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Welcome to the latest GGLO news.
Yesterday, over 100 architects, interior designers, landscape architects, urban designers, and professional staff filed into Belltown’s Big Picture Movie Theatre beneath El Gaucho. Their goal: to remember the history, plan for the future, and celebrate GGLO. True to style, the presentation portion of the afternoon was bookended by rounds of refreshments and hors d’oeuvres.
Squeezing in just under maximum occupancy, GGLO’s staff filled the Big Picture's screening room to bursting. The afternoon passed quickly as Managing Principal and Master of Ceremonies, Jeff Foster, led the audience on a journey through GGLO's history, present and future. It was apparent from the beginning that this firm, born from the ambitions of four young architects, has stayed true to its core spirit and values. For over 26 years GGLO has proven that good design is synonymous with smart design. With enthusiastic (and lyrical, and hilarious!) participation, project teams demonstrated that beauty and economic, social and environmental viability are not mutually exclusive, but are instead mutually supportive.
Project team presentations ranged from heartfelt project descriptions to detailed stories. The most popular theme for the night was haiku. Hip-hop and Seussian rhyme were also popular formats. With sunglasses on and an intense amount of street attitude, Chris Libby and team delivered a stirring hip hop anthem about downtown’s Via6. Bill Gaylord led a spoken word poetry ode to the U District’s CURVe project while Alan Grainger walked staff through the immense beneficial impact that the renaissance of Yesler Terrace will have on the city of Seattle.
 And we spoke of our aspirations. From the Capitol Hill EcoDistrict to our joint-study on Transit Oriented Communities, GGLO is setting the bar ever higher in the design world and beyond. We're not just designing buildings - our staff's diverse talents and interests are not constrained to the realm of the built environment. We reach deep into our neighborhoods and communities. We design for the human experience.
Here's to another 26 years!
Seattle Business Magazine's annual quest to find the 100 best companies to work for were announced at downtown Seattle's The Westin last evening. Approximately 800 Seattlelites attended, praying their company is voted best in their category.
GGLO considered the #28 best mid-size companies to work for, and the only design firm on the entire list. At the time of nominations, GGLO was considered a mid-size company, with 31-99 staff, and now a few months after the survey closed, we are proud to say in 2013 we will be aiming for the large size company award.
Congratulations to all the winning companies and their lucky staff!
And the winners are.. ( here)
For more information on what it means to be one of the best companies to work for and the judges from this year, click here.
GGLO participated in National Bike Month by hosting a month-long Bike to Work program. Summer is right around the bend and with the days becoming more and more rider friendly, our staff has proven that they’re up to the biking challenge.
Throughout May, GGLO staff rode over 3000 miles. A little friendly competition between in-house teams spurred on the riders to commute via cycle even during some of May’s rainiest days.
GGLO’s weekly ride winners were:
- Robert Wright: Who was so excited to compete that he started April 30th.
- Laura Duris: For organizing the West Seattle group ride (and being the only one to show!).
- Jamie Morin: For participating on “Ride to Work Day”.
- Natalie Ross: For braving rides through May’s nastiest days (a.k.a. Muddiest Butt Award).
- Kelley LeBlanc: For many trips despite excuses made.
And the top performers for the Bike to Work program:
- David Marshall: For riding 286 miles in total.
- David Bramer: For completing 15 trips to work on his bike.
- Michael Wishkoski: Rode 413 miles!!
- Chris Libby: The “L” in GGLO made 20 trips!
An award ceremony bestowed prizes upon the top performers this past Tuesday with the winning team enjoying a treat of which any cyclist would be envious: Cupcake Royale.
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Individual Winners plus Team Braking Away in all their glory. 1,077.1 miles, 79.5 trips, and 42.7% commute rate.
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In 2011 GGLO grew to add quite a few new faces, expanding our existing pool of skills, experience, talents and interests. As we discover more about the personal values of our staff we are continually amazed with their accomplishments and their passion for building and supporting community. The outstanding causes and organizations to which GGLOers dedicate their time are varied, from local to global, art and design to youth and education, environmental sustainability to social equity. We hope you will find Giving by Design as engaging and enjoyable to read as it was for us to assemble.
The values and spirit of generosity of our clients, partners, staff and the communities we serve drive GGLO’s mission of design for the human experience. We recognize that there are many other wonderful organizations in our community. In fact, the hardest part of creating Giving by Design was asking each staff member to select only one. We could never hope to represent all in our region, so we invite you to share with us the organizations that you support.
Thank you for your inspiration, cheers to a wonderful 2012.
