REVIEW BAINBRIDGE ISLAND
ALL HAIL THE QUEEN: Island’s quirky Scotch Broom Festival returns. A10
FRIDAY, May 4, 2012 | Vol. 112, No. 18 | WWW.BAINBRIDGEREVIEW.COM | 75¢ WHERE THERE’S SMOKE There’s a flame-fighting robot
Much more than luck Bainbridge architect is Medal of Honor winner BY BRIAN KELLY Bainbridge Island Review
Brian Kelly / Bainbridge Island Review
Daniel Nathan and Flame-B-Gone, his firefighting robot.
Young robot-maker makes his mark at national competition BY BRIAN KELLY Bainbridge Island Review
When it comes down to the old question of which came first, the chicken or the egg, for Daniel Nathan, the answer comes easy. The robot came first. Daniel, 13, recently returned as a first-place winner in the Trinity College Firefighting Robot Contest. The competition, held in Hartford, Conn., drew more than 130 teams from across the country, as well as China, Taiwan, Indonesia, India and Israel. Daniel, however, was the solo individual competitor. With his home-built robot called SEE ROBOT, A14
Sometimes the simple things can bring a visionary to tears. It’s that way with James Cutler, and he’s the first to admit it. Cutler, a Bainbridge Island resident, has been named the Medal of Honor winner of 2012 for AIA Seattle, a chapter of the American Institute of Architects. It’s not any award, however, that makes Cutler misty-eyed. Instead, it’s this wonderful world around us and the spectacle of James Cutler beauty that inspires and informs his work as an architect. His great award? Well, that’s more of a surprise. It’s a huge honor, he said, but an “odd thing.” “They called it a lifetime achievement award. I’ve only started to get this whole business down in the last few years,” Cutler said. “I’m thinking, ‘Man, I’ve only just begun to exercise the skills I’ve acquired,’” he said. The acknowledgement, he said, seems like “one of those best of albums.” “Well, his time is over, might as well give him an award,” Cutler quipped. “I’m still honored,” he quickly added. “For an architect, I’m pretty young. I’ve never heard of a really great architect under 60. And I’m 62.” Cutler is the founding partner of Cutler Anderson Architects. During the firm’s 35-year history, it has received six National American Institute of Architects Honor Awards, plus more than 45 national, regional and local awards. Officials at the Seattle branch of the
Photos courtesy of Cutler Anderson Architects
Two of James Cutler’s projects on Bainbridge Island include Grace Episcopal Church on Day Road, and below, the entry to the Virginia Merrill Bloedel Education Center at Bloedel Reserve.
American Institute of Architects said Cutler Anderson Architects is known across the country — and the world — for its focus on designing and detailing buildings that fit seamlessly into their contexts. Cutler, though, said he is still learning on the job. Architecture is a generalist profession, he explained, where you have to know a lot, about a lot of different things. That knowledge covers a wide gamut of mechanical and human processes. “And so on normal day in my life, at one point I’m talking to a client or one of my
Girls’ Night Out Thursday, May 10 Downtown Bainbridge Shopping, Noon to 9pm Raffle & No-Host Evening Fun at The 122, 9pm For more information, visit www.bainbridgedowntown.org
staff about the nature or a place on this planet, and 45 seconds later I’m explaining to some staff person how a toilet flushes and where the water has to go,” he said. “I need to understand what the most efficient way of having an idea that can be horrendously romantic and at the same time, to be able to be affordable. “All of those things take a long time to learn and even to a longer point to have mastered,” he said. It’s only been in the past four or five years, Cutler said, that he feels he’s mastered every bit of the business. “That doesn’t mean I don’t have lots and lots to learn. I still make mistakes on every job,” he added. But that’s not a bad thing. “Since our wisdom grows, the sum total of all our mistakes and what we have learned from them, you do get wiser after a while in this business.” Culter didn’t set out to be an architect. SEE LUCK, A9