Embracing a New Chapter: Michael’s Legacy and Retirement Journey
After 38 years of dedicated service, it is with mixed emotions that we announce our esteemed colleague, Michael McGavock, has decided to embark on a new chapter of life. Throughout his tenure with McGranahan, Michael has been an invaluable asset to our team, contributing expertise in learning environments, and fostering a culture of collaboration, creativity, and compassion.
“Architecture is not just about designing distinctive buildings; it’s about placemaking for fostering meaningful relationships and creating environments that give agency and enrich lives.” These words, shared by Michael, encapsulate the essence of his impact, and serve as a testament to his visionary leadership.
As we reflect on Michael’s remarkable architectural career, we are inspired by the passion and dedication he has brought to every endeavor. Designing for public institutions has allowed Michael to engage with diverse voices and perspectives, ensuring responsiveness to the varied interests and abilities of those involved. His approach has always been aspirational and future-oriented, striving to positively impact societal changes over the life of his designs. He has contributed to hundreds of projects in more than 25 school districts throughout Western Washington and has been an active member and leader in the Washington Chapter of the Association for Learning Environments. His commitment to excellence, coupled with his unwavering belief in the power of architecture to shape lives and communities, has truly been a guiding light for us all.
While his contribution to the built environment is notable, Michael’s dedication to mentorship and authentic relationships has been unwavering, extending beyond his role in leading the planning and design of innovative learning spaces to his involvement with Rotary. His commitment to guiding and supporting others has made a significant and lasting impact, reaching far beyond the boundaries of any single initiative or project.
As Michael embarks on this new chapter of his life, he leaves behind a legacy of school facilities and meaningful relationships that will endure for generations to come. Michael stated, “My greatest pride lies not only in the buildings I’ve helped design, but in the relationships I’ve shared along the way, each one a testament to the power of collaboration and shared vision.”
During his retirement, Michael plans to continue his service journey, exploring new opportunities to make a positive impact locally and globally. From “seeing the world through service” with Rotary to continuing to serve on the board of Elements of Education, Michael’s commitment to giving remains unwavering.
Please join us in extending our warmest wishes to Michael as he embarks on this well-deserved retirement. While his presence will be deeply missed, his influence and spirit will continue to resonate within our company for years to come.
Star Lake and Evergreen Joint Campus Receives AIA SWW Merit Award
McGranahan Architects is delighted and honored to accept the 2023 AIA Southwest Washington Merit Award for our work with Federal Way Public Schools on Star Lake Elementary and Evergreen Middle School.
Our team is extremely proud of the innovative design solutions we created to meet the needs of the community, school district and the scholars.
Planned initially as separate replacement projects on the existing adjoining sites, the design team explored many solutions and gathered input from four advisory groups. Once the information was gathered, the team concluded that integrating the two schools within one shared building provided multiple opportunities to achieve the identified project goals including cultivating connections and collaboration, enhancing safety and traffic, and creating efficiencies in education and operations.
The communal learning spaces are a key feature of the design. They create opportunities for the two schools to collaborate and cultivate relationships that would otherwise be difficult in two separate buildings.
Colorful highlights are a tool used to give distinction to each school. The design creates three zones on the site that offer choices between autonomy and collaboration. Each school independently runs the north and south areas and includes parking, administration, gyms, classrooms, and playground areas. The central zone includes shared resources and programs that allow collaboration and building relationships between staff, students, and families.
We look forward to continuing to provide high-quality design solutions that make a difference in our community and beyond. Congratulations to the team for their commitment to excellence and for achieving this notable honor!
The new mural installed at McGranahan Architects is the latest in Tacoma’s grassroots Hope Grows Here campaign. The campaign which originated in the early days of the Covid-19 lockdown, offers flowers for Tacoma as a way of adding beauty to our community, thanking those battling this pandemic, and connecting with one another. Our office wanted to add our message of thanks for the healthcare workers who are helping keep us safe, as well as express support to members of our community who protect, heal, and educate during these difficult times. Words of encouragement and signs of support are important to developing the resolve to get through and power on.
Project Architect Brett Santhuff came up with the concept for the artwork this spring inspired by the signs he was seeing sprout on other storefronts. That same time we all started working from home and public events, like the Daffodil Parade which passes directly in front of our office each year, were canceled. In style and execution, the artwork pays homage to Andy Warhol, who’s never realized flower design for the roof of the Tacoma Dome has become part of the city’s alter ego.
