Here’s a fly-through animation for your Friday! Check out the potential future Gorge Loop Trail, connecting the Place of Truths Plaza with Peaceful Valley along the Spokane River Gorge. We hope this project becomes a reality, but for now we’ll enjoy it virtually.
#ThrowbackThursday: Completed in 2015, Washington Federal’s two-story, 12,000 square foot building was designed for their first Eastern Washington division office. Amenities include a walk-up counter, a small call center, conference room space, offices, and drive-through access to banking services. The contemporary design complements the flagship location’s urban setting, and the ground-to-ceiling windows provide a pleasing work environment and a connection to passersby.
See the Full Project Details Here
#WorksiteWednesday Come along for a tour of the West of Jefferson Mixed-Use construction site in Kendall Yards. This building features one floor of retail and four floors of apartment units above. These photos show the fantastic views from the windows and balconies of the units. Baker Construction and Mandere Construction have done a fantastic job on this complex building so far.
Check out the latest construction updates from the Ice Age Floods Playground at Riverfront Park. Crews are working toward the finish line, with the opening right around the corner. This footage shows the play equipment, splash pad test, and the completed basketball court and wheels park. We can’t wait for Spokane’s residents to enjoy this playground. Bernardo Wills Architects provided playground design, landscape architecture and architecture services for this project.
Last month, we had our first in-person gathering with our staff since March 2020. We celebrated Employee Appreciation Day by serving brunch to our colleagues. It was a celebratory atmosphere, and we had the privilege of meeting new additions to our team that onboarded while working from home. Trust us, we are smiling from behind these masks!
We are proud to join Daines Capital‘s Spring Time Give Back in a baby wipe drive for Family Promise of Spokane. This organization is focused on ending family homelessness in Spokane County by connecting houseless families with those in their own neighborhood, increasing support networks, and re-enforcing the skills needed to maintain housing. They serve over 1,100 family members each year as the only wraparound program for homeless families in Eastern Washington. Daines Capital shares our mission of making our community better, thank you for including us!
Here’s the link to their website to learn more and donate:
Donate
#WorksiteWednesday Last week, we had the privilege of showing a new client, the Spokane Valley Fire Department, some past projects similar to their upcoming design. We toured the Lincoln County Shop and Maintenance Facility in Davenport, WA, and the Avista Utilities Fleet Maintenance Building on their Mission campus in Spokane. Revisiting past projects and discussing the outcomes with the folks that use them every day allows us to learn and grow as designers while creating even better facilities for future clients.
As we celebrate our Zags this week, we would like to highlight one of our favorite projects at Gonzaga University. The central design objective of the John J. Hemmingson Center project was to create a signature building to serve as a focal “place of gathering and learning” for both the on-campus and off-campus Gonzaga community. The 167,726 square-foot, four-level facility is located on the eastern edge of campus and includes multi-level, multi-venue dining, a pub, an 800-person, multi-purpose gathering place, various retail areas, student clubs, and University programs, and a 200-person auditorium/theater. The Center is a major hub for socializing, dining, academics, and services for the Gonzaga community. #GoZags
Dell Hatch, ASLA, Landscape Architect and Principal at Bernardo Wills Architects, is currently leading a hand-drawing and sketching workshop for some of his colleagues at Bernardo Wills. He is a talented and accomplished illustrator, and his sessions are fostering an environment of artistry and mentorship. In this excerpt, Dell walks us through his process of adding people to his illustrations. In short, keep it simple.
As March comes to a close, we would like to honor our colleagues that celebrated their Bernardo Wills Architects anniversaries in the first quarter. Without our teammates, we wouldn’t be able to make our communities better. Cheers to you!
#ThrowbackThursday to one of our favorite corporate landscape architecture projects in Chubbuck, Idaho for Idaho Central Credit Union. The Bernardo Wills landscape architecture team worked with Lombard Conrad Architects in Boise, Idaho to make the ICCU master plan and corporate campus a reality. The plan included entry sequence, parking, future building locations, corporate amenities such as the Data Center Building, and a central courtyard plaza and landscape. The courtyard plaza became is an essential centerpiece for the development and consists of a substantial water feature designed to showcase local geology with a fountain/pool, representative of 1000 Springs near Hagerman, Idaho. The design included a garden-esque style greenspace at the entry and corporate amenities such as an outdoor kitchen, trellis, putting green multi-use sports court, and gathering spaces. Who wants to hit the putting green after work? Count us in!
