Thea Foss Waterway - proposed project timeline

Please read this and see what JR and I are proposing. This will not move forward unless enough of us are interested in taking part. Please send JR and I suggestions on what you think and how we can improve it. Anyone that wants to be a part of it please email JR and myself.

J.R. Mills - J...@tcfarchitecture.com
Ben Ferguson - bfergu...@blrb.com

Long Term Vision: A Vital Thea Foss Waterway
Short Term Goals: Act as catalyst to prior planning work to spur new
activity
Enable AIA Emerging Leaders to wield passion and showcase collective
and individual talent

Project Milestone Schedule:
Programming Phase:
Collection of relevant data in preparation of design charette
Ie. Zoning, Land Ownership, Prior Planning Studies,
Identify Usable Structures, Identify Demo Structures,
Identify Vacant Land, Discover Interesting Site Elements
4 Weeks 3/25/08 - 4/15/08
Identify stakeholders / invitation to speak to design group
4 Weeks 3/25/08 - 4/15/08 Identify / Invite
Programming Design Meeting with Stakeholders
+/- 2 Hours
Values: Listen to past experience
Learn from past mistakes
Identify opportunities to surpass prior plans
Augment existing planning, not replace
2 Weeks 4/22/08 Design Meeting
Produce report on findings
Simple, Short & Concise
Graphically Presented
Opportunities and Constraints
3 Weeks 5/13/08

Master Planning Design Charette (Meta Level):
Pre-Design Charette 1 Week 5/17/08
+/- 6 Hours
Pick Facilitator(s)
Big Idea Brainstorming
Lock-In Big Idea Design Direction
Group/Individual Development of Site
Group Discussion - Set Direction for Site
End Meeting - Allow design to steep
Personal development and exploration
Design Charette 2 Weeks 5/31/08
+/- 6 Hours
Pick Promotion & Implementation Leaders
Revisit Design Themes
Group Discussion - Finalize Themes
Group/Individual Development of Site
Decide on Use Types and Locations
Group Discussion - Finalize Design
Group Production of Final Design

Individual Site / Project Design (Micro Level):
Site and Project Selection 1 1/2 Weeks 6/10/08
Individuals or Groups pick Projects
Conceptual Design 3 Weeks 7/1/08
Presentation of Conceptual Work 7/1/08
Develop Design 3 Weeks 7/22/08
Presentation of Design Progress 7/22/08
Finalize Design 3 Weeks 8/12/08
Final Internal Design Presentation 8/19/08
AIA Emerging Leaders Group
AIA Licensed
Leadership of Represented Firms
Interested Architectural Professionals
Produce Promotional Materials 2 Weeks 9/2/08

Promotion and Implementation:
Develop P&I Plan 2 weeks 6/10/08
Recruit P&I Team 2 weeks 6/10/08
Implement P&I Plan 10 weeks 8/19/08
Find gallery home to showcase
Identify press opportunities
Develop promotional materials
Develop stakeholder buy-in plan
Develop elected leader lobbying plan
Unveil Project to Public 2 weeks 9/2/08
Lobby and Inspire Community until realized...

Thea Foss Waterway - design team opportunities

At the last EL lunch on March 18th J.R. (from TCF) and myself committed to putting together an outline of what we were envisioning for the Thea Foss Waterway project. This post is a follow up on that promise.

We are proposing that the AIA Emerging Leaders Group take on a design project that will take incremental steps over the Spring and Summer (later if needed) that will lead us to a 'next-step' in the development of the Thea Foss Waterway into a vital part of our city.

We are not proposing that we disregard the prior efforts that have been taken towards this goal. We are taking a fresh look at the Foss with an understanding of where we are today, where the initial plan wanted to go and incorporate the changes that have affected our urban landscape.

We will focus much of our attention on the south end and east side of the waterway. We will consider how pedestrian linkages will happen, what kinds of uses are appropriate in these areas, what kind of amenities the city needs (maybe an open air market, affordable artist workspaces, funky/artsy retail or something like Pike Place or Granville Island in Vancouver BC). We will discuss how to respect our major neighbor, the Port of Tacoma, and the working maritime nature of the site. We will debate the preservation and infilling of industrial land.

