LAKESIDE OFFICE BUILDING FITS INTO CHALLENGING SITE

The new Seattle Pacific Industries-Unionbay headquarters building, designed by Mulvanny.G2 Architects, opened in November 2000. Building occupants now enjoy sweeping views of Seattle's Lake Union, but the architects had faced daunting design challenges due to the building's restrictive site. Next week we'll find out why collaboration with contractor Lease Crutcher Lewis was key in shaping the building's final design.

RESTORING AN ANCIENT MISSION WITH NEW TOOLS

When construction on the California Mission San Juan Capistrano was completed in 1806, it was the largest modern structure west of the Mississippi River. Since then, an earthquake and nearly 200 years of weathering have taken their toll. Now a restoration project is using computer modeling techniques to analyze and document the stone ruin. John Loomis and Elizabeth Sanchez, of the firm Thirtieth Street Architects, Inc., will explain how their process of documentation was assisted by 3D object modeling.

NEW SCHOOL BRINGS HOPE TO CHALLENGED YOUTH

Beirut now has a school for the mentally challenged, run by Dar Al Aytam Social Welfare Institutions in Lebanon. The facility's design team, headed by architect Wissam Jabr, was charged with accommodating a comprehensive residential and educational program on a strict construction schedule. Next week Jabr will explain how this special-needs population was accommodated in an environmentally sophisticated complex.