“I’ve long had affinity for Warhol and his work, graphic style, and ability to transform the ordinary to art. Andy Warhol’s Flowers for Tacoma, 2012, exhibit is among my favorites organized by the Tacoma Art Museum,” said Brett. “When the idea for this work originated, I realized how fun it would be to explore Warhol’s work and try to make something of my own and for Tacoma. It was just the kind of creative outlet I needed to feel engaged and hopeful in those first weeks of lockdown.”
Brett shared his idea and a rendering for the mural with the office as part of a digital art gallery which the office organized to help keep employees connected. The idea took root and with the support of the partners and other staff the design was refined and the technicalities resolved. ARC Reprographic printed the artwork on perforated vinyl and installed it at cost. McGranahan’s Leah Engelhardt, whose hobbies include paper cut art, volunteered to cut out the letters.
“How fun to see Brett’s idea come alive! We wanted to share in the energy and determination of our community as we wrestle with so many important issues and work towards healing and progress. Here are a few flowers from all of us to all of you to help brighten the neighborhood a little,” stated Marc Gleason, Principal for Design.
The mural now gives the McGranahan Architects building a colorful and welcoming charm among the many artistic displays throughout the city of Tacoma.
Early on in her career, Project Designer Shona Bose challenged herself to build up her skills, get involved and make an impact in her community. Today, she is the Chair for Conversations Regarding Tacoma – group of design, architecture and urban planning professionals who have a passion for making Tacoma a better place for everyone who lives here. On top of that, Shona has made her mark as a talented architect at McGranahan Architects on notable projects such as the UWT Learning Commons and is also a strong advocate for Diversity and Inclusion. It is due to her passion for these projects that Shona was recently interviewed for South Sound Business Journal’s 40 Under 40.
Leading by example is something Shona is known for. Her passion for combining creativity and community help paved the road to success and allow others to learn from her as well. We decided to interview Shona to learn more about her recent work:
How does being recognized for the 40 Under 40 inspire you in your work moving forward?
Our brains are more ready to accept new information and grow directly after exercise. Students need time and space to move throughout the day to engage deeply in education. In addition to P.E. and recess, we learn that there are schools using design interventions in tangent with teacher training to create spaces for kids to be physically and mentally active and engaged.
What does making the 40 Under 40 list mean to you?
It feels very cool to be recognized and be interviewed by South Sound Business magazine. I feel so honored, but I also recognize that I can use this opportunity as a platform to start conversations about important issues.
What are you most proud of as you reflect on your career thus far?
I’m very proud of the Diversity and Inclusion work we do here at McGranahan Architects. We started out two years ago and since then have learned how to listen and communicate better with each other. This group taught me the importance of patience and how to help guide others on this journey. We’ve all worked together to get this far. I’m very thankful that our Partners and others on the committee didn’t give up, but everyone continued to stay engaged. I learned so much throughout the process.
What aspects of your work to date do you feel best reflect what this award means to you?
I think the work we’re doing at the UWT’s new Learning Commons as well as the Diversity & Inclusion work at our firm play big parts. McGranahan started a Diversity and Inclusion Committee a few years ago to address the inequities in our own workplace as well as in the field of architecture. I have deeply held beliefs for creating more equitable spaces, especially as my career has been in the educational architecture field. However, talking across the table and bringing these ideas to action was more challenging than I had known. The conversations we’ve had exploring these issues have led to deeper understandings and meaningful actions.
The UWT Learning Commons is a unique project that will serve all students at UWT. It has been an amazing journey to work with Director of Design Seong Shin and the students and staff at UWT. Together, we built coalitions and created a design that is not only embedded in academia and scholarship, but is also reflective of the diverse student population and cognizant UWT’s urban, historical campus.
What inspiration do you draw from the type of projects you work on?
Education and access to education has always been essential to me. My dad is a professor and my mother was a school teacher, so I grew up in a household that stressed the importance of education. Getting to work with school districts and build new places dedicated to learning is incredibly meaningful, and I love being a part of the incredible work we do at McGranahan. My absolute favorite part is seeing the students’ and teachers’ faces when they finally see their newly built school. There’s nothing like it.
Where do you want to go from here? What kind of projects/project roles do you want in the future?