We need people to read the information I will post next and to provide us feedback. This outline is not cast in stone, it is a place to begin. We all get to shape this. This is every one of our opportunity to design something and showcase what we are capable of. Show off your passion and abilities and use this as a springboard in your career.

Seattle Green Festivals

Hi all,

There is a green festival in Seattle coming up in April featuring lots of green products and services. Here's the website http://www.greenfestivals.org/content/view/767/390/

Show Hours
Saturday 10AM - 8PM
Sunday 11AM - 6PM

Venue Name and Address
Washington State Convention & Trade Center
800 Convention Place
Seattle, WA

If anyone would like to go, I have a bunch of cards that can get 2 in for the price of 1. Let me know and I can forward them. I believe the cost is $15 for one day or the whole weekend. $10 for students/ seniors, etc.

Also... Better World Books and Green Festival are partnering to offer $5 off Green Festival admission to attendees who bring in 3 or more books. Your donated books will be sold on BetterWorld.com to help fund girls' scholarships in developing countries in Asia through Room to Read. www.roomtoread.org

PS. Also, reminder of the deadline for the flyer/postcard and logo due at the end of the day tomorrow. All of the images sent in to me so far is on in the files link. You can check them out there. There'll be more posted come tomorrow.

Flyer/postcard and logo design

Hi Everyone,

So here are more information for you to incorporate in your design. We're looking for a flyer/postcard design for the happy hour event and a logo for our group. The last day to submit the two designs is
Wednesday, March 26th at the end of the day. We'll announce a winner for each category on Thursday. There is a prize for this, a winner gets to pick between free cover or free drink ticket to the associates happy hour event. So get your design mind going and be sure to send it to me at htph...@hotmail.com before Wednesday's over.

For the Associates Happy Hour Event:
The venue is at Theatre on the Square located on 905 Broadway Tacoma, WA 98402 from 5:30pm-8:30pm . Tickets for the event is $5 for AIA members, $10 for non-AIA members. There will be Hor'Dourves and no-host bar

For the Logo, there's no restrictions so be free. There's a mission statement for the group from the previous email I've sent out.

Please feel free to forward this to anyone you know who would like to participate but not on this email list.

March meeting minutes

Hi Everyone,

Thank you all for coming out yesterday. It was great to see so many familiar faces and I'd like to welcome all the new faces. I think it was our biggest turn out this time. We have a lot of exciting events coming up and interesting ideas exchanged during the lunch that I think has started to show that our group is coming together as one. So let's keep this momentum going. I have listed some of the items on the agenda that we went over during the lunch. Let me know if I've missed anything or if you have anything you'd like to add, we could go over them at the next meeting.

Architectural Tour
Jon Denton has been coordinating with the AIA Continuing Education Committee on building tours. The most recent one was of Wilson High School. There are two more tours coming up, one at Clover Park T.C. Student Center on April 8th and one at Stadium High School on May 6th. We hope to see everyone there, so mark your calendars!! Also let us know if you have any buildings in mind that you would like to see.

Associates Happy Hour
We have a BIG event coming up for the end of April that hopefully will become an annual event for our group. This event will be for all of the interns to get together and socialize. This is a chance for you to get to know your peers. You'll also have a chance to meet all the AIA Executive Board members and other AIA members of the chapter. The event is in the planning process with help from Dion, Marianne and Chauncey. So if anybody would like to help with the planning, please let me know. We also will be needing help for set up and take down on the day of the event, so if you would be able to volunteer some time let me know as well.

Event flyer/postcard
With that said about the happy hour event, we'd like to invite everyone to participate in a little graphic design competition. We need a flyer/postcard design for our happy hour event. There are no restrictions here so you're free to do anything. The image that we want to convey for our group with this event is that we're a young, hip and urban. Here is the group's mission and purpose statement.