 We are honored to share that GGLO will be presented the AIA Seattle Community Service Award at the 2011 Honors Dinner on May 21. The annual Honor Awards recognize "leadership and acheivement in design and the built environment," for architects and partners in other professions who make a difference through design.
Executive Director of AIA Seattle Lisa Richmond commented on the awards: "Good design makes a difference, but the architectural community can't do it alone." At GGLO, our mission of design for the human experience is enriched by partnering with clients, organizations and community members who inspire our work.
This is the first time that a firm has been recognized with the Community Service Award. Brandon Nicholson of Nicholson Kovalchick (NK) Architects is the individual recipient of the award.
We look forward to celebrating along with our industry colleagues and partners in May!
See the Press Release here.
 We're looking forward to sharing our knowledge and supporting important causes at several industry and community events in April.
April 1-2, 2011 2011 WASLA Conference, Bellevue, Washington
Mark Sindell and Zack Thomas present the Bertschi School Living Building Science Wing and host a tour of the project for conference attendees.
April 14, 2011 Transit-Oriented Communities: A Blueprint for Washington State, Burlington, Washington
Don Vehige and David Cutler join Futurewise, Transportation Choices Coalition and Envision Skagit 2060 for a workshop, reception and exhibit on the TOC: Blueprint, kicking off a month-long display at the Burlington Public Library.
April 27-29, 2011 Living Future '11, Vancouver, B.C.
The founders of the Restorative Design Collective, Stacy Smedley and Chris Hellstern of KMD Architects, hatched the idea for attempting the Living Building Challenge at Living Future two years ago. Stacy, Chris and other members of the Collective join Mark Sindell at this year's (un)conference to present the finished project, the Bertschi School Living Building Science Wing.
Mark Sindell moderates "Evolving the Living Building Challenge: Urban Infill Projects of Tomorrow for the Youth of Today." Jon Hall joins as a panelist along with colleagues from Vulcan and Turner.
Along with other members of the Seattle 2030 District, David Cutler is a panelist on Enabling Resilient Communities: One Planet, Living Cities, and High Performance Districts.
April 29, 2011 Housing Development Consortium Third Annual Luncheon, Seattle, Washington
Chris Libby, Alan Grainger, Jeff Foster and other members of our affordable housing group support the efforts of Housing Development Consortium with a table at its annual fundraiser.
GGLO’s crack team of designers transformed a chunk of John St. into a captivating azur hangout at the Seattle Great City Initiative’s Summer Street Scene Party yesterday, next to the South Lake Union Discovery Center. GGLOers, friends, and new acquaintances stopped by to chat, eat, nurse their babies, and chill in the shade, making “The Hang Out” installation a success.
The competition asked designers and artists to “transform ordinary, identical parking spots into unique innovative, attractive and inviting urban spaces,” and a handful of GGLO’s LA group--Laura, Anne-Emilie, Marieke S R, Wilma, Kent, Zack, and Meredith--took on the challenge.
Starting with a few charettes where they mulled over what was lacking on the ordinary South Lake Union street, the inspiration for The Hang Out came from Laura’s images of laundry hanging above the streets of European and Asian cities. The group was hooked: not only is hanging laundry a delightful sight, it conveys so many important messages! Drying laundry outside saves energy and keeps greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere. It creates shade on hot July days. And, in South Lake Union, where condos and HOAs dominate the landscape–and often prohibit public drying--it puts a personal touch in the public realm.
With the addition of tables and chairs to three Breezecatcher umbrella-style clotheslines, the team created a fantastically comfortable and inviting place to hang out uniquely suited to summer urban streetlife. (Buy yours from Paul at The Clothesline Shop.)
Led by our internal Sustainable Design Group, GGLO has adopted an Environmental Action Plan to apply the ethics of its sustainable design practice to “in-house” environmental strategies. Alicia Daniels Uhlig and Amy Hartwell discuss the steps and benefits of creating an Environmental Action Plan in the Daily Journal of Commerce article, Reduce your footprint, starting with where you work."Even with a track record of green projects using the LEED certification program, GGLO realized it needed to evaluate its own office environment and ask, 'How can we do this better?' By examining its internal operations, the firm is learning lessons applicable to the sustainable design of its projects"
GGLO announces a completely revamped website, designed from the ground up to be reflective of the firm’s values and character. The new site features an intuitive design and several innovations that will make using the site an enjoyable experience, such as a redesigned portfolio section, a powerful search tool and, in the near future, a portal for client and employee access to shared project information.
The firm’s hallmark—an integrated approach to design—is a clear statement on the new site. GGLO has understood the advantages to a more holistic approach to their work for years, and both the organization of the site and the information on the site support this concept.