Oh, this is always a tough question for me as there are so many possibilities. For my career, I want to continue developing leadership skills and working with amazing teams. For Conversations Regarding Tacoma, I want to build our audience and engage more people around what Tacoma looks like and how we develop going forward. At some point, I’d like to own my own business (most likely a gym of some sort connecting minds to bodies and showing people what they’re capable of).
But the big thing I’d like to get involved with next is the funding structures in public education, which seems like an incredibly tricky subject. But what I see in architecture are the budgets that different districts are able to have based on their locations. Districts build and renovate schools based on the levies and bonds they can pass taxing the land in their district. Districts with lower income and lower property values inherently have less money to work with than richer neighborhoods. This inequitable system perpetuates a cycle of haves and have nots whereas education should be a way to level the playing field. It is an important touchstone of our society to build equitable access to education.
How do you feel diversity and inclusion can support you and others to thrive in your careers?
I think that it’s so important, if not one of the most important factors. We cannot design the world for only one point of view – it doesn’t make sense to me to do it that way. I want to design with many different perspectives in mind. For example, the ADA regulations made spaces more equitable for many different people – those with disabilities, the elderly, new parents with strollers, etc. Building our cities so that they are accessible to everyone just makes sense, but it took the ADA to regulate ramps and door swings and restrooms for it to happen. Designing spaces with Diversity and Inclusion in mind to reflect the whole city is so important. The world is diverse, and we have to design for that.
This article is a collaborative effort lead by Valerie Harris, Aaron Winston, Benjamin Fields, and Amanda Russell.
As we work with our clients to develop and design learning environments, we are passionate about the wholistic well-being of every student and providing a thoughtful approach that best sets them up for success in a lifetime of learning. We believe that the spaces we create can be part of the empowerment for success. In this series, we take a dive into the holistic approach for student success in the exploration of key components such as nutrition, fitness, connection with nature, hands-on learning, atmosphere considerations, and environmental impacts.
Creating a space for movement & learning
Our brains are more ready to accept new information and grow directly after
exercise. Students need time and space to move throughout the day to engage
deeply in education. In addition to P.E. and recess, we learn that there are
schools using design interventions in tangent with teacher training to create
spaces for kids to be physically and mentally active and engaged.
As architects work with our clients to develop and design learning
environments, we need to mindfully consider the inclusion of space that is
centered around student health and movement. Physical activity has been linked
to the creation of Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor, a chemical that promotes
the growth and malleability of brain cells, thereby aiding student in learning.
Providing the opportunity to move regularly throughout the day in
a variety of ways will help to spark creativity, encourage curiosity and create
an atmosphere that enriches deep learning for students. By reinforcing these
key aspects through the design of the built environment, schools can become an
even stronger tool for student success and emotional wellbeing.
Incorporating nature & exploration with learning environments
Learning environments are not limited to interior spaces – the
natural environment offers incredible opportunities for people of all ages to
learn by doing. To learn more, our team took a field trip to The Farm at
Franklin Pierce School District.
Agriculture offers students the opportunity to create
relationships with people and the cycle of food production. Students who
participate in crop production and harvesting at farms learn the responsibility
of cultivating something that their community depends on for their health and
well-being.
Adults interested in learning about farming can sign up for Farm
Foundations, a season-long course in residential farming.
Emily, the Farm Manager at Franklin Pierce, gave us a tour of the
10-acre working vegetable farm owned and operated by the school district. One
third of crops produced on site are used in FPSD cafeterias, another third goes
to community members who volunteer on site, and the last portion are donated to
local food banks.
High school students can earn science credits working on The Farm
with the fields serving as the primary “classroom.” A local beekeeper houses a
few boxes of beehives on site, and chickens are also present to help curb the
insect population. The Farm also receives regular deliveries of rich compost
through a local partnership. Greenhouses on site are used to nurse seedlings
through the early stages of growth and protect crops during colder weather.
After
touring the farm, our group returned to the greenhouse to plant herb seeds in
mason jars for a McGranahan indoor herb garden.
Nutrition & Environmental Materials
For the last part of our Whole Child Learning Series, we took a
look at how the ingredients in our food and built environment impact our health
and wellbeing. How do we better make informed choices on what are putting into
our bodies and our buildings?
From common dyes in many snack foods that have known carcinogens
such as Yellow #5 and Yellow #6, to dough conditioner used in some breads
containing either human hair or duck feathers, to sugar levels so high in some
sodas that phosphoric acid is included to counteract the bodies’ natural vomit,
the results of attempting to digest what is in our foods can be unsettling.
