Craft: Winter 2022

On the cover

Seattle Children's Hospital, Building Care

Photo: Benjamin Benschneider A

Seattle Storm

Meet the women-led team delivering the Seattle Storm's Center for Basketball Performance, which will be the nation's first dedicated practice facility for professional women athletes.

Building Care

Take a look inside Building Care, the newest addition to Seattle Children's Hospital. The new facility opened its doors to patients and families in 2022.

In Memoriam

Remembering former CEO and Chairman of the Board Rick Redman, who passed away earlier this year.

Leaving a Legacy

In recent months, I’ve been thinking about the legacies we leave behind. As builders, we have the opportunity to see the physical manifestation of our work — office towers that reshape the skyline, hospital rooms where life-saving work happens each day, and community spaces where people can learn and grow. It is tremendously rewarding to see those finished projects and share them with our loved ones.

My dad, Rick Redman, held many roles at Sellen throughout his 35-year tenure, including CEO and chairman of the board. When he passed away in September, I thought about the countless projects he helped lead and the incredible partnerships he established with our clients — partnerships that transformed our region and continue to thrive today.

But his legacy extends beyond the projects he helped deliver. He believed that being the best builder meant more than the work we do on the job site. It’s how we show up for the people in our lives who need us the most. It’s how we support our community through philanthropy and volunteerism. And it’s how we encourage each other, through thick and thin, to overcome every challenge life throws at us.

A few years ago, we held focus groups with people throughout Sellen to create our Purpose statement: to improve the lives of those around us — as builders, partners, and neighbors. Who we are today is a direct reflection of the culture my dad and countless others have instilled within the company since we opened our doors in 1944. It’s a legacy we are proud to carry on, and it would not be possible without the incredible people here at Sellen and the partners we work with each and every day.

As you read this issue of Craft, know that each of you has contributed to this legacy in one way or another. Thank you for your continued friendship and partnership, and for reaching out to our family over these past few months.

With gratitude,

Scott Redman Chief Executive Officer Sellen Construction

ISSUE 11 WINTER 2022

PUBLISHER

Sellen Construction sellencommunications@sellen.com

PRODUCTION

Connor Davis Amanda Erickson Sheryl Bushaw Grace McDaniel Caitlin Schlueter Henry Lohman

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Tarsha Rockowitz

WITH THANKS TO

barrientosRyan

Bassetti Architects Ilahie Properties McGranahan Architects Recompose Seattle Children’s Hospital Seattle Storm Shive-Hattery Sound Foundations NW South Puget Sound Community College St. Thomas School

TOTE Maritime Unico University of Washington Tacoma Woodland Park Zoo ZGF Architects

SELLEN CONSTRUCTION

227 Westlake Avenue North Seattle, WA 98109

T: 206.682.7770 www.sellen.com

PAPER INFORMATION

FSC Certified Green Seal Certified Green-e (Certified Renewable Energy) Processed Chlorine Free

Industry Trends

Between lingering snarls in global supply chains, spiking energy prices, high inflation, and rising interest rates, there’s a lot for owners to consider in today’s climate. Sellen’s preconstruction team recently published the Fall 2022 Industry Trends, which features our latest construction cost escalation projections, office market trends, and more. Sellen's in-house experts shared our most up-to-date insights into the key drivers impacting the Puget Sound construction market and what we expect in the months to come. Visit sellenindustrytrends.com to read the full report.

FOR THE FULL REPORT, SCAN THE QR CODE:

In July 2021, Sellen’s team completed the Cascadian, a new building developed by Unico in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood. The nine-story, mixed-use space was designed by Perkins&Will and features an eye-catching, modern façade, and a unique structural design that cuts into the slope of the site between Yale Avenue and Eastlake Avenue.

Built with Seattle’s skyline in mind, a beautiful outdoor space sits atop the Cascadian, where tenants can take in panoramic views of the downtown cityscape and Olympic Mountain range. In addition to the scenery, the building’s 7,300-square-foot rooftop terrace also features a canopy that functions as both an architectural feature and 92-kilowatt solar panel system.

The building was designed with a focus on tenant experience — from the rooftop garden down to the wraparound outdoor amenity areas. As a result of sustainable design and expert planning, the shell and core development achieved LEED v4 Platinum certification and is Salmon Safe certified. Sellen's teams are still at the building, converting the existing interiors into lab and office spaces for future life science tenants.

Cascadian

Life Science Buildout Sellen returned to build out several floors of lab space and retrofit the building's systems for the needs of life science tenants.