Dell Hatch, ASLA, Landscape Architect and Principal at Bernardo Wills Architects, is currently leading a hand-drawing and sketching workshop for some of his colleagues at Bernardo Wills. He is a talented and accomplished illustrator, and his sessions are fostering an environment of artistry and mentorship. In this timelapse, you can see Dell set up a two-point perspective architectural sketch with entourage – trees, shrubbery, and people.
#ThrowbackThursday to March 2019, when we celebrated the Grand Opening of WSECU’s new Spokane Valley branch on Sprague. We love the result of this renovation and look forward to future projects with WSECU.
As we come up on the anniversary of sending our staff to work from home, we are grateful for the resilience and flexibility of our colleagues. To our tech support ensuring everyone had the necessary equipment, to our Teams chats bringing us smiles and laughs at home, to our HR pro fielding our questions in a year of unknowns. When we gathered together for the first time on Zoom last year, we didn’t know what the year would look like, but we are now hopeful that our region is moving in the right direction. Stay strong, Spokane, and we’ll see you soon.
We are proud to share that the Catalyst Building has won The American Institute of Architects (AIA) 2020 Innovation Award in Holistic Design. The Innovation Awards recognize the exemplary use and implementation of innovative technologies and progressive practices among architects and designers, their collaborators, and their clients, in support of the design, delivery, and operation of buildings or research in practice or academia. Bernardo Wills Architects provided Landscape Architecture services for this project, and we are humbled to be a part of projects that make our community better.
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#ThrowbackThursday Completed in 2018, Avista’s Fleet Maintenance and Vehicle Wash Facility on their Mission Campus replaced its 1958-era fleet operations center. Initial work on the project included the completion of a site master plan on the existing northeast six-acre portion of the property at Avista’s main campus to plan the overall site and designate locations for future buildings, circulation, parking, and utility runs. Shop space in the new two-story building comprises seven large vehicle service bays, a welding/fabrication bay, and a large hydraulic service bay. The shop areas house five in-ground, multi-function vehicle lifts and three overhead bridge cranes. The building’s center-core main level includes a parts room, tool storage room, foreman offices, and locker rooms. The second story above houses a large conference/training room, office, fluid-handling room, and mechanical and electrical support spaces.
#WorksiteWednesday Construction is underway at the Selkirk Pharma site in the West Plains. These photos were taken one week apart – showing the quick progress Bouten Construction is making with the pre-cast concrete panel application. We can’t wait to see this one come alive, adding to the many industries making their home in Spokane County and the West Plains.
Many of our operations & maintenance facility projects require a mix of traditional shop and maintenance facilities, as well as administrative office space. In the Whitworth Water District Office and Maintenance Facility, the owner and designers considered how the floor plan and materials chosen would help to marry the two departments. They needed a space where each driver could come in to get assignments, meet as a large group, while (hopefully) not tracking in dirt and debris from their job sites. In addition, access to a shared break and kitchen space allowed for all staff to share meals together. Choosing materials that conform well to shop and office space applications is extremely important, and we know we’ve done our jobs correctly if it all goes unnoticed.
#ThrowbackThursday Completed in November of 2015, the Maintenance Shop and Crew Facility in Davenport, Washington provided their Utility Department new areas for welding, general mechanical work, a lube pit, paint booth, and wash bay. It also included crew locker rooms, break rooms, offices, and storage. The bays incorporated overhead cranes and overhead lubrication, water, and air systems, as well as exhaust ventilation systems. Operations and maintenance facilities require especially detailed consultant coordination on the part of the architect to ensure all of the moving parts (literally and figuratively) come together.
#WorksiteWednesday Here is an update from the North Bank Playground in Riverfront Park. If the nice weather holds, landscape installation should begin this week. We can’t wait to see the finished product this spring!
