Seattle Trip

For those of you who don't know the two of us (Adrian and Emily) will be in Seattle, Washington for the next three weeks investigating various sustainable practices thoughout the city. We will be operating out of Miller Hull Architectural Firm who invited us down following our presentation at the Living Futures Unconference in May. However we are looking at several projects by many people and if any of our readers in the Seattle area know of an interesting opportunity drop us an email and we will try to fit it into our schedule.

The trip down was an adventure with Adrian nearly killing us while driving on the Kokehalla by muscling a rather large truck out of it's lane. After we miraculously reached the boarder in one piece we had further trouble when we were pulled off by the US Border Patrol and detained by large men with guns and no sense of humour for four hours before being told that we couldn't actually enter the country because we did not have a letter of invitation from Miller Hull. So we were forced to spend a night in a crappy motel. We got the letter the next morning and they only detained us for an hour and a quarter the next day before we got sent through.

Our fist full day in Seattle was exciting with a sit-in on three meetings in the morning. The fist was the management meeting at Miller Hull where we saw how projects are selected and rolls are assigned at the firm. After that we visited another architectural firm in the building called Maylum where we sat in on a design churette for a new elementary school. We saw how they worked to reconcile their budget with the needs of students, administrators and the environment. The final meeting of the day was back at Miller Hull where we learned about the computer design technology used to create the buildings.

In the afternoon we had a sit down with two architects at at Miller Hull to discuss the actions the firm was taking in order to become more sustainable, both in the buildings they create and in their own office. After that we went to an exhibit by the Seattle Architectural Institute displaying cutting edge sustainable building ideas.

We had some spare time after that so we did some shopping at Pike Market and had dinner before going to the local REI (an American version of MEC) for a presentation on watershed consevation, made by students from several high schools in the local area. The presentation was inspiring, both from an environmental perspective and because it helped to remind us of the incredible results that can be achieved when youth are given the chance to tackle real world problems.

The return home that day was a real adventure as well. We were riding our bikes and we got very lost on our way home and so we did not get back until quarter to 10!

The next day we decided to take the light rail rather than risk getting lost on the way to work again. However, we managed to get lost just on the way to the station and so we were still over half an hour late for work.

The day began with a discussion with one of the Miller Hull architects who told us about a project they just completed. The project being a building, that will be used as office space, as well as an interpretive center and science lab. The centre has just been completed and we are scheduled to tour it later in our stay. As well as the waste water treatment facility that this new building is an add on for.

For lunch we went out for sushi with the Miller Hull interns before going to a meeting at the local municipal building. The meeting was on the 40th floor and the view out the window, while incredible, was a bit disorienting for us small town folk! the meeting was an informational for developers involved in building and upgrading various fire stations in Seattle and we learned some interesting things. Folowing that we went to City Hall where we sat in on a presentation about new city environmental building regulations. And they were trying to come up with incentives to acheive these goals. We were increadibly impressed. They have set the bar extreamly high and our own local government would do well to take after them.

We were finished quite early that day, which was nice so we went grocery shopping at pike market and then created an incredible seafood (shrimp and scallop) and mushroom pasta dinner and had a more laid-back evening.

Today we started off with Sellen construction company who took us to visit a recycling facility that specialises in demolition waste. They take unsorted leftovers from demolished buildings and construction sites and sort it into various raw materials like wood, plastic, or metals and then sends them away to be reused. They claim to be able to recycle 98% of the waste they receive! After that we sat in on the Miller Hull office design meeting where various projects were shared with all members of the firm.

In the afternoon we had a one-on-one with the person in charge of BIM or building information modelling at Miller Hull. We talked with him about the creation and usage of the 3D modles designed by the firm. After that we sat in on a meeting with a a couple of people that Miller Hull has brought in to observe and critique their corporate culture over the next few weeks. We ended the day with Miller Hull's monthly in office meeting-party which involved a humorous mix of junk food, beer, humour, and administrative updates.

Following that we wandered around the Columbia City down-town near our house for a while before coming home to produce an amazing steamed muscle and salad meal!

-Adrian and Emily