Completed July 2021

“Cascadian was designed to prioritize energy efficiency, decarbonization, and community. ...The project achieved LEED Platinum – one of the first LEED v4 buildings in Washington state to reach this milestone.”

– Anita Jeerage, Director of Sustainable Real Estate, Unico Properties

Woodland Park Zoo Komodo Dragon Exhibit

In the summer of 2021, Sellen finished the construction of a new exhibit for the Komodo dragons at the Woodland Park Zoo. As the largest lizards on the planet, the reptiles’ home needed extensive upgrades to improve their overall well-being and enhance the experience for the zoo’s visitors. To create a more energy-efficient exhibit, the existing 70-year-old greenhouse roof was replaced to meet the project's unique HVAC and insulation requirements. As cold-blooded reptiles, Komodo dragons need external heat sources to regulate their body temperatures and thrive in our cooler climate. The new space maintains a consistent 80-degreeFahrenheit temperature with high humidity to keep the animals happy and healthy. The exhibit features intricate habitat structures, including tree roots and logs designed by the zoo’s habitat exhibitory staff to encourage the dragons to dig and tunnel as they would in the wild.

Sellen’s zoo projects continue, as the team is currently completing work on the Cathy Herzig Basecamp NW building and new Pigott Family Lynx Exhibit. Basecamp NW includes a new, public-facing breeding lab within the turtle exhibit that gives visitors the opportunity to see the zoo’s efforts to preserve the species. The Lynx exhibit will include upgrades to the public-facing habitat spaces and new holding and keeper spaces. Preconstruction work is underway for the Forests for All project, which will be one of largest at the zoo in many years.

Fun Fact

Adult male Komodo dragons can grow to be 9 feet in length and females up to 8 feet.

Completed July 2021

“Komodo dragons need an ambient temperature of around 80 degrees, but they also need to bask in temperatures up to 140 degrees. This project allowed us to get exactly where we need to be to meet the dragons’ needs.”

– Kevin Murphy, Senior Director of Animal Management, Woodland Park Zoo

909 A Street, TOTE Maritime

Located in Tacoma, TOTE Maritime’s new headquarters office was completed in late 2020. Beginning in November 2019, the first phase included a complete demolition of the previous space in the 909 A Street Building, owned by Ilahie Properties. From there, the construction of a new, open office could begin.

TOTE’s new space includes shared employee amenity areas, kitchenettes, conference rooms and more. Unique features in the existing space were preserved, and some were showcased by the project team, including the stairs and structural steel framing from an old catwalk that had existed within the building for decades. In keeping with the design aesthetic, the cladding, railings, and finishes were removed from the stair feature to create a more industrial and “ship-like” feel for the space — apropos to the TOTE's work as a leader in global maritime logistics and transportation.

The creation of the new and improved office space required close coordination between Sellen’s team and BCRA Design. The new space not only provides employees with an inviting, open office space, but it also celebrates the stories of the company in its revitalized headquarters.

“Sellen came to the table and helped us understand the vision of where TOTE and the design team wanted the project to go … they delivered a space that looks absolutely breathtaking.”

– John Stoddard, Project Manager, Ilahie Properties

Thomas School

St. Thomas School, Completing Our Campus

Sellen has a long working history with St. Thomas School, having built the original campus in 2008. Most recently, our team returned to complete the multi-phase “Completing Our Campus” project, the latest phase in the school’s campus improvements.

The project started in August 2019 and involved the creation of a three-story performing arts building and athletic center. The facility includes a gymnasium, theater, music and drama classrooms, support spaces, and a unique rooftop playfield. The final stage of the project involved the conversion of an existing gymnasium into classrooms, conference rooms and labs. This undertaking required the creation of a complex steel structure within the building to accommodate the new multi-level system.

Despite material delays, the team worked diligently to keep the project on schedule through each phase and built valuable relationships with all stakeholders to deliver the best possible value for St. Thomas School. Crews finished work on the final stage of the project in early 2022.

Fun Fact

Sellen and Bassetti designed and built the original St. Thomas School campus back in 2008.

Completed February 2022

School

“The impact of student learning, through partnership with teachers, is even more than we imagined. We have fully embraced a project approach to learning, as well as the design, to bring our program well into the 21st century. …Sellen has been a perfect partner for us. Professional, committed, and responsive – they are willing to take on challenges and think outside the box.”

– Kirk Wheeler, Head of School, St. Thomas

UW Tacoma Learning Commons & Engineering Renovation

Sellen partnered with McGranahan Architects to lead the progressive design-build delivery of the Learning Commons and Engineering Renovation (LCER) at the University of Washington Tacoma. The new LCER was completed in time for the Fall 2021 quarter — a milestone made possible by the project’s highly collaborative design-build delivery.

