Northwest Projects Spotlight Past and Future

Washington State University’s The Spark was designed to support digital learning programs.

*PHOTO BY BENJAMIN BENSCHNEIDER*

The 20 winners in this year’s Northwest Best Projects competition demonstrate a respect for the region’s history and incorporate future technology and sustainability.

The Northwest’s rich culture is evident in projects such as Expensify’s Portland office (our Northwest Project of the Year) and the reconstruction of Seattle’s 1910 Yesler Way Bridge. Other projects highlight technology and innovation, such as the collaborative classrooms at Washington State University’s The Spark and the inverted pyramid shape of Seattle’s Kinects Tower.

Each year, ENR Northwest assembles an independent group of judges to review, score and determine the final winners from Oregon, Alaska and Washington. The panel included: Michael Newbury, senior principal at Stantec; Kyle Womack, associate principal at Hennebery Eddy Architects Inc.; and John Schaufelberger, dean of the College of Built Environments at the University of Washington.

The judges rated the projects based on five criteria: overcoming challenges and teamwork; safety; innovation and contribution to the community; construction quality and craftsmanship; and the function or aesthetic quality of the design. Projects were also judged on how they overcame unusual challenges through teamwork and innovation.

More than a dozen projects were considered for the Excellence in Safety award, based on their Occupational Safety and Health Administration rates, lost-time accidents and quality of the project’s safety program.

Winning project teams will be honored at an awards banquet in Seattle on Nov. 15. The ENR Best Projects program covers all 50 states, and the winners from each region then move on to the national Best of the Best awards, which will be awarded in April.

Keep reading to learn about all of this year’s Northwest winners.