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YWCA Homeless Facility in Seattle Wins Top Commercial Building Award

A seven-story YWCA facility in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood serving some 4,500 homeless people annually won the Project of the Year and Chairman’s Awards in the 2005 Awards of Excellence sponsored by the National Commercial Builders Council of NAHB.

Completed late last year, the YWCA Opportunity Place provides affordable housing, offers job training and helps women overcome the impact of domestic violence. On the top five floors of the building there are 105 studio apartments and 40 one-bedroom units for low-income residents.

Three commercial lease spaces located on the street level supply retail goods and services to the neighborhood while providing income to help support the YWCA.

Thermal insulation in the structure’s exterior walls, floors, roofing and windows exceed energy code requirements by 40%.

The building was built to stand for 100 years, and its cast-in-place concrete-moment frame construction was selected to provide long-term flexibility for the YWCA’s program needs. There are only eight interior columns in the building and all of its partitions are non-load-bearing so the interior space can be changed without making structural changes.

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Overall construction costs were approximately $150 per square foot, including site work and utility connections. The following participated in the project:

Owner: YWCA of Seattle — King County — Snohomish County
General Contractor: Shanska Building USA
Mechanical Contactor: Hermanson Company LLP
Electrical Contractor: EHS Electrical Contractors LLC
Fire Protection: Patriot Fire Protection
Architect: Stickney Murphy Romine Architects PLLC
Structural & Civil Engineer: MKA (Magnusson Klemencic Associates)
Electrical Engineer: A.E.S.
Landscape Architect (Street Landscaping): Hough Beck & Baird, Inc.
Landscape Architect (Courtyard Landscaping): Susan Black & Associates
Acoustical: SSA Acoustics
Photographer: Michael Romine, Stickney Murphy Romine Architects PLLC

Promised Valley Theater Renovation in Salt Lake City, built by R&O Construction, was named the Project of the Year for Division III, Institutional, Preserving History. This design-build project involved renovating the structurally unsound 95-year-old theatre, including demolition of the existing auditorium and construction of a six-level, 150,000-square-foot, seven-story parking structure. The 29,000-square-foot lobby was renovated into office or retail space while preserving the historical integrity of the façade, according to the strict historic guidelines of the Department of Interior Standards for Historic Renovation. 

The nine-month project included demolition of the existing playhouse — about 90% of the existing facility — the historical restoration of the front 10% of the building and conversion of the restored area into office/retail space. Pre-cast concrete was used to replace and replicate the theatre's stone and terracotta. According to R&O Construction, the biggest challenge faced during the renovation was coordinating with the city on trucking out the old and bringing in the new materials, a process that required close attention to scheduling.

Participating in the projects were: MHTN, architect; Richards Consulting, engineer; and Robert Casey, photographer.

Winners of this year’s Awards of Excellence demonstrate inventive use of technology, ingenuity in overcoming design and construction challenges and innovative use of energy-efficient features.

Grand Award Winners were:

• Division III, Commercial — Walsh Office Building Renovation, Seattle;  Stickney Murphy Romine
• Division III, Commercial — Carl M. Freeman Retail Corporate Offices, Olney, MD; Dietze Construction Group
• Division III, Institutional — Hofbrauhaus Restaurant, Las Vegas; R & O Construction
• Division IV, Recreational — Thunderbird Country Club, Rancho Mirage, CA; Altevers Associates
• Division V, Recreational — Siena, A Summerlin Village, Las Vegas; Altevers Associates
• Division VI, Mixed Use Commercial/Residential — Sunset + Vine, Hollywood, CA; Bond Companies
• Division VI­, Mixed Use Commercial/Residential — Tashiro Kaplan Artist Lofts, Seattle; Stickney Murphy Romine Architects, PLLC

Merit Award Winners:

• Division II, Commercial — Marketing Directions Office Building, Westlake, OH; Marketing Directions, Inc.
• Division III, Institutional — St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church, Lodi, CA; Wenell Mattheis Bowe, Inc.
• Division III, Medical — La Clinica de la Raza, Redwood City, CA; DES Architects & Engineers
• Division III, Recreational — Regency at Monroe House, Cheery Hill, NJ; Kay Construction
• Division VI, Retail — Trabuco Grove Shopping Center, Irvine, CA; Altevers Associates

Honorable Mentions:

• Division III, Medical — Los Alamos National Laboratory Medical Facility, Albuquerque, NM; Michael S. Rich Contractors, Inc.; Austin Commercial
• Division III, Institutional — Pavilion at Belo Mansion, Dallas; Baker Drywall Company, Ltd.

An exhibit on the award-winning projects will be on display at the National Commercial Builders Council headquarters during next month’s International Builders’ Show in Orlando.

For further information, e-mail Amy Larrabee, or call her at 800-368-5242 x8455.
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