Healthy alternatives and more natural options such as kombucha, berries, and other more natural ingredients can have more positive effects on our health such as helping to prevent cancer cell growth and helping us manage a healthy body weight.
Thankfully, information on ingredients in food are more often
available thanks to a growing cultural awareness on the effect in our overall
wellbeing by what we eat.
When we look at building materials, their effects are often less known than that of foods, so the research is more challenging. However, some materials such as certain types of refrigerants like CFC, are currently being regulated out of use after having discovered to have global warming potentials. For other common materials, such as ROCKWOOL, avoiding harmful ingredients such as formaldehyde is as simple as asking for it in the specification. Industry tools to better understand and select building materials continue to grow thanks to research. Some helpful ones include: the EC3 embodied carbon in construction calculator, HPD public repository website, the data base from Spot UL, the transparency catalog from Sustainable Minds, the Declare Label from Living-Future, the international Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) program, and the material hub from ORIGIN. At a minimum, design firms can begin to request declare labels on building materials to help push the industry towards improvement.
As we continue to work with our clients to design learning environments, our research and knowledge grows as well. Learning about how to improve the well-being of every student and providing a thoughtful approach sets us up for success every project we immerse ourselves in. We believe in continuously building our knowledge of tools and materials to serve our clients on a holistic level and that the spaces we create can be part of the empowerment for success.
I
looked up from my desk in a sharply lit office on a rainy January day in 2018
and, somehow noticing for the first time, how many others were spending their
lunch hour the same way.
McGranahan
had expanded with a crushing regularity in the last a couple of years, resulting
in an abundance of new projects and opportunities for our architects, but consequentially
less time to connect with each other on a personal level. Besides a coffee or
lunch on occasion, it was difficult to create opportunities to develop
relationships, share stories and ideas, as well as to connect and to rejuvenate
during our brief lunch hour.
How
well do I know the team members who collaborate with me beyond the surface
level?
Then I
thought, Why not start initiating group lunches?
Why not share our personal stories over meals? Why not open ourselves up to
create a sense of connection and belonging through storytelling?
There
is no better way to connect than with meals and storytelling. Eating together
has been a longstanding tradition in many cultures. It is a great way to get to
know other and to strengthen relationships; it also helps us realize that we
have a lot in common.
I brought
this idea up to two coworkers and together we created “Story to Story,” a
gathering experience where everybody can get together over homemade lunch to connect
through personal storytelling. This includes sharing stories based on an array
of entertaining, insightful, meaningful and conversation-starting topics including
Odd Jobs, Culture, Food, Family, and Travel–and connect on a human level.
Every Story to Story lunch gathering usually involves sharing homemade dishes and making connections through storytelling.
Sometimes
we would even collaborate with other groups in the office to lead Story to
Story. Our most recent Story to Story in September was lead through a
collaboration by our Vital Workplace team and the Diversity & Inclusion Committee.
The goal was to better understand how our unique experiences and backgrounds help
make us better coworkers as well as stronger architectural planners and
designers.
Under
the guidance of our Diversity and Inclusion Committee, we formed a safe space
for our speakers to share meaningful stories on the topic of Ancestry,
Allyship, and Inclusivity and for our audience to ask respectful and insightful
questions.
During
the first Story to Story lunch of the season, we shared about our ancestry and
how we all came to be in the City of Tacoma now thanks to our families’
immigration to the U.S. during the 1600s to 1990s. We hung a map, strings, a
pen, and a sheet of paper with a list of all the names of those in the firm on
a wall near the lobby. We then invite everyone to engage by putting a pin on
the map to indicate their ancestors’ home country, then use a string to connect
another pin on the sheet of paper by the map next to their name and write down
the year their family immigrated to America. This unique exercise yielded interesting
results. The widespread pins indicated that we all are descendants of
immigrants–that our families came to America from a myriad of different places
and brought along with them unique cultures and traditions.
Our interactive “Family Story” map on the McGranahan art wall
Our
Project Designer Shona shared with us how her background shaped her to the designer
and individual she is today:
“I am biracial, growing up in
two cultures from my mother’s bohemian ancestors who have farmed the Midwest
since the 1850s to my father who immigrated here in 1968. I am heartland
American and first generation respectively.
It’s interesting living between
two cultures and finding a voice between. But I also realized today that I grew
up cultivating a kind of strength that comes from being just a little different
and a confidence that evolved through navigating my unique cultural
experiences. I can bring those experiences to my work helping design schools
that serve every student.”
