It is always a little quieter around here in the summer as people take vacations. But this summer the activity level has risen as we are hosting six students and their professor from the Washington State University School of Architecture and Construction Management Summer Studio.

The Seattle Summer Studio program is a six-week course intended to immerse students in cultures not readily available to them back in school. By way of design challenges, the students are pushed to explore a weave of issues, first as related to architecture and urban design, and second to professional practice.

“The opportunity to have practice and the academy interact in this way is invaluable to the students, while infusing the latest innovative thinking from the classroom into the firm,” says Wolf Saar AIA, LEED AP, a firm Principal and a member of the Professional Advisory Board to WSU.

Professor Ayad Rahmani and WT Senior Associate Brian Steinburg have been collaborating to create opportunities around Weber Thompson’s work in urban planning for South Lake Union and Seattle’s interest in development associated with the waterfront as the viaduct is replaced.

Next week is their last week here. We will miss the added enthusiasm and ideas that the students have brought. Not to mention the doughnuts one of the students keeps buying for our staff.