Mithun

The Center for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Youth’s Washington School for the Deaf (WSD) is featured in Architectural Record! The article explores the design process—focused on learning and immersion in Deaf culture—and resulting mass timber buildings tuned to support ASL-bilingual communication and community at WSD. Remarkably, the effort reflects both careful specializations aligned to DeafSpace principles and broad relevance to all built environments. Author Joann Gonchar, FAIA, LEED AP sums it up: “This kind of thoughtful consideration of details can improve any educational setting—those for students who are hearing-impaired, or are neurodiverse, or in the general school population.” Read the article: https://lnkd.in/g5KZMUpx Project team members include: Washington State Department of Enterprise Services, project management; Skanska, progressive design-build team leader; Mithun, architecture, interior design and landscape architecture; Hansel Bauman and Robert T. Sirvage, DeafSpace experts; PCS Structural Solutions, structural engineer; Harper Houf Peterson Righellis Inc., civil engineer; Glumac and JH Kelly, LLC, design-build MEP; A3 Acoustics, LLP, acoustics; Dark Light Design, lighting; Halliday Associates, food service; Mayer/Reed, Inc., environmental graphics + signage; O'Brien360, LEED consultant; Säzän Group Inc., Commissioning Agent; The Avidcraft PLLC, specifications; and Qualified Enclosure Consultants, envelope consulting.

Check out the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) video highlighting our visionary client, The Industrial Commons, and their project, Accelerating the Green Textile Economy in Southern Appalachia! The Industrial Commons’ 27-acre, multi-building Innovation Campus will play an integral role in their mission to serve as a regional manufacturing incubator, connecting entrepreneurs and brands in the region to circular textile supply chains. Project design by Mithun in collaboration with Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects, PAE, Stantec, Fast + Epp, Baumgartner Urban Systems Strategy (BUSS), Biohabitats and Integrated Eco Strategy.   Launched in 2022 following the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the ARC’s Appalachian Regional Initiative for Stronger Economies (ARISE) is a funding opportunity driving large-scale, regional economic transformation through multi-state collaborative projects. As a recipient of ARISE funding, The Industrial Commons will be able to expand its suite of training opportunities and services for textile entrepreneurs, companies and cooperatives, providing essential manufacturing space, training and support that will help more textile businesses thrive in the region.   Learn more about TIC’s Innovation Campus: https://lnkd.in/eznuNb8S

Join Mithun associate principal Christian Runge for “Centering Health Equity in the Planning and Design of Urban Green Space” at the University of Washington to explore the connection between the health of urban forests and people. This session will discuss how health equity can be integrated at policy, planning and site design scales in the urban public realm. https://lnkd.in/gCG_zu_s The urban green places where we spend our time have a tremendous influence on our collective health, personal well-being and ability to thrive. Yet not all community members have equitable access to healthy urban green spaces and not all green spaces have the same impact on human mental and physical health. Planners and designers, in partnership with community, have the power to incrementally increase equitable access to the life-giving resources provided by urban green space, design healthier green space and promote healthy equity through partnerships with community-based organizations and local health institutions.  

Attending the APA WA Conference this week? Stop by the Mithun booth to say hello. We'd love to chat about all things urban design and planning, including some of our recent and ongoing efforts across the nation. Come envision the future of design with us!   📍 Meydenbauer Center | Bellevue, WA 📅 October 17 -18 | 8:00am – 5:00pm   https://lnkd.in/gDa54Sjf

Join Mithun, Skanska and the Center for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Youth (CDHY) for a tour of the new Washington School for the Deaf K-12 campus expansion! Experience how mass timber and DeafSpace guidelines come together to amplify ASL-English communication and learning. Mithun’s JoAnn Hindmarsh Wilcox, AIA LEED AP, Seamus Kelly and Chip Hammer, along with partners from Skanska and CDHY, will co-present this remarkable campus tour. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/e3P9WJiY As the only residential ASL-English bilingual school in the state, CDHY offers a holistic approach focused on fostering linguistic, cognitive, social and emotional development, while also promoting the maintenance and study of American Sign Language (ASL) and English. Deaf-led workshops activated a robust curve of user engagement throughout the design-build process, informing a design that contributes to campus connectivity, transparency and sense of belonging. #MassTimber #DesignBuild #InclusiveDesign #DesignforPositiveChange