Our
next few topics on Allyship and Inclusivity also resulted in enriching
conversations and deeper connections with each other.
“I’ve enjoyed all the stories,
but I think I was especially impacted by Shona and Dion’s stories. They discussed
topics we don’t normally get a chance to talk about in the office and I’m so
glad this series has created an opportunity for it,” said our Project Architect Aaron. “Not only did I get to know them on a
deeper level, but I was inspired by their vulnerability and creativity at the
same time.”
Our Diversity & Inclusion Committee’s group purpose statement successfully highlights our values: McGranahan Architects’ Diversity and Inclusion Committee encourages all employees to take an active role in creating a culture of trust, vulnerability, and authenticity within the company. We believe that a diverse and inclusive workplace is the foundation of meaningful contribution, genuine collaboration, and a sense of belonging for all of us.
One of the most rewarding opportunities of an architect’s career
is providing a valuable learning experience for young creatives who are
passionate about Architecture. Over the years, McGranahan’s internship program
welcomed students from all over the nation, providing them with solid hands-on
experience.
At the beginning of June, we welcomed two bright additions onto
our team: first time intern Leah Davis and second-year intern Innocent Muhalia.
Both quickly became a regular part of project presentations, meetings, and
construction site visits for a variety of projects including Lake Washington
and Fife High Schools.
Hailing from Montana State University, Leah took a big leap and traveled 300 miles from her hometown to spend the summer as part of McGranahan’s internship program. In addition to studying Architecture, she is also interested in gaining a better understanding of the industry, developing a versatile skill set, and increasing her understanding of school design.
After completing her internship in August, Leah returned to MSU to start her Junior year utilizing her internship experience in her studies.
First-Year Intern Leah Davis
Originally from Kenya, Innocent is currently an Architecture
student at the University of Washington pursuing his Bachelor degree. Having
grown up with role models who study and practice Architecture, Innocent
realized his dream of joining the field early on.
At McGranahan, Innocent quickly got involved in learning more
about schematic design and how to communicate with clients and consultants. His
weekly schedule ranged from visits to the Timberline Middle School construction
site to sitting in on construction administration meetings and to participate
in project team discussions. Innocent and Leah also utilized their studio
experience in working with various tools to help put together our sponsored
hole for PCS Structural Solutions’ annual Charity Putt-Putt Tournament.
Second-Year Intern Innocent Muhalia
“I really enjoyed my time
here,” said Innocent. “McGranahan has
a comfortable and inclusive environment that promotes both individual and
social growth. This helped me in developing professionally and personally.
One of the
helpful things I learned was knowing how to ask the right questions. This came
from client prep meetings I was in which helped me learn how to get meaningful
information from the client. I also learned design and concept development
through diagramming in a deeper aspect with the intent of explaining early and
abstract ideas clearly.”
Moving forward, Innocent plans to finish his senior year at the University of Washington and looks forward to obtaining his architectural license and returning to McGranahan in the future. In addition, Innocent plans to volunteer for One Vibe Africa and other organizations focused on social unity and growth.
Leah and Innocent discussing ideas over their latest summer project
McGranahan has mentored students from universities and colleges as well as those from programs such as the ACE Mentorship Program of Washington and Tacoma Public Schools’ Next Move. Our internship curriculum was recently overhauled in 2018 by Matthew Bissen, our Director of Design & Research and Part-Time University of Washington Faculty. The program centers on developing our interns’ professional and personal growth beyond traditional job shadowing.
Our aim is to have interns work directly with mentors in all
phases of the design process and gain a more experiential form of learning. The
program covers four main areas:
1. Exposure to Design Practice – This is an opportunity for interns to experience the range of architectural practice by attending sessions of each of the following activities over the course of the program:
Part 1
Areas
of Practice
Interview
Prep
Pre-Design
Planning/Community Meeting
Design
– Working Session and/or Planning/Community Meeting
Technical
– Tech Group Meeting or Focused Product Rep Meeting
Construction
– Construction Meeting and Site Visit
Built Work – Team Leader Guided Completed Building/Site Visit
Part 2
This is an opportunity for interns to
experience one area of practice in more depth through a longer time of
exposure. They attend all working sessions/meetings for a chosen area of
practice which they would like to learn more about:
Areas
of Practice
Marketing
and Strategic Planning
Technical
Detailing & Construction Administration
Learning
Environments
Sustainability
and Environmental Responsibility
Project
Management
Design
Operations
2. Defined Activity with Documented Result – Interns will work on a defined activity and or project which they will be instrumental in developing with a firm or project leader. This work will expose interns to an area of work within the firm in need of deeper or longer lasting attention. This is developed specifically for each intern to be able to achieve tangible accomplishment by the end of the summer and will serve as a product or knowledge for them to take from the program.
