AIA SW Washington Annual Golf Tournament is tomorrow at Tri-Mountain Golf Course. Look forward to seeing you all there. It will be an amazing time. Thank you to all those who support AIA Southwest Washington

Sometimes our efforts reward us in unexpected and delightful ways. Aetta's aim is to Bring Together great people and great ideas and great projects to accomplish exceptional architectural solutions. In this case, the sun and our office door collaborated to bring us a reminder of what drives us in all that we do.

Russel and Sons Plumbing’s new office building, designed by Aetta, is reaching its end of construction. The RSP project is a new office for the locally owned, family-operated plumbing contractor looking to improve their business operation. The 6000 sf, two-story, wood-framed structure houses office space in a private and open office format, one conference room on each floor, and a break room with a coiling door opening onto a patio for employee amenities, training, and office events. The 3000 s.f. second floor was left as shell space for optional tenant lease and long-term business growth. With the addition of this new office, RSP completes its service yard and company headquarters. Russell & Sons Plumbing, Inc.

Architectural History Lesson of the day: Port of Longview “White House” - This historical White House building served as the corporate offices for the Long Bell Lumber Company when it was first constructed in 1937. One of The Long Bell Company’s founders was Robert Long who was also founder of the city of Longview. Additionally, there is a school named after him in the Longview School District. Long funded the Longview Public Library, R.A. Long High School, and the Historic Monticello Hotel. The White House has served many purposes over the years and now is used as the Port of Longview Headquarters. Now part of Aetta’s Architectural History, the modernization plans of the building were designed by some of Aetta’s own. The building was erected when wood was abundant in the region so every space contained floor-to-ceiling paneling. The upgrades to the building to satisfy the Port’s requirements included replacing the upper half of the paneling with painted drywall to lighten up the spaces, replacing windows, installation of new carpet and other finishes, and upgrading to LED lighting. A large part of the project included combining several rooms on the ground floor to create a new commission meeting room.

Aetta recently completed a building addition for Gensco, a distributor and manufacturer of HVAC products in Vancouver, WA.  The project involved a 50,000 s.f. addition to an existing 50,000 s.f. warehouse building, doubling the business's capacity to service its clients. The owner desired the addition to seamlessly integrate into the existing architecture without looking like an addition. The project team accomplished this by matching the concrete tilt panel construction and various building elements to the original. Aetta provided skylights to lower the need for artificial lights and used high-efficiency heating units to lower the building’s draw on public utilities to comply with Washington State’s rigorous energy code.

We had an amazing First Friday - All had fun playing a little Architectural Jeopardy. Team 3 with Ryan, Carolyn and Tim were the winners with all in and guessing the double Jeopardy questions correct. "This Famous architect's son was the inventor of Lincoln Logs" . Do you know?

One of Aetta’s latest projects, the New Timberland Regional Library in Randle, is on track to open by year’s end.  Aetta Architects is excited to be part of this project for the community of Randle.  “The Mountain View Library will span 3,400 square feet with an open concept on a 1-acre site and should be completed by December. The facility broke ground on April 4 … When completed the project will include a drive-through window, expanded access hours, and space for large programs or events.” – The Chronicle Timberland Regional Library District

Aetta Architects was recognized as a finalist at The Vancouver Business Journal’s annual Business Growth Awards recently held at PLUSH Nite Club in Hazel Dell. Twenty companies throughout the Southwest Washington business community were recognized before a crowd of nearly 100 people. We were grateful to be part of the competition and congratulations to all the winners.