The design-build team worked hand-in-hand with UW Tacoma to form a shared vision for the project through a variety of in-person and virtual meetings, design charrettes, and open houses. The resulting space combined two scope elements from the initial predesign into one final project, solving for increased programming needs and a shift in stakeholders.

The scope of the project involved combining the library, tutoring space and Center for Equity & Inclusion into a refreshed Learning Commons for students and faculty. The new space was designed to accommodate the wide-ranging needs and learning styles of the university’s students. The team also transformed existing retail space into classrooms to accommodate UW Tacoma's new mechanical and civil engineering program offerings.

“The Learning Commons & Engineering Renovation is a transformative project that has made a positive and lasting impact on the UWT campus. …The project propels UWT forward in the mission and vision to expand access to higher education, promote diversity and achieve student success.”

– Elizabeth Hyun, Space Planning Manager, University of Washington Tacoma

Owner Recompose

Architect

Olson Kundig

Location Seattle Size 18,500 SF

Fun Fact

Sellen built and installed the custom-designed equipment necessary for the NOR process.

Completed July 2022

Recompose

Sellen partnered with Olson Kundig to build a new home for Recompose, a first-of-its-kind leader in sustainable after-death care. Recompose is a public benefit corporation that developed a death-care process called Natural Organic Reduction (NOR). This process involves converting human remains into soil that can then be put back into the earth as a symbol of the natural lifecycle while contributing to the health of our ecosystem. This new and innovative alternative to traditional death care uses only one-eighth of the energy required for cremation and saves more than one metric ton of carbon dioxide per person.

Recompose’s new home was built within an existing two-story warehouse space located in Seattle’s SODO neighborhood. The design of the new facility incorporates space for the NOR process, which takes place in 75 individual vessels housed in a stacked, modular system. Within the vessels, remains are transformed into organic, nutrient-rich soil. The 18,500-square-foot space also includes refrigerated storage, staff offices and support areas, ceremonial rooms, and an interpretive lobby that illustrates Recompose’s process.

Construction was completed in July and Recompose hosted its first ceremony in the new space on July 22. The building’s exterior features a new, nature-inspired mural by Seattle-based artist Jeff Jacobson.

"Our new Recompose facility offers a comforting welcome to our clients. Melding the new design with the old residential elements took resourcefulness, flexibility, and strong communication between all parties.”

– Marlene Bailey, Capital Projects Manager

Champions of Change

A roundtable discussion with the women-led team building the Seattle Storm’s new home

The new Center for Basketball Performance will be a state-of-the-art facility, built from the ground up for elite athletes. When it opens its doors in Spring 2024, it will be the first time in franchise history where the front office, coaches, training staff, and players are all working under the same roof — a transformational moment for an organization whose strong team culture has resulted in four WNBA championships. The 50,000-square-foot building, designed by ZGF Architects and Shive-Hattery, will also stand as a physical representation of the Storm’s heartfelt commitment to the Seattle community, providing a central hub for the team’s important work on social justice and broadening access to youth sports.

As the first dedicated training facility for professional women athletes in the country, the project required a team that shared the Storm’s passion for driving positive change — both on and off the court. We interviewed six members of the women-led team to ask them about this exciting project and what it means for the Storm, our industries, and the community. This conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Basketball Performance is complete, it will be Seattle’s first dedicated training facility for women athletes. As team leaders, what does the opportunity to work on this project mean to you?

LISA: This is a huge step forward for the Storm. We have great community support here, but to be competitive over the next 20 or 30 years, we’re going to need to do the next thing. Women’s sports are growing rapidly, and the athletes need great facilities where they can train and hone their craft. This is the most visible investment we could make in the health and success of our organization.

GINNY: We live at the corner of business, sports, and social change. With this facility, we’re actually going to have a physical corner that’s dedicated to that vision. Everybody in the WNBA sees the possibility for growth, but for that growth to happen, you have to take some risk and bet on yourself. We’re willing to take that risk because we believe in the power of sport and the importance of women having access to that kind of opportunity at the professional level.

KATHY: We all have the utmost respect and admiration for the ownership and their decisionmaking across every aspect of this project. In every instance, they prioritize the people in their organization and the community, always seeking to be authentic. Our hope is that the design is a reflection of the organization and the fun we had throughout the process.

MARIA: This is a dream job for me. The Storm’s commitment to women and people of color is inspiring, and it has influenced how I manage our projects and our commitment to providing opportunities for women.