3. Team Participation – Interns will participate on a team as a team member to accomplish tasks commiserate with their skill level and team needs. This includes current projects that are in early planning/design phases.
4. Meaningful Contact – Experience meaningful contact with our professional and creative staff .
Each area allows interns to be involved in hands-on projects with
educational facilities throughout Washington state.
McGranahan’s internship program builds upon a student’s experience
each year to further develop their skills and knowledge. First-year interns start
with a broad overview of the different programs in the firm and mastering the
basics of day-to-day tasks. Second-year interns who have had the initial
exposure to a professional setting can follow a curriculum determined by their
chosen areas of interest. This opens doors to selected hands-on learning experiences
on a deeper level of architectural practice.
Supporting young talent and nurturing their creative passions are crucial for their development. The more well-equipped students are, the more prepared they will be when the opportunity comes to join the field. We hope to help pave the way for success and allow our mentees room for growth and exploration as they continue their journey in Architecture.
For further information on how to participate in our internship program, please contact our Director of HR Emily Level at emily.level@mcgranahan.com
Who are the operators behind our project teams’ successes? That would be Latoya Berry and Alexandra Arnold, our two new Project Coordinators. While they both started as Administrative Assistants who help provide support in our firm’s operations this past year, Latoya and Alexandra soon excelled beyond their roles and became integral parts of our project teams. Not only have they integrated themselves into the frontend of architectural projects, but this amazing duo is also able to juggle multiple projects and deadline items seamlessly as well as to contribute to all different phases of each project.
It has been a joy to witness both women’s natural progression to becoming Project Coordinators as their knowledge and skillsets slowly but surely outgrew their Admin Assistant roles. This new opportunity will not only allow them to be included in team meetings, but also get the full scope of the project and design process.
Above all, they make a wonderful team whose energy and fun characters never fail to brighten up our office. Without further ado, meet Alexandra and Latoya:
Alexandra Arnold
“My new role as a Project Coordinator will give me the chance to get fully integrated into the project teams as well as the opportunity to attend team meetings and receive more context to each task. This level of familiarity with fluctuations in the project schedule will allow me to be proactive and anticipate when the team needs different types of support. Without that insight, my work would otherwise just be reactive. Being a member of so many projects of different scales and areas of focus is a constant learning opportunity for me.
As I continue to support projects through the different stages of design and construction, the more I look forward to turning what I have learned into valuable contributions to the success of future projects.”
Latoya Berry
“The Project Coordinator role will give me the opportunity to work closely with consultants on things such as coordinating specs to get in bid and permit packages. We will be packaging up the drawings and project manuals and putting together various reports for different stages of the project. In addition, we will also be helping with Construction Administration when the CA require assistance with logs, report, and meeting minutes. The great thing about this role is there is so much variety and things to learn along the way–there’s never a dull moment.
I believe McGranahan stays true to its mission of a collaborative design firm that values my input and genuinely wants to help me develop my career. I believe in my new role as Project Coordinator and I look forward to sharpening my Adobe Creative Suite skills and learning more about the architectural design process.”
Olympic Hills Elementary School: A Daily Sustainable Lesson Plan
Olympic Hills Elementary
School was designed to support Differentiated Instruction pedagogy, meeting
each student where they are learning best and providing an environment in which
the whole child can thrive. At the same time, the new building has
significantly reduced the operational carbon footprint and serves as an example
for the District, the community, and educational designers about being a better
steward of the environment.
Washington state has one of
the nation’s most stringent energy codes, and biannual code updates ensure new buildings
are minimizing their overall energy consumption.
AIA 2030
Architectural firms
participating in the 2030 Commitment saved 17.8 million metric tons of CO2 in
2017 alone, which is equivalent to the carbon that would be sequestered by 21 million
acres of forest – nearly the size of the state of Maine! As signatories to the
AIA 2030 Commitment, our goal is to reduce carbon emissions on all our
projects, track progress, and evaluate the impact design decisions have on
energy performance. We believe the way we address energy and climate issues
through the built environment is crucial to our mission.