Another goal of the site is to push the personality and character of the firm forward. Many firms bury their people deep within the site, choosing to focus only on their design products.
“Initially, Clients choose to work with us because of our past success and our reputation,” states Jeff Foster, Principal at GGLO. “They come back because of our people. The quality of the experience of working together is as important to us as the work itself.”
A new, behind-the-scenes content management system (CMS) gives GGLO the power to change any aspect of the site quickly and easily. The new GGLO blog, called the “GLOG”, provides an additional forum for discussion and comment.
Mark Wainwright, Marketing Manager at GGLO, loves the new power and flexibility with the site. “During the last wave of website design, many firms created full-blown Flash sites that were neither flexible nor search engine-friendly. Our new site is bigger, easy to update, loads faster, and is literally tied into search engines.
Adrienne Quinn, Director of the Office of Housing for the City of Seattle handed out SeaGreen Achievement Awards to Stone Way Apartments and Broadway Crossing, two project designed by Seattle’s GGLO. These honors recognized each project for a team approach towards integrating sustainable building materials and methods to promote environmental quality, economic savings and social benefit through design, construction and operation.
Stone Way Apartments, developed by Housing Resources Group, is a full block, urban site located in the Wallingford neighborhood. It contains 70 affordable apartments comprised of studios, 1, 2 and 3 bedroom units for low income individuals and families earning up to 60 percent of the median income. Sustainable design goals focused on tenant health and operational savings. The project is pursuing LEED™ Silver certification with exemplary use of local and recycled content materials. Low flow fixtures reduce water use, while Built Smart measures reduce energy consumption. Solar panels, which provide some on-site renewable energy, are complemented by a green power agreement with the local utility. The project contractor was Walsh Construction. Capitol Hill Housing’s Broadway Crossing is an affordable housing project in the Capitol Hill neighborhood built by Rafn Company. The residential portion of the project includes 44 affordable apartments comprised of studio, 1 and 2 bedroom units for individuals and families earning up to 60 percent of the median income. Eight apartments will be reserved for households transitioning from homelessness. The design of the building places a contextually appropriate masonry, stucco, and metal facade on the streetfront with a contrasting playful, green courtyard in the back. The project has strong community support from a very involved neighborhood population. Broadway Crossing is also pursuing LEED™ Silver certification.
GGLO’s own Bill Gaylord headlined the 2007 ISS Trash Fashion Bash, a fundraising even created to highlight waste and the need for environmental sustainability. Bill’s been involved in the event for the last two years, and his most recent created, created by GGLO Associate Jennifer Stormont and called the “Ghost of Christmas Past and Future”, was another stunner.
The Seattle Times reported it well: Gaylord's eye-popping pants are a rainbow of used ribbon sewn together with silvery Mylar. Stormont knitted together wires from old Christmas lights for a sleeveless sweater and a turtleneck with flashing lights. They glued used batteries to a pool cue for a walking cane and included plastic disposable water bottles as the base for the fez-shaped headdress adorned with salt and pepper shakers. Materials came from their garage and what they could scrounge up from businesses and friends.
"This is a really fun way to make people think but also get creative with materials that would be thrown out normally," Gaylord said. "Once you start brainstorming ideas, it gets infectious," Gaylord said. "It's fun, and you're doing it for a good cause to enlighten people on the day-to-day decisions that they make. It's all about changing people's behavior." Bill and GGLO look forward to future Trash Fashion Bash events. Photo above courtesy Hiro Davis. More great images here.
On Thursday, May 24, 2007, King County’s HOPE VI redevelopment, known as Greenbridge, was recognized as the recipient of the 10,000th Built Green Certification for green building. The redevelopment will create over 1,000 homes for more than 3,500 people. As the lead planning and design firm, GGLO submitted Phase 1 of Greenbridge, known as Seola Crossing, for certification by Built Green, and in December of 2006 the project became the home of 10,000th certified project by Built Green of King and Snohomish Counties. The ceremony honored the whole project team involved in the development and certification of GGLO's project at Greenbridge, including King County Housing Authority, GGLO, Arellano/Christofides and Walsh Construction. Executive Ron Sims highlighted the success of Greenbridge and Built Green during the ceremony when he stated, "our goal with the Built Green program was to make building homes in an environmentally sustainable manner commonplace, and we've definitely succeeded!"
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And we spoke of our aspirations. From the Capitol Hill EcoDistrict to our joint-study on Transit Oriented Communities, GGLO is setting the bar ever higher in the design world and beyond. We're not just designing buildings - our staff's diverse talents and interests are not constrained to the realm of the built environment. We reach deep into our neighborhoods and communities. We design for the human experience. 