Professional sports, architecture, and construction are all industries in which women have historically been underrepresented. The team leading this project is almost entirely composed of women. Why is that important for this project and is it indicative of broader change in our respective industries?

ALISHA: Representation matters — whether it’s in sports or beyond. It’s a core part of the work for our athletes, but also for the communities we serve. The intentionality to put a team of women together for this project — along with the incredible men working on it — is really special and does matter.

GINNY: I’d like to think it’s a bellwether that shows what’s possible when you have a more diverse workforce. To the extent that construction and design opportunities are limited for women, we want to help break down those walls. It’s really fun working with women who realize how special this is and who want to be a part of it.

SARAH: It’s important to make the most of this unique opportunity, because change in the construction industry doesn’t happen overnight — or even in just one generation. This project feels a bit like taking a time capsule and catapulting it into the future to showcase the possibilities.

LISA: These women are highly capable of working on anything that comes their way. We’re going to lead the way and show how it can be done, and we hope every other project, no matter who’s running it, can take advantage of the skills being shown here and the results we’re going to produce — because they’re going to be amazing.

Meet the Team

TOP TO BOTTOM, LEFT TO RIGHT:

Seattle Storm

Lisa Brummel, Co-Owner

Ginny Gilder, Co-Owner

Alisha Valavanis, CEO & President

barrientosRyan

Maria Barrientos, Principal

Sara Everett, Project Manager

ZGF Architects

Kathy Berg, Partner

Megan Pryor, Project Manager

Sellen

Erin Hobson, Principal Sarah Carlson, Sr. Project Manager

Q: This project has already fostered creative partnerships within the team and with some of the Storm’s community and nonprofit partners. Can you describe some of those partnerships and how you hope they will continue to develop as the project moves forward?

ALISHA: The Storm are committed to community activation in our corporate partnerships and through our Force4Change platform, which is focused on social justice and supporting nonprofits that are out there on the frontlines, driving the change we believe in. We also have our StormCares program, which provides space for youth to participate in basketball and other health and wellness activities. These core commitments to our community are going to be represented in this new building, and it’s going to be a special part of how we develop our partnerships going forward.

GINNY: One partnership that has really expanded as a result of our decision to build a home for our franchise is BECU — they’ve been a partner of ours for many years, but added a new dimension to our relationship in becoming our lender. Their willingness to join us in building this facility is an acknowledgement of how committed they are to our franchise and how much they believe in our community mission. Our other key project partners — Sellen, ZGF, barrientosRyan, Shive-Hattery, and the City of Seattle — bring incredible intellectual capital and decades of experience to this project. Combine all that with their belief in the Storm and what we’re about, and you can appreciate the strong synergy that’s resulted, which will end up not only creating a terrific home for us, but transforming the Interbay neighborhood.

BUILDING

A DIVERSE

TEAM AT EVERY LEVEL

The Storm’s commitment to diversity and providing opportunities for historically underrepresented groups is reflected in the project’s subcontractors and suppliers. Sellen has a company-wide goal to partner with historically underutilized businesses — those owned by women, BIPOC, veterans, and many other underrepresented groups in the construction industry — for at least 15% of our total construction costs. As of November 2022, the project team is on track to award more than 40% of the subcontracted scopes to firms owned by historically underrepresented groups — an incredible achievement on a project of this size.

What elements of the project are you most excited about?

LISA: As a team that has many championships, we built a championship culture, and you’re going to see a lot of symbolism that represents that. We believe culture is central to how we’re going to get more championships and integral to how we give back to the community in a very positive way. Whether it’s the artwork, how we set up our courts, or what we do for the players — it’s all going to be top quality. If you’re going to do it, do it right. Do it like a champion.

MARIA: For me, it’s the courts and player support spaces. Providing these elite athletes with state-ofthe-art training spaces, recovery areas to manage the stress on their bodies, their own locker rooms, and a place to hang out in the lounge — that’s what makes me excited about this project.

GINNY: This facility will enable our entire business to be located in one place — the first time we’ve ever been able to do that. The most important thing about this new facility is that the players understand that this is their home. The other aspect I’m really excited about is the art we’re going feature throughout the building. We are thinking carefully about how we show up in the community — not just as a building and a basketball franchise, but as part of a movement for social change and an important part of the community.

ALISHA: When you walk through the door, you’re going to feel our championship culture — not only in the trophies but also in our work off the court and what we’re doing to drive positive change in the community.

SARAH: What I’m most excited about is creating a space for these world-class women athletes that was specifically designed and built for the Storm’s needs. Everyone needs a place to call home, and I’m proud that I get to play a role in making this happen for these women.

