Discord strikes Weber Thompson offices

Posted on May 17, 2013 by wtblog225

Beneath a cool professional exterior, a storm is brewing amongst the workstations at Weber Thompson. Friends glare menacingly at each other as they pass in the hallway. Internal communications are littered with threats and attempted intimidation. Jeff Bates is sporting a bandana. The air is brimming with potential conflict and all for one simple reason: May is Cascade Bicycle Club’s Bike to Work Month Challenge.

Throughout the month mild-mannered designers, so tame under the daylight-calibrated lights of the conference rooms, are coming out of their shells to reveal their true identities: members of one of WT’s three vicious bicycle gangs. The staff representing Weber Thompson in Seattle’s Bike to Work Month have been divvied up to balance commute lengths, giving each team an equal chance at attaining a variety of awards, including Consistency, Overall Miles, Team Spirit, Most Days Traveled in the Rain, and several others.

The competition is tight, and enthusiasm has pushed camaraderie-oriented teams to transform to rough-and-tumble bike gangs. As of May 15th, the mid-point for the contest, the team rankings are as follows:


The Hessians: 75% commute rate with 555.34 miles traveled
Team Members: Manuela Hess, Kristen Scott, Josh McDonald, Sami Houari, Marc Furst, Emily Doe, Lauren Blass, Aaron Swain


Velocidrafters: 74% commute rate with 572.62 miles traveled
Team Members: Jeff Reibman, Austin Besse, Brittney May, Maggie Cowgill, Michael Day, Nicole Winn, Myer Harrell


Blood, Spokes and Gearz: 55.7% commute rate with 410.5 miles traveled
Team Members: Scott Wells, Jon Szczesniak, Cody Lodi, Jeff Bates, Amanda Keating, Jeff Dobbs, Erin Schiedler, Monica Knapp

Riding is only part of the battle. No deed is too low to win out for that Team Spirit award, and so far staff members have gone as far as tattooing themselves to display their team pride. We’ll be checking back in at the end of the month to congratulate the winners in all categories and celebrate the return to peace in the hallways of Weber Thompson.

- Lauren Blass



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Product Runway 2013

Posted on May 10, 2013 by wtblog225

Sketch by Mandy Callaway

During the last 8 months, the Weber Thompson interior design team worked on designing a garment for Product Runway, a friendly industry-wide fashion competition modeled after the show of a similar name. We were teamed with Bank & Office Interiors/Steelcase as our sponsor, and spent nights and weekends designing and producing a couture-worthy garment. We were tasked with designing ‘with an eye for the dreamlike quality’ and ‘maybe sweetly risqué. But always high fashion.’

Our team drew inspiration from the poppy flower – for its bright color, its tissue-like petals and its mythical symbolism: sleep and peace.  We wanted to create an elegant and beautiful garment that embodied all of those qualities. But more importantly, create a garment that wasn’t a costume, but a gown that each of us would want to wear ourselves. In the end, we did just that. We were aiming for romance and delicacy, with a little edge, which took the shape of the beading and raw-edged shrug, respectively.  Throughout the design process we stayed true to our original concept and we couldn’t be more proud of the result.  Our model and co-worker, Rachael Bauer, really took our breath away as she walked the catwalk.

Continue reading →



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Weber Thompson leading the way in Seattle’s energy use goals

Posted on April 13, 2013 by wtblog225

Seattle is at the forefront when it comes to environmental awareness and green design. At Weber Thompson, we take these issues rather seriously. Our offices are LEED Platinum certified, our building, The Terry Thomas is LEED Gold certified, most of our projects are aiming for some level of LEED or other certifications, and we actively educate our clients about the benefits of building green. But despite the efforts on the part of our firm and others, heating, lighting, cooling and ventilation of buildings still accounts for approximately 40% of global carbon emissions, and construction of new buildings accounts for at least 10%. Clearly, something needs to change.

Continue reading →



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The Terry Thomas featured in two new books

Posted on April 2, 2013 by wtblog225

Weber Thompson was recently featured in two new publications from The University of Washington Press, Daylighting Design in the Pacific Northwest and The Carbon Efficient City. Both books feature The Terry Thomas, praising it for being filled with great natural light, and for using passive cooling and other sustainable design strategies.

