Architect 2015-07

July 2015 AIAVoices 41 AIANow 43 AIAAdvocacy 44 AIAFeature 46 AIAPerspective 50
AIA Architect
AIAVoices
PhotogrAPhy: Jose mANdoJANA
the Contextualist
Engaging a principled approach to site.
Allyn stellmacher, aia, is the project architect
for ZgF Architects’ Federal Center south
Building 1202 in seattle, a building that
received the 2015 AIA Cote top ten Plus
Award. Widely considered an expert in
employing sustainable materials, building
systems, and technologies in complex
projects, stellmacher says that it comes down
to one basic principle: “there are so many
opportunities that a physical site presents—
outside of sustainability checklists,” he says,
“and if you want to make a positive impact, you
have to listen to the site.”
The Federal Center South Building in Seattle
was a complex problem—and we approached it
as a large design/build team with highly skilled
architects, engineers, planners, landscape
architects, and consultants who created an
environment where we could holistically
evaluate the design problem and find solutions.
“High performance” can be a shorthand
term—and it’s often used that way—but the
design team had an opportunity to work across
the spectrum of research and practice, and we
started thinking about high-performance as an
energy question. Pretty quickly, the term also
became about accommodating the needs of
different users. In other words, a space has to be
optimized to work for people—so that’s another
aspect of performance that I think is lost when
we use it as a shorthand term. Even though the
form of Federal Center South is a lyrical oxbow
shape, how we could accommodate program,
unifying the experience, and how we could
speak to individual needs were all essential
qualities of that high-performing building.
And I think there are some precedents for
this idea of high-performance building. If you
look at Palladian villas, for instance, it’s always
interesting to me how they still have a useful
footprint, still have an efficient plan, and
still take advantage of daylight. These are all
simple but important things that remain when
you strip away terms and definitions.
I’ve been at ZGF since 1989, and there’s
always been an interesting mix of diverse
approaches within the firm. The larger team
has always been set up around a collective
vision about how a building will resonate
with its context. We avoid a cookie-cutter
design culture within the office, and it comes
back to the notion that if buildings should
contribute to their environments, then those
environments should shape our thinking.
When I was at the University of Oregon,
I had an instructor—a really quixotic guy—
who was fond of posing a premise to us in
conversation. I remember him saying that
people become architects because they are
interested in everything, not just buildings.
And that’s the one thing I’ve carried with me
throughout all these years. AIA
As told to William richards
41