providing our students with immersive educational experiences; and developing an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion strategic plan.

Andris (“Andy”) Vanags was instrumental in the initiation of the design/build program and the creation of furniture studios that have become hallmarks of the Department of Architecture. The furniture program has grown from a 3-credit course introducing students to the study of “making,” to a 6-credit studio that now sometimes includes traveling to Denmark and working with renowned Danish furniture makers.

Each year, students have the opportunity to design and fabricate their own piece of furniture using the facilities located in the College of Built Environments. Students, many of whom have no furniture making experience, are able to learn how to craft and design their pieces using tools in our wood and metal labs, in addition to the laser cutters and CNC routers. Keeping in mind scale, costs, deadlines, and materials, students are expected to complete their furniture piece within the ten week quarter. The pace is quick, with students spending most of their free time outside of studio and on weekends in the shop making mock-ups, sanding, and sketching out ideas.

Prof. Jeffrey Ochsner, author of the 2012 book Furniture Studio, was a longtime colleague and friend of Andy’s.   Upon Andy’s recent death (on October 13, 2019, at his home in San Diego, CA) he penned the following tribute, which we share with you below.

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As a member of the Department of Architecture for forty years, Andy was a key figure in the development of the department and college culture of craft and making, Andy was born in Latvia, in 1942.  In 1944 his family fled to the west, and eventually came to the United States settling in Brooklyn, where Andy graduated from high school in 1960. During the summers he worked as a carpenter. After a term at Pratt Institute, he came to Seattle and soon found work as a member of the team working on the Dyna-Soar space plane at Boeing. In December 1964, he entered the UW Art School in the program in industrial design.

Andy graduated with his BFA in Industrial Design in 1968.  During his years as a student, he had been introduced to our shop facilities through shared courses; he also befriended Professor Phil Thiel.  When shop director Berner Kirkebo was forced to resign due to illness, the college (through Phil Thiel) offered the position to Andy.  He became the shop director in April 1969.  Initially Andy was a staff member, teaching just a single class on tools and materials, but once Gould Hall opened, he developed a suite of courses establishing the shops (now Fabrication Labs) as a center of pedagogy.  Over time his courses included “Materials and Processes,” “Wood Design,” Light Frame Assemblies,” Technological Foundations” (Arch 300 studio) and others.

In 1977, Andy and Barry Onouye initiated the department’s first design/build offering, a summer course titled ”Playground Construction.”  Almost a decade later, when liability became an issue, Barry and Andy redirected the design-build studio to other kinds of projects. (After 1992, Steve Badanes took on the design-build studio and he continues to lead it today.)

In the late 1970s and 1980s Andy made connections with the growing number of studio furniture makers in our region, and, in 1984, he offered the Architecture Department’s first furniture design and fabrication class, initially for only three credits.  In 1989 the furniture class became a six-credit studio which Andy, assisted by new shop manager Penny Maulden, taught for the next twenty years.  By 1991 the furniture studio was offered to graduate students one quarter, and to senior undergraduates another quarter — the pattern that continues today.

From the very first, the quality of the work in the furniture studio was recognized through the numerous awards received by student projects in professional furniture competitions in the region, and in a national competition in 2004.  Five student projects were also included in the book 500 Chairs in 2008.

Andy fully retired from teaching after the Winter Quarter 2009 furniture studio.  The furniture program has continued under the leadership of Kimo Griggs and Penny Maulden.  Although some of the classes that Andy created have been discontinued, and others have changed with the introduction of digital tools and techniques, the culture of craft and making that Andy developed in his forty years in the department and college has become a significant part of our identity.

In 2018 Andy Vanags was recognized with the CBE Distinguished Faculty Award for Lifetime Achievement.  Andy touched many lives and helped shape many careers.

Jeffrey Ochsner
October 2019

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A celebration of Andy’s life will take place in Gould Hall on Saturday afternoon, January 25, 2020. Please watch for more details that should be posted soon.

The UW Landscape Architecture Croatia Design/Build program gives students the unique opportunity to make a lasting, physical impact in their host community. Professor Daniel Winterbottom, an expert in the creation of healing and therapeutic gardens, leads the program.

With Professor Winterbottom as their guide, students explore the role of restorative landscapes in the built environment through hands-on learning. They study the history of healthcare in Croatia while also exploring the unique culture, food, and architecture heritage of the region. Finally, the students gain practical experience, working together to solve a real-world design/build problem. Last year, students were tasked with creating a new outdoor physical therapy rehabilitation space at the “Prim. Dr. Martin Horvat” Orthopedic and Rehabilitation Hospital.

Located just outside the city of Rovinj, on the western coast of the Istrian peninsula, the hospital is among the oldest orthopedic-rehabilitation institutes. It specializes in offering modern hydrotherapy treatments to patients coming from throughout Europe. The close proximity to the temperate waters of the Adriatic Sea allows the hospital to offer both indoor and outdoor hydrotherapy facilities during much of the year. For the students, this means having the opportunity to design a functional, therapeutic outdoor space to serve both patients and staff. The build portion of the program further allows students to become adept with key landscape construction techniques, materials, and project management approaches – skills that often aren’t practically addressed in a traditional classroom setting.

For Elizabeth Lange, a Master of Landscape Architecture Student, the most memorable part of the experience was the opportunity to build strong connections and foster teamwork with her fellow American and Croatian classmates.

“Every day it was a lot of work and long days, but it was fun to be with the people in the program and learn new things,” she shared. “I became very close with my classmates because of this program.”

Elizabeth also felt that the unique opportunity to participate in a design/build program was particularly useful for rounding out her educational experience, especially as she prepares to enter professional practice in the near future.

“A design build program forces you to think about your design and the practicality of it,” she explained. “In design school, we don’t normally construct what we design, so the sky is the limit in some sense, but in a design/build that isn’t the case. You can think of grand ideas but then you also have to factor in the budget and feasibility of it in order for it to work in the real world. I think that is an important thing to experience in school going forward.”

Perhaps one of the most important aspects of the study abroad experience is the way in which it allows students to frame their own life and experiences in the context of a broader perspective.

For Elizabeth, her time in Croatia gave her valuable personal insights and allowed her to build stronger relationships with others – both key hallmarks of a successful study abroad experience.

“I learned a lot about myself and my abilities during this program through my relationship with my friends and through the relationship of design,” Elizabeth shared.

Photo credits: Rhiannon Neuville and the 2018 Croatia Design Build class.