Q: Looking ahead to Spring 2024 — how are you going to feel when the facility opens its doors to players and staff for the first time? What will this new facility mean to the broader Seattle community?

SARAH: That day is going to be bittersweet. In my line of work, all projects come to an end, and teams get disbanded as they move on to other projects. There are some teams you wish you could just carry from one project to the next — and this is one of those teams. I know I’m going to feel incredibly proud of what we accomplish together and what the new facility will mean for the Storm and women athletes everywhere.

KATHY: This project is unlike any other I have encountered. While the athletes may never know who actually swung the hammers or drew the details, I think our entire design and construction team will see this building as a game changer — both for our industries and for our individual professional development.

A CHAMPIONSHIP HIstORY 2000

Founded prior to the start of the 2000 season

2001 Lauren Jackson drafted

2002 Sue

Bird drafted

Storm win first WNBA championship

2008 Storm franchise purchased by Force 10 Hoops

Q: How will the new facility reflect the championship pedigree of the Storm?

LISA: When the players walk in, it’s going to be amazing and inspiring. I think the community is going to look at this in such an iconic way. It will be beautiful, it will be representative of both the Storm and the community in which the Storm resides, and I think there’s going to be a sense of pride in this city that hasn’t been felt in a long time about something that was privately built on behalf of an organization and the city.

ALISHA: I think it’s going to be similar to the moment when you cut down the net after a championship win — just a moment of ‘wow, we’re really here.’ It’s going to be a really exciting day not only for the Storm, but also for professional women’s sports all over the world.

TOP

TOP

Jewell Loyd drafted

Breanna Stewart drafted

Storm win third WNBA championship

Storm win fourth WNBA championship

TOP LEFT: A recent design review meeting at ZGF's office

MIDDLE: An exterior rendering of the new facility

RIGHT: Storm co-owner Ginny Gilder at a recent design meeting

RIGHT: A rendering of the facility's interior

Renderings courtesy of ZGF Architects

Seattle Children’s Hospital Building Care

Construction of Building Care (also known as Forest B) at Seattle Children’s Hospital started in 2018. The new building, designed by ZGF Architects, added 310,000 square feet of clinical space to increase the hospital’s capacity and better serve the children and families in the community. The campus addition is intended to transform patient care using art, modern technology, and patient-centric design. One of the primary goals of the project was to incorporate more waiting rooms and induction rooms, enabling families to stay with their child for a longer period prior to a surgery or procedure.

After years of planning and construction, the completed project opened its doors on June 1, 2022. The new, eight-story building includes operating rooms, a cancer clinic, labs and workspaces, and a retail pharmacy. Building Care, which is intricately tied into the existing Friends of Costco Building (formerly known as Building Hope) and River buildings, features enhanced seismic systems and a twisted curtainwall assembly. Beautiful artwork is featured prominently throughout the building, creating a warm, welcoming environment for patients and families.

FAR LEFT: The exterior of Building Care

TOP: Building Care's lobby features bright colors and a story pole for patients and families

BOTTOM: The new building includes ample space for families to be together while waiting for a procedure

TRADITIONAL COAST

SALISH STORY POLE featured prominently in the lobby

South Puget Sound Community College

Dr. Angela J. Bowen Center for Health Education /// CLIENT SPOTLIGHT

As home to South Puget Sound Community College’s (SPSCC) nursing and medical assisting programs, the Dr. Angela J. Bowen Center for Health Education celebrated its grand opening in October 2022. Located in Olympia, Wash., the newly renovated space provides students with hands-on learning experiences to prepare them for a successful future in healthcare. As the healthcare field is the second largest and fastest-growing industry in Thurston County, SPSCC’s programs have expanded to provide access to the latest technology and offer inclusive, student-centric learning spaces that reflect real-world environments.

Q: How will the new space help train the next generation of healthcare professionals in high-need disciplines?

MARRIYA: The new space is a cutting-edge learning environment with brand new, up-to-date equipment that is similar to what is currently being used in real-world facilities. The renovation allowed us to upgrade program spaces and include a state-of-the-art simulation lab unlike any other in the region. Not only does the space reflect a true hospital or outpatient clinic experience, but all aspects are flexible, allowing us to use spaces based on the evolving needs of the program. In addition, we’ve created a designated space for studying to support those who may have shared households and need a quiet, comfortable place to study. We believe these key features are going to make a significant difference as we educate the next generation of nursing, medical, and allied healthcare providers.