Daylighting Design in the Pacific Northwest

Studies have shown that natural light boosts morale and significantly affects circadian rhythm, mood, and mental performance. In Daylighting Design in the Pacific Northwest, The Terry Thomas is featured for using daylight as a sustainable design feature that also happens to create a pleasant working environment. In an interview with UW Today, Christopher Meek, one of the book’s authors, states that “The Pacific Northwest overcast is ideal for daylighting buildings. In most commercial and institutional spaces such as classrooms or offices the goal is to provide diffuse daylight for working illumination and our overcast sky is ideal for that. Continue reading →



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Solving social issues with Seattle Architecture Foundation

Posted on March 25, 2013 by wtblog225

On Saturday, March 23rd, Weber Thompson hosted a group of teens interested in exploring architecture and understanding the complicated issues around designing for people of all abilities. Seattle Architecture Foundation’s InbeTWEEN program gives aspiring architects the chance to work with professionals to investigate a problem, develop a solution, and create a model to translate their idea into three-dimensional form.

Two of the students designing their project.

Two of the students designing their project.

Kirsten Clemens, Board Member of Seattle Architecture Foundation and Weber Thompson team member, hosted the March 23rd session at our offices. The theme of the session was ‘Designing for Disabilities’ and the ideas that the pre-teens came up with were quite compelling. Continue reading →



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Our Personal Queen of Hearts

Posted on November 20, 2012 by wtblog225

Queen of Hearts Castle at the Sheraton's Gingerbread VillageFor the second year in a row, Weber Thompson employees have stayed up late at night to surround themselves with sweet tidings.

That’s right! It is time for the Gingerbread Village. Sponsored by the JDRF Northwest Chapter, this annual event, in its 20th year, raises money for funding the world’s best research to cure type 1 diabetes. The event runs from November 20 – December 31 at Seattle’s Sheraton Hotel.

This year, following the theme of “Once Upon a Time” our group mined their skewed sense of the world and created the Queen of Hearts castle, based on the 2010 Tim Burton movie.

You can see the Queen of Hearts in all her blue eye shadowed glory, and Alice in both her iconic blue dress, and her “hear me roar” armor. A multitude of characters including Twedledee and Tweedledum, the Mad Hatter, Caterpillar, and various card guards, gather around the amazing structure the team built. Continue reading →



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A journey of a thousand miles …

Posted on October 17, 2012 by wtblog225

Demolition for the Sunset Electric Building has begun. For some, the construction fence and subcontractors and trades on site mark the end of a turf war between for-profit postering and militant feminist installations. For us at WT, this marks the start of breathing new life into a building that has fallen into disrepair, with its last few years providing little more to the neighborhood than a canvas for graffiti. With its proximity to Cal Anderson Park, its extension of retail along 11th Ave, and activation of the sidewalk and private alley along E. Pine Street, this building can – and will – be so much more.

Visible from the street through the empty garage door opening on 11th Ave and the alley window openings, the non-structural elements are being selectively demolished

Some pieces are being set aside for salvage, most notably the old-growth timbers in the primary structure of
the mezzanine. Continue reading →



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Summer Sunshine

Posted on August 14, 2012 by wtblog225

A summery sunshine picnic at Gasworks Park. Quite the enjoyable afternoon for our Weber Thompson Family and Friends. Veraci Pizza and A la Mode Pies…what more could you ask for.

 

 



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A Hard Hat Display

Posted on July 26, 2012 by wtblog225

We found a new place for our lovely hard hats. And we must say, it’s quite the delightful arrangement.



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We’re Winners!! (Well, we kind of already knew that)

Posted on March 9, 2012 by wtblog225

A la Mode Pies – Phinney Ridge

On March 8th, the A la Mode Pies café/bakery was awarded First Place in the Hospitality category at the 13th Annual Northwest Design Awards, sponsored by the Seattle Design Center. The winning projects were selected from more than 250 entrants in 10 categories.

Weber Thompson went home with a seriously heavy chunk of engraved crystal and the happy thought that we should celebrate by eating some more pie!

Huge thanks to Chris Porter and the crew at A la Mode Pies. For more images of this award-winning (yay!) café/bakery, visit our website.



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