When this project started, it was benchmarked against the 2015 target to achieve a 70% reduction in energy consumption as tracked by the buildings Energy Use Index (EUI). Knowing this was a challenging target, we were thrilled to learn that the verified performance of 18.4 EUI exceeded our goal by nearly 15%.
With future projects needing
to meet a higher energy reduction rate in 2020, our mechanical engineer, Brian Cawley
of Hargis Engineers, noted that adding heat recovery to classrooms and
installing 100kw of PV’s on the roof could achieve another 15% EUI reduction.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GGE)
At the outset of design, we
pursued an “All-Electric” school, eliminating the use of fossil fuels across
the entire site. What does that mean for Seattle Public Schools, their students
and teachers, and the community?
It starts with an incredibly
clean energy source. The City of Seattle generates its own electrical power and
less than 2% of the energy is created by sources that generate greenhouse
gases!
Thoughtful building
orientation and judicious placement of windows minimize the need for
supplemental lighting. The high-performance building envelope results in a
minimal 5-degree heat loss overnight. Compiling this all together results in an
annual utility bill (heat and lighting) of just over 65-cents per square foot
per year. (around $100/student each year).
Based on actual consumption data, Olympic Hills only contributes an average of 23.2 kilograms of GGE per day. That is the equivalent of driving a typical car 57 miles. Over time, each new building that Seattle Public Schools completes makes a significant impact.
Plug Loads
The real story of the success
of Olympic Hills is grounded in the daily habits of the teachers and students.
As the built environment gets more efficient each code cycle, the habits of the
users and what they plug-in to the building accounts for over half of the
annual consumption of the building.
The City of Seattle energy
code exceeds the state code on many levels, and in particular, utilizes
mandatory ‘green plugs’ that de-energized each night to ensure conservation. Seattle
Public Schools has verified that Olympic Hills has the lowest plug-load
consumption of energy in the district.
As part of the project, we created a simple User’s Guidebook that identifies the manual and automatic energy systems in the building and explains the ’why’ behind the green-plugs. By raising the awareness regarding this system, there is little to no circumvention of this system. This guidebook was provided to everyone who works in the building and survives digitally allowing new educators to become acquainted with the way the building operates.
Project Architect Tim Mahoney’s Experience at McGranahan
I was drawn to McGranahan initially because of their focus on designing educational facilities. I was raised in a family that fostered learning and placed a high value on education. My mother worked as a reading specialist, my grandfather as a college professor, and my brother went on to become a college professor as well. I wanted to find a way through my own career path to help give back and contribute to the education of future generations, and McGranahan offered me the opportunity to pursue that goal.
The design approach at McGranahan is to provide learning environments that foster learning and inspire students to develop their own creativity; a student should want to attend school, and their learning environment should help to enhance that desire. A firm must hold design in a high regard to succeed in this approach, and I’ve found that McGranahan does. By having clear Project Designer and Project Architect roles, each team member can focus on their areas of strength. Simultaneously, collaborative opportunities are readily available for one to learn from the other. This way of working ultimately leads to a better building. The emphasis on collaboration extends to the project team makeup as well. The project Designer will help to mentor developing Project Architects and Designers, giving those with less experienced staff the opportunity to expand their focus and realize that design, technical resolution and project management are all interrelated and necessary for a project to be successful. Having practiced architecture for 15+ years, I’m able to be a mentor to some of the younger architects in the firm. It’s really rewarding.
Never before in my career have I worked for an architecture firm where design, constructability and budget have all been given equal value within a project team’s goals. McGranahan has adapted their project team makeup to allow for leadership in each of those three categories: Project Manager, Project Designer and Project Architect. Each role assumes the responsibility of working towards their associated goal through clear communication and collaboration with each other, and the team as a whole. By giving equal importance to all three team leaders, a set of checks and balances for meeting the project goals are established; it emphasizes the need for open collaboration amongst the team. Throughout the various phases of the project each team leader is involved in all design, detailing and budget discussions or working sessions. By maintaining leadership presence within the team throughout the design process, it allows for the core project goals to remain equally balanced. In the end, each team member has had the opportunity to connect with the project in a meaningful way.
Working as a Project Architect with McGranahan, I’m able to do my best work, collaborate effectively and ultimately produce an end product that is of the highest quality.
To join Tim and the McGranahan Team, check out our careers page, and apply today.