The San Francisco Bay Area is taking a proactive approach to sea level rise that represents an exciting standard for the state and country. Mithun has led a team of consultants assisting the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) to develop the Regional Shoreline Adaptation Plan (RSAP), setting a region-wide vision for adaptation that supports cross-jurisdictional collaboration and equitable processes to address sea level rise.   PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD IS OPEN THROUGH FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18TH! Learn more about the project, review the RSAP Draft, and share your input at https://lnkd.in/gtbNs586 A public hearing will be held on October 17 at 1pm, with in-person and virtual participation options. Share your thoughts!   The RSAP project team includes Eastern Research Group, Inc. (ERG), Environmental Science Associates (ESA), and Greenbelt Alliance. #BayAreaAdaptation #SeaLevelRise

Attending Autodesk University 2024? Join Mithun computational designer Md Shariful Alam and e-verse CEO Valentin Noves for "Design Smarter, Not Harder: AI-Driven Comparison and Optimization with LLMs and Autodesk Forma," to unlock the full potential of AI in transforming your design process! This session will explore how integrating OpenAI’s large language models (LLMs) with Autodesk Forma can streamline early-stage design decisions, predict performance and offer real-time insights to enhance design sustainability. Attendees will learn how to make data-driven decisions, while analyzing functionality, aesthetics, environmental factors and more. We hope to see you there! https://lnkd.in/gmxWRx2e Anik is representing Mithun’s coLAB, a dynamic space within our practice where emerging technologies and design thinking converge to drive innovation. Since its creation in the late 2000s, coLAB has empowered designers across disciplines to experiment with cutting-edge tools and collaborative strategies. At its core, coLAB continues to drive forward new ideas, empowering the next generation of leaders in architecture and design. #computationaldesign #DesignforPositiveChange #MithunCoLAB #AU2024

Mithun partner and Stewardship Partners board member Dakota J. Keene was interviewed by KUOW Public Radio to discuss innovative stormwater treatment systems around the Salish Sea, featuring the "adopt-a-downspout" pilot project located under the Interstate 5's Ship Canal Bridge. This mobile, scalable, inexpensive solution effectively filters pollutants such as 6 PPDQ, a newly discovered toxin known to kill Coho salmon at low concentrations. Read the full article to learn about stormwater treatment solutions and persistent challenges in two of America’s biggest estuaries: https://lnkd.in/g3z8qgkn

Mithun partners Lynn Mcbride and Brendan Connolly recently spoke with Patrick Sisson about the student housing affordability crisis in California, and key design strategies to expand capacity and serve the needs of today’s students. The resulting article in Fast Company features our current work with UCLA on Gayley Towers, a new urban infill project for undergraduates that leverages a co-housing model with efficient living units coupled with generously sized gathering spaces and community kitchens to enable food preparation as an alternative to campus meal plans. Another example is just up the coast at Ventura College, which is incorporating prefabricated systems in their first campus housing to support affordability and a compressed construction timeline.   Learn more about the campus context and design responses via Fast Company: https://lnkd.in/gKY_uZXh Images of UCLA Gayley Towers by Brick Visual for Mithun #DesignforPositiveChange #studenthousing

Join us at the American Society of Landscape Architects Conference on Landscape Architecture in Washington DC for “Climate Action Planning (The Verb): Promising Practices for Climate-positive Work.” This session explores approaches and highlights from climate action plans at three firms of differing sizes and geographies. Come hear lessons learned from Mithun partner Dorothy Faris, SWA associate Sarah Fitzgerald and SWT Design managing partner Bonnie Roy. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gVXskG3P #DesignforPositiveChange