A/E/C firms Show They Can Help Feed Needy

Area architecture, engineering and construction firms helped feed Washington's hungry by building sculptures out of canned and boxed food at the Bite of Seattle in July.

Food Lifeline and the Society of Design Administration sponsored the annual CANSTRUCTION event. Five sculptures - ranging from a crocodile made of tuna cans to a likeness of the Seattle waterfront trolley crafted from packaged food donated by Trader Joe's - used more than 7,000 pounds of food. Combined with more than $500 in donations from the public, the event will provide more than 8,000 meals for hungry people throughout Washington.

A panel of jurors - as well as the public - voted on the structures. Participating firms were: Integrus Architecture, GGLO, Lease Crutcher Lewis, Sparling, M A Mortenson, Keen Engineering and Berryman & Henigar Inc.

Canstruction is held throughout the country to highlight how the design and construction industry gives back to the community. All food is donated to the event. After building and judging occurs, it then goes to local food banks.

AGC/Unions Start Substance Abuse Program

Associated General Contractors of Washington (AGC), Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters, Cement Masons Local #528, and Washington & Northern Idaho District Council of Laborers formed a joint drug testing program, that goes into effect January 1, 2005. About 10,000 workers fall under the program.

Currently individual companies administer their own testing programs, resulting in many different types of programs and overlaps in testing. Construction workers who work for several companies during a single construction season can be subject to numerous testing programs while others were not tested at all.

The program uses a third party, Welfare & Pension Administrative Services, to administer the testing and database of workers. All members of the participating unions are entered into one large pool of workers. From that pool, workers are randomly selected for testing. Contractors are able to verify a worker's compliance with the program through an electronic system accessed online or by telephone. Fifty percent of the pool will be tested each year.

SMPS honors Outstanding Marketers

Six professional service firms were honored with 2004 Marketing Communication Achievement Awards by the Seattle Chapter of Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS).

Two different firms each received two Markee Awards at this year's event. Architects BCRA received both the Best of Show (awarded by judges) and People's Choice (voted by SMPS members) for their Albers Mill Groundbreaking gift plaque that was created on a hand crank letterpress. The steel back of the plaque was cut from the same steel fabricator that worked on the Albers Mill. Each plaque featured hand thermography and was individually numbered. The Albers team members who created this special piece were Kristine Nims, Randy Robbins, Jeff Brown, and Cathy Bachl.

Coughlin Porter Lundeen also received two Markees. One for their cost-effective and environmentally friendly "THINK" postcards, garnering the Direct Mail Achievement, developed from collaboration between the CPL team including Gayle Guadarrama, FSMPS, Carrie Moers and Lily Kim and Brick Tudor Studios. The Special Event achievement Markee was for their brownbag for Architects on the Impacts of 2001 Nisqually Earthquake on Historic Buildings that shared "interesting and informative case studies of events precipitated by the earthquake and their relevance to our City, neighborhoods and industry."

Janet Prichard and Sally Cox of Perteet "spread the love" with their Toot Sweet Valentine mailing and were honored in the Special Publications category. Their special mailing was a "bold and quirky" way to convey some very important news about Perteet to their clients.

Studio Lux, represented by Jonathan Foster, received a Markee in the Brochure Category for their leave - behind brochure designed to increase awareness, and promote interest and expand the design workload of the firm.

Julian Rogers received a Markee in the Corporate Identity category for his MVP initiative which created a more human effect for a product that is boxy and industrial by nature.

Heather Ayres led the initiative that received a Markee in the website category for Quantum Consulting Engineers newly designed website, helping to define and enhance Quantum's identity to the greater AEC Community.
A special "Client of the Year" Markee was presented by Frank Petrie of KPFF to Washington State Ferries, represented by Joel Colby, in honor of the truly collaborative client-consultant relationship between the two organizations.

Winners were selected by a panel of judges from NAIOP, the Oregon Chapter of SMPS, and the DJC. Selection followed a shortlist of the top three respondents in each category. Sponsors of this year's event were Reprographics Northwest and ESM Consulting Engineers, LLC.