In May 2021, Sellen and Hennebery Eddy Architects began a progressive design-build delivery to transform an existing office building into a 19,000-squarefoot teaching and learning space. The revitalized space features a scenario-based simulation lab, flexible clinical spaces, and areas that support studying and student interaction. The team incorporated best practices related to sustainability, future flexibility, and ease of maintenance during design and construction, while fitting as much programming into the existing building as possible. Owner Washington State Department of Enterprise Services Progressive Design-Build Team Sellen+Hennebery Eddy Architects

Q: Why there is such a high need for these healthcare positions now?

MARRIYA: Nurses, medical assistants and other providers have always been in demand, even before the start of the pandemic. On top of existing shortages, COVID-19 has greatly impacted those considering a career in healthcare and caused significant burnout over the last two years. Nurses and medical assistants that have been around for a long time are retiring early or finding new careers. Demand for healthcare professionals is going to continue to increase, and we are excited to offer a space that will support the needs of our community.

Dean of Allied Health and Nursing Marriya Wright and Capital Projects Manager Robert Foor recently shared their thoughts on this progressive design-build project.

Q: How did the progressive design-build process allow for a fast, collaborative project delivery?

ROBERT: The progressive design-build methodology provides a faster delivery and enables the process to be collaborative throughout the design and construction phases. The Sellen + Hennebery Eddy design-build team and the owner acted as one entity, with one interest and desired outcome. From the beginning, Sellen partnered with Hennebery Eddy to develop a unique understanding of the owners’ nuanced needs. The team’s ability to think out loud, push each other to understand each need, and develop imaginative solutions made all the difference in maximizing the space and financial resources. During the design process, the superintendent worked with the team to analyze the construction documents for constructability and made suggestions that reduced complexities and potential sequencing issues. Sellen’s leadership and design-build process was near flawless, and our project was delivered early and on budget — even with added scope!

MARRIYA: As my first experience with a progressive design-build approach, the Bowen Center project went significantly faster than projects I’ve worked on in the past. The lab simulation specialist and I were involved in collaboration from day one, and this delivery method gave us a voice to provide valuable input every step of the way. The design team was effective in closing the loop of communication, quickly providing us with visual designs and quick turnaround. I enjoyed the collaborative nature of this process and the ability to see progress being made. Due to our level of involvement in both the design and construction phases, any necessary changes were caught early. Once construction was complete, each detail of the space was exactly what we expected, which made moving into the space a seamless process.

Q: How did the design-build delivery process involve all stakeholders?

MARRIYA: The team did an excellent job considering involvement of all the necessary stakeholders. This included DEI specialists for inclusion and wellness design considerations, and neighbors that needed involvement and notification of construction activities. We received and incorporated valuable feedback.

ROBERT: The team ensured that all stakeholders were present and instrumental in every decision. Not once did our team feel as though our concerns or ideas were overlooked. A challenge during the project was articulating specific needs for certain stakeholders. This process allowed for collaboration so thoughts and ideas could be developed. Once articulated, Sellen’s team would execute the design element to meet the needs and desires of the program, while ensuring all parties were satisfied.

TOP LEFT: Gathering and social spaces encourage interaction between students and faculty

TOP RIGHT: The new building's learning environments reflect real-world working conditions that SPSCC's students will encounter as they begin careers in healthcare

BOTTOM: SPSCC celebrates the grand opening of its new space in October 2022

Brian Kenny

Director of Integrated Digital Delivery

As the son of a librarian and a NASA programmer — and as an architect with more than two decades of experience — it’s fair to wonder how Brian’s path led him to construction. But his unique background and vision for the future of our industry make him the perfect fit as Sellen’s director of integrated digital delivery, where he works at the intersection of preconstruction, data, and project delivery.

“Forecasters can model the trajectory of a hurricane with amazing accuracy. It starts out as this wide fan showing the storm’s potential paths, and as they get more information it becomes narrower and narrower until we know where it will go,” Brian said. “Imagine that level of data sophistication and modeling in the construction industry — that’s what we are working toward. It’s going to provide our owners with improved cost and schedule certainty — and the ability to make key decisions — earlier in the process.”

Ending the Cycle of Frustration

Prior to joining Sellen in 2021, Brian worked as an architect for more than two decades. Time and time again, he experienced a frustrating cycle that often plagues projects: the lag between design and cost estimates.

Design is rarely in sync with cost and schedule during preconstruction. The architect gives the contractor a set of drawings and the contractor spends the next few months pricing those drawings and developing a schedule. On some projects, once that work is complete, the contractor reports back to the owner that the design is too expensive or doesn’t fit within the schedule. By the time owners are equipped with this information, multiple weeks or months have elapsed, during which the architect has continued to work on a design that is now even further out of alignment with the project’s budget.

