Spring 2020
The era of green reconstruction
As buildings go up, so does construction waste. WSU researchers are finding new ways to recycle and reuse drywall waste from construction and demolition. » More ...
Design, Construction
Fall 2018
Architect of other worlds
A green furry dragon named Elliot living in the forests of the Pacific Northwest. A twisted and pathetic creature yearning for a ring in Middle Earth. A monstrous ape, an alien jungle, a future dystopian city.
If any of these cinematic creations will capture the imaginations of moviegoers, they need the magic of visual effects created by wizards like Eric Saindon ’96. Saindon’s own imagination was stirred by animated films as a kid, which led to over two decades designing effects and leading teams of visual effects artists on some of the largest blockbusters on screen.
Much of Saindon’s career has been with » More …
Winter 2017
Medical research design that’s 24/7
Jason Chan ’99 had to travel roughly 10,000 miles to satisfy a childhood curiosity. “I grew up in Singapore and the rate of urbanization is incredible there,” explains Chan. Interested in engineering and design, “architecture felt like a natural step.”
Chan, who specializes in medical and research facility architecture, first pursued his passion in Pullman. “I definitely had to look at architectural history and design studies with critiques. (Being a Cougar) helped me develop design skills,” Chan says.
Now a principal and regional leader for the research sector at Perkins+Will in Houston, Texas, his design prowess is on full display in concrete ways.
The Texas … » More …
Fall 2017
Build your own rain garden
Learn how to design, install and maintain your rain garden with the free Rain Garden Handbook for Western Washington (PDF).
You can find out more rain garden ideas and details from WSU Extension. If you have more questions, please contact your County Extension rain garden expert.
Be sure to check out where and where not to build your garden. Not every place is suitable.
Visit WSU Extension’s rain garden website.
Winter 2016
Redesigning Rural Communities
We know at least a few of the reasons why rural communities go into decline. In eastern Washington, technology has radically improved agricultural efficiency at the cost of manual labor jobs. Technology, in the form of trucks and automobiles, has also replaced the railroad that once connected the dots of towns in a web of mutual trade and support. When the on-farm jobs disappeared, the commercial support base in small communities did, too. Banks, cafes, repair shops closed, leaving town after town with decrepit central cores. Brain drain takes young people to urban areas in search of employment—and the vicious cycle becomes a death spiral.
… » More …
Winter 2016
Main Street, USA
Standing on the beach at Smokiam Park, I dip my hand in the lake. The water is soft, slippery, almost squishy feeling. It’s full of sodium carbonate—washing soda. It’s a tiny lake, and on its southern beach is Soap Lake, a town experiencing a little renaissance.
Locals credit Washington State University’s Rural Communities Design Initiative for assisting their town of 1,500 in the eastern Washington scablands with improvement efforts. Soap Lake declined from fame and modest prosperity to a near ghost town but has recently rediscovered its pulse.
“Smokiam” is a Tsincayuse word that means “healing waters,” so maybe the sense of … » More …
Summer 2016
Within the urban fabric
The architectural responsibility of making more than just buildings
When the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, planned to expand their convention center in the late 2000s, they wanted a structure that would reflect the city’s environmental values while tripling the meeting space of the downtown facility. The Vancouver Convention Centre West, designed by LMN Architects and completed in 2009, exceeded their vision: The gentle slope of the 6-acre green “living roof” provides bird habitat; the building is heated and cooled by seawater; and fish and shellfish inhabit the base of the building.
The Vancouver project fits exactly with the philosophy of the Seattle-based architects … » More …
Spring 2016
A grand gathering place
Cougar-owned landscape architecture and design firm Land Expressions in Spokane won a top national award in December for work on Spokane’s Huntington Park and the Spokane Tribal Gathering Place.
This project won over much larger design build projects from all over the country. The Grand Award from the National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP) “is the biggest award we can receive in our industry,” says Dave Nelson ’83, president and owner of the company.
The Land Expressions team—which includes senior landscape architect Clayton Varick ’00 and landscape architects Nicholas Hamad ’10 and Fernando Camargo ’10—had a very good year in 2015.
They won the … » More …
Winter 2015
Briefly noted
A Formative Decade: Ireland in the 1920s
Edited by Jason Knirck ’96 MA, ’00 PhD, Mel Farrell, and Ciara Meehan
Irish Academic Press: 2015
Knirck, a history professor at Central Washington University, and his fellow editors and contributors chronicle the events in Irish history during the ’20s, when Ireland underwent transformations in national identity and allegiances. Knirck’s contribution examines the role of the loyal opposition, the Irish Farmers’ Party.
Zen and the Art of Dog Walking
By G. Ray Sullivan Jr. ’73
Deeds Publishing: 2015
Sullivan authored this collection of photographs and musings as a simple descriptive journey of how he discovered natural … » More …
Spring 2015
A re-dress of the West
Joe Monahan, from all appearances a typical American frontiersman, arrived in Idaho Territory in the late 1860s. He was lured by the promise of fortune in the hillsides and settled in Owyhee County, which The New York Times had described as “a vast treasury” with “the richest and most valuable silver mines yet known to the world.”
Monahan built a cabin and mined a claim. He also worked as a cowboy with an outfit in Oregon.
When he returned to Idaho, he settled into a dugout near the frontier town of Rockville. An 1898 directory lists him as “Joseph Monahan, cattleman.” And his neighbors described … » More …