Virtual Chapter Tour
March 9, 2021
4:30 – 5:30 pm Pacific

TBD
Vancouver iTech Preparatory
Tour Guide: Brent Young, LSW Architects
The new Vancouver iTech Preparatory building was designed to nurture the minds and aspirations of tomorrow’s great innovators. It is a home base for Vancouver Public School’s early college STEM-focused program, serving the middle and high-school students who were previously based at two separate locations.
The project scope included the design and construction of a new school, 700 student capacity, for grades 6-12. The program needed to include classrooms, science labs, computer labs, collaboration break-out spaces, makers spaces, offices, administration space, a fitness/activity multi-purpose space, a media center, full kitchen, and commons/gathering space.
With an initial budget of $35,618.000, LSW delivered a three-story building (80,711 SF) with all the above-mentioned spaces and capacity for all students, located on the campus of Washington State University - Vancouver (WSU-V). This location physically connects these institutions, giving students the opportunity to attend college classes and engage with professors.
Learning Objectives:
- iTech’s progressive approach to education is reflected throughout the design and in the building’s story. We’ll discuss the ways that its unique curriculum, design, and environment make iTech a unique learning experience.
- Much of the project work at iTech is done in an open setting with no fixed barriers to visibility.
- This emphasizes the idea that individual learning is connected to the greater whole and goes to the hearts of iTech’s central theme, “process on display.”
- In addition, we will look at ways the design team has engaged and worked with the site's national conditions, creating functional solutions that complement the geology.
Design Team:
Architect: LSW Architects
Landscape Architect: Place
Structural Engineer: Kramer Gehlen & Associates
Electrical Engineer: PAE
Civil Engineer: HHPR
Mechanical Engineer: PAE
Contractor: Robertson Construction Company
Specialized Consultants:
Acoustical: MBF AV & Acoustical Consulting
Planning/Land Use: Berger Abam
Food Service: Halliday Associates
Must register and attend to receive AIA CEU
Members: FREE | Non-members: $20
Register
Registration closes at 9:00 am Pacific on March 9, 2021.
Zoom Meeting
March 16, 2020
4:30 – 6:00 pm Pacific
On the Boards: Learning Environments in Process
Join us for a fun evening of engaging presentations by school designers and facility planners as they share projects that are currently in design. Each presenter will share a single project that is “on the boards”, in an abbreviated Pecha Kucha style slide format: 10 slides x 20 seconds per slide. Projects can be at any point in the design process, from concept to construction documents.
If you don’t know about Pecha Kucha, check it out here:
www.pechakucha.com/about.
If you are a chapter member, or affiliated with a company or district that is a member of OR/SW WA Chapter, you are invited to submit your presentation. There is no cost for submission, but event sponsors are always welcome!
Contact for questions and submissions:
Joe Echeverri
Members: FREE | Non-members: $15
Register
Registration closes on March 16 at 10:00 am.
Virtual Chapter Tour
March 31, 2021
4:30 – 6:00 pm Pacific

1.5 HSW
Lakeridge Middle School
Tour Guide: Abby Dacey, Principal, Mahlum Architects
The learning environment of Lakeridge Middle School has been designed to address the specific academic, social, and emotional needs of the teenage learner. Several features set the school apart from a traditional approach:
Instead of locating extended learning spaces outside of the classroom and providing stand-alone makers spaces, each general classroom has been paired with a larger maker space or lab space that affords every teacher the opportunity to conduct team teaching or switch to project based learning styles.
All learning spaces feature large interior windows and have been organized in a loop around a central courtyard to allow every learner to become aware of the work peers are engaged in and spark the inherent teenage curiosity to become interested in new subject matter. In alignment with recent research that confirms the emotional impact of surface texture and finish materials on students, the design takes advantage of material expression and biophilia. By featuring exposed wood beams, wood ceilings, and salvaged White Oak structural tree columns, the design evokes memories of being in nature, thereby reducing stress, anxiety, and potential aggressive behavior in students.
The traditional cafeteria has been reinterpreted as a distributed Commons. This space is available as an extended media center during non-eating hours and caters to both students who thrive in active areas and those who prefer quiet spaces. The design breaks the Commons into several zones, each offering a range of seating options and scales with varying ceiling heights and materials. The school’s reduced energy use targets meet the Architecture 2030 challenge by employing a very robust building envelope and exposed thermal mass, and by engaging occupants to manage thermal comfort throughout the day. Users are alerted when conditions are ideal to open windows, activate ceiling fans, and open passive stack exhaust roof dampers.
Learning Objectives:
- Explore innovative uses of wood building materials, including acoustic DLT roof deck, salvaged structural tree columns, glulam beams, finished plywood shear walls and selective wood finishes.
- Learn how the design succeeded in “breaking through the cost barrier” to downsize and eliminate mechanical equipment by applying occupant engagement and passive strategies for Oregon’s 1.5% Green Energy Technology (GET) budget into the robust high performance building envelope.
- Learn how this project qualified for significantly enhanced financial incentives under Energy Trust of Oregon’s (ETO) Path to Net Zero Energy program.
- Learn how the school’s resilient design features can support community recovery with enhanced lateral structural design (Risk Category IV); emergency potable water connection, power backup, exhaust ventilation at Gyms and passive survivability with natural daylight, exposed thermal mass and enhanced building envelope.
Design Team:
Architect: Mahlum Architects
Landscape Architect: Mayer/Reed
Structural Engineer: KPFF
Electrical Engineer: PAE
Civil Engineer: Harper Houf Peterson Righellis (HHPR)
Mechanical Engineer: PAE
Contractor: Skanska
Specialized Consultants:
Energy Modeling: PAE
Elevator and AV: Greenbusch Group
Cost Estimating: RLB
Food Service: Halliday Associates
Transportation Consultants: Kittelson & Associates
Theater: PLA Designs
Security and Acoustics: Stantec
Lighting: Biella Lighting Design
Planning: Angelo Planning
Must register and attend to receive AIA CEU
Members: FREE | Non-members: $20
Register
Registration closes at 9:00 am Pacific on March 31, 2021.
A4LE and PNW Leaders feel it is not prudent to hold this event in April 2021. We are currently working with the hotel to re-schedule.
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TBD
Heroes Within Us
The Nines
525 Southwest Morrison Street
Portland, OR 97204
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Click here for more information and to register for the conference.
Call for Heroes!
The Heroes within us theme of the PNW 2020 conference will highlight regional Hero stories from each Chapter. We invite you to submit individuals or groups who have done something extraordinary and made a difference in improving places where children learn. We are looking for Heroes in our schools, students, teachers, administrators, board members, parents, community members, AEC professionals, trades and product representatives. The 2020 conference will celebrate the advancement of education by the effort of many diverse people. Heroes will be featured on the web site and at the conference with social media and displays.
Click here to submit your Hero Today!
Mentors Needed
Would you like to share your knowledge of architecture, engineering, and construction with middle school students and helps shape their understanding of what our built environment in the future could be like? The Oregon and Southwest Washington Chapter is looking for volunteers to be mentors for middle school students in the Metro area as they participate in the
SchoolsNEXT Design Competition, which challenges student teams to design their “school of the future”. Mentors will work directly with students and their teachers, and can volunteer for as much time as they are able. Planning, design, construction and operations knowledge in all fields and skills are welcome. The competition starts in Fall and concludes with the Chapter competition in March. This is a great opportunity to educate our sustainability leaders of the future! Contact
Robert Allen for more information.