“As an architect, you put your heart and soul into the project’s design vision, only to see it watered down or lost completely,” Brian said. “I lived that for 20 years and know just how frustrating it is for everyone — owners, architects, and builders.”

Sellen’s commitment to integrated digital delivery is focused primarily on providing owners with greater cost certainty. But along the way, responsive estimating processes and powerful digital tools will help reduce this cycle of frustration for owners, architects, and builders alike.

REAL-TIME PARAMETRIC ESTIMATING

Provide the most responsive, accurate, and predictable preconstruction deliverable in the industry with design and construction impacts clearly communicated.

COST, SCHEDULE, & CARBON ANALYTICS

Multi-faceted, reliable construction life-cycle information is easily accessible to enable data-driven decision-making.

What if builders had the ability to forecast project costs as quickly and accurately as meteorologists track the weather?

If that sounds like an impossible feat in our industry, we would like to introduce you to Brian Kenny.

Parametric Estimating

The term “parametric estimating” sounds complex and opaque, but the concept is simple. Rather than manually building an estimate line-by-line, the process involves setting up rules and parameters based on historic costs and using software to generate a result.

For example, if Sellen's team of preconstruction experts were building an estimate for an office project, they could extract data from similar office scopes for repetitive elements with well-defined costs, including conference rooms and desks. This historical data could be fed into the parametric estimating tool and applied to the current project to accelerate the estimating process. With parametric estimating, Brian and others at Sellen hope to dramatically reduce the time it takes to craft accurate estimates for specific scopes and allow estimators to dedicate more of their time to pricing new, complex designs with less historical cost data.

Accelerating the estimating process, however, is only half the battle. The data also needs to be presented to owners and design teams in more intuitive and interactive ways. As an architect, Brian would struggle to understand the latest cost estimate on pages and pages of spreadsheets. Today, he is developing new tools, including cloud-based budget dashboards that provide owners and architects with real-time, on-demand project data.

“It’s more than just budget — we want to provide our clients and design partners with a more holistic view of the project and the relationship between cost, schedule, and embodied carbon,” Brian said. “There’s a delicate push and pull between those elements on every project, and there’s a lot of siloed work happening concurrently at any given time on all three. By putting them in one place that’s easy to access, our goal is to help our owners through the decision-making process.”

Integrated Data Grad School

Despite his background as an architect, Brian’s last stop prior to joining Sellen was not a design firm — it was Katerra, a Silicon Valley-backed attempt to revolutionize the construction industry that closed down in 2021. During his time at the company, Brian was introduced to new ideas that changed the trajectory of his career.

“I worked with people from Tesla, Hewlett Packard, Boeing, and other huge firms to learn about project delivery on a global scale,” Brian said. “I was introduced to concepts I had never heard of in the architecture industry. Katerra was grad school for me, and it cemented my desire to evolve from a design professional to someone more focused on connecting people and technology.”

Brian is wary of new buzzwords and technologies that promise to revolutionize the industry before ultimately falling flat. Integrated digital delivery, however, is more of a mindset — one he and many others across Sellen’s preconstruction and technology groups are working to implement each day.

“Shifting the mindset to more of a data-driven culture is going to be a challenge, no doubt about it,” Brian said. “But if we do this right, we can reduce uncertainty for our owners, provide quicker budget feedback to our design partners, and spend more time on the aspects of our work that we enjoy most.”

MODEL-BASED COLLABORATION

Visually plan, estimate, and simulate construction activities before we build.

DATA FOUNDATIONS

Information is only created once and leveraged throughout the project life cycle across all departments and functions.

"Our goal is to use technology and data to improve how we deliver our projects — eliminating rework, increasing efficiency, and fostering strong collaboration between owners, architects, and builders."

Sound Foundations NW:

Q&A with Barb Oliver, Director of Operations and Volunteer Coordinator

Sound Foundations NW is a nonprofit organization that focuses on building transitional tiny homes as a means of addressing and combatting homelessness in Washington. Its goal is to work toward ending homelessness and ensure that every homeless man, woman, and child has secure housing to keep them safe. Sellen believes wholeheartedly in the importance of this mission, and we have organized several Sound Foundations NW volunteer events for our employees over the past year.

We sat down with Barb Oliver, Director of Operations and Volunteer Coordinator, to ask a few questions about Sound Foundations NW and its work in the community. Barb started with Sound Foundations as a volunteer in March of 2018. At the outset of the pandemic in 2020, she had the opportunity to take the reins at Sound Foundations, and she has been running the operation ever since.