"The Emerging Leaders Group was established by young intern architects of the AIA Southwest Chapter with an objective of individual development as well as preparing for future leadership roles in the architecture profession and community"

Group Identity
Our group has grown to a point that we need an identity to represent us. So we'd like to invite everyone who would like to participate and provide us with your own interpretation of the image for our group. There are no restrictions or limitations for this logo. See above for the group's mission and purpose statement. If you have any questions please contact Dion Serra at dion.se...@mcgranahan.com

Google Group Website
This website was created to allow for open communication among each other. We have been using this for some time as a way to let everyone know about upcoming events and our monthly lunch meetings. Please use this as a mean to communicate your ideas, comments, and/or suggestions to the group. The group would be able to come together and socialize at more events if we know about it. So, if you know of any events/ lecture around the community, post it on the website to let everyone know. Also, if you know of anyone who would like to be included in the members list, let Dion or I know and we'll be able to add them in the email lists.

Habitat for Humanity
We're starting up our group's outing events again. We had a really good turn out last August working on roof framing on a house in Reynolds Park. It'll be a once a month event on a Saturday. I'm thinking to start it up in June or so. There'll be more information coming once we get closer to the day, I will be sending out forms that you will need to sign and return if you're a first timer to the group and also information on the location and house we'll be working on.

Thea Foss Master Plan
(David Boe of the parks department has done a master plan but it is not included in this) Ben Ferguson and J.R. Mill will be heading up the event that will get us together for a design charrette on the Thea Foss Master Plan. The current design and development plan is currently on the Google Group Website for you to look at. You can get to it through the files link to the right of the page. They will provide us with more information once things get started. If you would have any questions for the guys, you can contact them at j...@tcfarchitecture.com (JR), bfergu...@blrb.com (Ben).

High School Mentorship Program
This is going to be a new program that is going to connect our group with potential future architects. If you would like to be a mentor to young minds please contact Dion. Though the program is still in the early stage, we'd like to know who would be interested in participating.

ARE Study Session
There is a free ARE study session for those who are studying for the exams on Thursday, March 20th from 5:30-7:30pm. The session will take place in the conference room next to the AIA office at 1201 Pacific Ave, Suite C4. If you have any questions or need more information, please contact Joan Rumsey at joan.rum...@mcgranahan.com

April Meeting
Our next lunch meeting will be on Tuesday, April 15th at the Varsity at noon. Hopefully the weather will be nice and we can have the meeting outside. The restaurant is located on Broadway in downtown Tacoma. Here's their website http://www.varsitygrill.com/index.php. Hope to see everyone there!!! Bring a friend or two.

March lunch meeting

Hi Everybody,

We have our monthly lunch meeting coming up next Tues, Mar 18th. At noon. We'll meet at the Harmon, here's their website http://www.harmonbrewing.com/. Their fries is to die for.

Anyway, don't forget to put this on your calendar. We'll have lots to go over for upcoming events and what Jon Denton has been doing with the AIA CES Comittee. Here are some tentative items on the agenda to keep in mind for the meeting. If you have any other ideas for events that our group could do, bring it up at the meeting.

- Upcoming architectural tours (Jon Denton)
- Associates social event in April/May
- High School mentorship program - coming up for
- Habitat for Humanity (I was thinking to start this up again in May/ June)

So I hope to see everyone there.

Associates Social Event

Hi everyone,

I don't know if you realize this but it's been 8 months since our first social event back in June. I think we're definitely due for another one. I'm aiming to set one up for the first or second week of April to kick off the spring season. I'm thinking of a big bash for the associates, non-associates, and any AIA members of this chapter who would like to come for a meet and greet.

There will be a lot of planning involve in this because I want this to be a BIG event that focus on the associates. So, if anyone who has event coordination skills and would like to help, let me know. We'll need to start as soon as possible for this event to work since we have to get the word out there. Also, if anybody has any ideas as to what they'd like to see for the theme or even where we should have this event, let me know.