The Tacoma School District announced yesterday that historic Lincoln High School has received six national awards recoginizing the school’s renovation, overall design, engineering, and construction quality.
“The Lincoln High School project is one in which the entire district can take pride,” said Pete Wall, the school district’s Director of Planning and Construction. “These national awards demonstrate the success of the architect’s vision, creativity and skill applied to the design of a successful educational facility.”
Located at 701 So. 37th St., the project brought new life to a 1913 traditional high school. It was added to the City of Tacoma’s register of historic places in 2006.
DLR Group (Architect and Designer); TCF Architects (Architectural Consultant); Gene Grulich (Historic Architectural Consultant); Lease Crutcher Lewis (General Contractor/Construction Manager); Heery International (Project Manager); and the Tacoma School District were recognized for the following:
1. 2008 Excellence in Masonry Design Honor Award for Rehabilitation/Restoration
Lincoln’s renovation and addition project received the 2008 Excellence in Masonry Design Honor Award for best Rehabilitation/Restoration sponsored by Masonry Institute of Washington (MIW) on Nov. 5. This is the top award in this category. The award was presented to the project team at the Excellence in Masonry Design Awards’ Banquet in Seattle. This award gives recognition to architects, mason contractors and general contractors who showcase aesthetic and technical design achievement, as well as masonry craftsmanship attributes, in their design and construction. The judges said they appreciated “the thorough, competent treatment of the restoration . . . and the elegance and restraint demonstrated in the addition.” According to Tacoma Schools, in addition to the difficult design challenge and unique attribute of the masonry reconstruction of Lincoln High School was the need to match new cinder blocks with the existing historical blocks to preserve the building’s historical character. MIW said the school demonstrates the design planning team’s ability to honor the rich history of the school while creating new space for student learning.
2. 2008 Distinguished Project Award
The Lincoln High School renovation and addition project was selected as the winner of the Northwest Construction Consumer Council (NWCCC) 2008 Distinguished Project Award (DPA) for public projects over $10 million. A trophy acknowledging the project was presented to the Lincoln project team at the DPA luncheon on Oct. 30 during the NWCCC 2008 annual conference.
3. Bronze Award from the 25th Annual Reconstruction & Renovation Awards
The Lincoln project received the Bronze Award from the 25th Annual Reconstruction & Renovation Awards program. Noted in the October 2008 edition of the Building Design + Construction magazine, this special recognition is awarded annually to two nationwide projects by a jury organized by the Washington State Council of Educational Facility Planners International (CEFPI), in recognition of overall design, engineering and construction quality.
4. Lee J. Brockway Award
The Lincoln project also received the Lee J. Brockway Award in September for its exceptional reconstruction and design project. According to the Daily Journal of Commerce, the Washington State Council of Educational Facility Planners International (CEFPI) presented the Lincoln project team with the Lee J. Brockway Award for its “exceptional and inspiring” renovation.
5. Shirley Cooper Award
In the spring of 2008, Lincoln High School celebrated another prestigious award, the Shirley Cooper Award. Since 1973, in honor of Cooper and Taylor, the AASA has bestowed two awards on two projects each year to exemplify outstanding design and educational purpose. The Shirley Cooper Award is presented to the project that best meets a difficult design challenge while meeting the educational needs of its students.
6. CEFPI Pacific Northwest Honorable Mention Citation
The CEFPI Pacific Northwest Honorable Mention Citation was given in recognition of the projects judged most outstanding for educational environments. The Honorable Mention Citation is presented to the project that is an example of smart growth, whereby land is used which has already been developed with infrastructure in place. Plaques were presented to both the architectural firm and the school district at the National Conference on Education.