Q: How has the organization changed since you first started in terms of mission, scale, and goals?

A: In 2018, before COVID-19, there were a lot less homeless people in Seattle — only about 4,000. Since COVID started, the number of people out on the streets has increased by 50%. Back then, we were still building homes on our jig system, but we were only building one at a time. We could build two homes every three weeks at that point. In response to the pandemic, we converted to an assembly line system. Today, we are building two homes every three days.

Q: What is the most important aspect of Sound Foundations NW's mission?

A: It’s about the people that we serve. Everything we do here is for them. I know hundreds of people that are either current or former residents of the tiny home villages and to hear their stories — it’s unbelievable. There are some people that think these tiny home villages are just a bunch of derelicts out there, but that’s not the case. It’s circumstances that happen to people that puts them on the streets, and it’s our job to take care of those folks.

Q: What is the next major milestone for the organization?

A: We recently had a big party to celebrate a major milestone of $1 million donated in the form of tiny homes. We also announced our four-year plan. We want to build a second Hope Factory [where tiny home construction occurs] within the next year, during which we will pay the homeless and formerly homeless in partnership with the Seattle Conservation Corps. We would be literally paying homeless people to build their own homes. In the third and fourth years, we hope to add two more Hope Factories. Based on our recent experience, it’s our hope that this four-year plan will be able to get up to 18,000 people off the streets. That’s every single homeless man, woman, and child in King County with a roof over their heads, a lock on their doors, and food in their bellies.

Q: What is the best way for people to get involved with the organization? What are your greatest needs?

A: There are two main ways to get involved. The first is to donate money — we are always looking for donations. The second is to come and volunteer. If people want to volunteer, they can just go on our website (soundfoundationsnw.org). Our motto is ‘building tiny homes and building community,’ and it’s just as important to build community — both within the tiny homes and here when we build them. We have a lot of people here that become fast friends and come back week after week to volunteer. We believe in community here because it truly takes a village to build a village.

Sellen filmed a recent volunteer event at Sound Foundations NW. Scan the QR code to hear from Barb and see Sellen's volunteers in action.

TOP LEFT: Sellen employees participate in a volunteer event at Sound Foundations

TOP RIGHT: Director of Operations and Volunteer Coordinator Barb Oliver addresses Sellen's team at a volunteer event

Rick Redman

Rick Redman passed away in September 2022, leaving behind an incredible legacy at Sellen, the University of Washington, and the entire Seattle community. After a decorated career in football — first at the University of Washington, where he was an All-American, and later with the AFL’s San Diego Chargers — Rick joined his stepfather John Sellen to begin his 35-year tenure with the company.

Rick quickly rose through the ranks at Sellen, eventually becoming the company’s CEO and Chairman of the Board. Along the way, he transformed Sellen and the local construction industry in ways that continue to reverberate nearly half a century later.

“We build buildings, but we also build relationships,” Rick said.

Under Rick’s guidance, Sellen transitioned from lump sum bids to negotiated work — a new frontier for the industry when he joined the company in 1975 that relied on trust and partnership between owner and builder. Rick helped secure and deliver countless projects for Sellen, including major campus additions at Swedish Medical Center and Seattle Children’s Hospital; Hec Ed Pavilion, the Conibear Shellhouse, and the Foster School of Business/PACCAR Hall at the University of Washington; numerous cultural and civic projects, including the ACT Theatre, Paramount Theatre, Seattle Art Museum and its Olympic Sculpture Park, the Museum of Flight, the Museum of History and Industry, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation campus; and numerous buildings for Amazon and Microsoft.

Rick helped set Sellen on a trajectory to become a world-class builder of truly incredible projects. But his impact extends far beyond the spaces we build. He instilled a deep devotion to community, philanthropy, and giving back to those in need. Rick was a leader in the community and served in volunteer roles for many nonprofits, including Chairman of the United Way of King County campaign. This heartfelt commitment to community is foundational to who we are today and a source of pride for everyone who works at Sellen.

For many at Sellen, Rick was more than a leader — he was a friend and a mentor. When Rick retired in 2009, his coworkers made a book commemorating his career at Sellen. The pages are full of handwritten notes from people throughout the company and local industry leaders, congratulating him on a tremendous career and reminiscing about good times, successful projects, and a life well lived.

Reading those notes today, it’s clear that everyone who knew Rick — whether it was for a lifetime or just a few days on the job site — shared a deep appreciation for his kind spirit and infectious enthusiasm. Cheers to Rick for leading an incredible life and leaving a profound positive impact at Sellen and throughout the Seattle community.