Tag: workplace

Net Zero Emerging Leaders Intern: Introducing Madelaine

Net Zero Emerging Leaders Intern Madelaine Murray working at Hennebery Eddy Architects. The NZEL internship is funded from a grant from Energy Trust of Oregon.
Net Zero Emerging Leaders intern Madelaine Murray consults with design staff and sustainability committee member Pooja Kashyap.

In 2019, Hennebery Eddy received a Net Zero Emerging Leaders Internship grant from Energy Trust of Oregon to hire a sustainable design student intern to help us comply with our Architecture 2030 Commitment, integrate new sustainable design QC checks throughout our design process, and conduct post-occupancy evaluations focused on building performance. The internship demonstrates our dedication to the 2030 pledge and our broader net-positive philosophy and integrated sustainable design process. In the first of a series of blog posts, intern Madelaine Murray shares her initial reflections from the experience.

I’m Madelaine Murray, a graduate student in the College of Design at the University of Oregon – Portland. One of the advantages to studying in Portland is the ability to work at an architecture firm alongside classes, especially in a city acting as a hub for sustainable culture and mindful design. Hennebery Eddy is a very familiar name at the UO Portland, advocating for net-positive design, and several staff members have served as visiting reviewers for student projects. Hennebery Eddy is certainly a role model for successful projects rooted in context and for utilizing design principles relating to sustainability and thinking long term. University of Oregon encourages students to think beyond the buzzword of “sustainability,” allowing students to focus on many different avenues of design, such as adaptive reuse, resiliency, and energy efficiency. What was enticing about becoming a Net Zero Emerging Leader is advocating for these concepts beyond the academic realm. Reading about a building’s energy use in a textbook is not nearly as impactful as discussing it with a project team aiming reach a specific EUI goal. In a way, the NZEL program lets aspiring architects like me watch these sustainable design principles come to life.

Read More

Lessons Learned: A week in the life of a Carleton College extern

Each year, the firm hosts an “extern” from Carleton College. These are undergraduate students who may be interested in pursuing design studies and architect careers, and their 1-2 weeks here are designed to give them a taste of every aspect of our profession. Our most recent extern, Karen Chen, shares reflections from her November externship. Her post has been slightly edited for brevity.

Karen Chen, right, with her externship homestay host at Portland’s Tilikum Crossing bridge.

I had the privilege and pleasure of being dipped into the professional sphere of architecture for a week at Hennebery Eddy Architects. During the externship application process, I was attracted to Hennebery Eddy’s demonstrated core values of innovative design, responsive service, and the obligation that firm members take ownership in their work. They aligned with my developing interests in art, STEM, and environmental and social justice — what would be more complementary than a discipline that uses considerations in aesthetics and physical function to create structures for people to inhabit in the real world?

I was exposed to an eye-opening, informative slice of the architectural industry and what professional life entailed. I gleaned a ton of knowledge and insight about architect careers simply through watching and talking with architects in various roles. Through shadowing, observing meetings, and conversations, I have a firmer handle on topics like entrance into the field, schooling, school-to-career transitions, internships, and career and job development. I both sat in on meetings about projects and accompanied architects who had volunteered to take me to tours of those project sites, including the Clackamas County fire stations, the new PDX terminal, a commercial renovation at Columbia Square, a factory cafeteria, and community college buildings.

Read More

Merry + Bright: A Hennebery Eddy Holiday

It’s a festive and fun Friday in the Hennebery Eddy studio when we break out the holiday headgear, don our ugly sweaters, and celebrate the season and our staff. This year, our winter quarterly all-staff lunch featured an Italian feast and homemade eclair cake (yum). We launched the first round of HEA Connections, a program designed to foster new relationships among our ever-growing staff. Promotions were announced, recognizing the contributions of new firm associates and associate principals — and everyone got to enjoy a little envelope revealing a year-end bonus.

The giving extended to the community, as we wrapped up our office food drive for the Oregon Food Bank and shared the annual “principals gift,” a donation on behalf of individual staff members to a nonprofit organization in the name of our five principals; this year, we pitched in $1,600 for Friends of the Children. A white elephant gift exchange brought out the wacky, weird, and wonderful. And to top it all off, the famous Hennebery Eddy Elf Cart delivered treats throughout the office.

We hope your holidays are filled with just as much good cheer — and all of us at Hennebery Eddy Architects wish you a happy holidays and prosperous new year!

Photos from our annual holiday festivities and a snippet from our 2018 holiday card

Historic Preservation Internship at Hennebery Eddy

Hennebery Eddy hosted two interns this summer, both of whom are working on Master of Architecture degrees from the University of Oregon – Portland focused on historic preservation. In the second of this two-part series, Shannon Hines shares highlights from her historic preservation internship and takeaways from her time with the firm. Click here for Michael Moran’s experience.

Historic preservation intern Shannon visits the construction site for Clackamas Fire District Station 16 - not a historic project, but definitely part of a well-rounded Hennebery Eddy internship!
Shannon visits the construction site for Clackamas Fire District Station 16 – not a historic project, but definitely part of a well-rounded Hennebery Eddy internship!

Throughout school, I have had an interest in the historic preservation side of architecture and have taken both architecture and historic preservation classes at the University of Oregon – Portland. I first learned about Hennebery Eddy through one of my architecture studios when Tim Eddy came to talk with us about the Albina Vision effort the firm had been working on and learned more when Josette Katcha came into a historic preservation class to talk about her role as a specialist in the firm’s historic resources group. This was how I learned about Hennebery Eddy’s strong historic preservation expertise. This interested me because I would be able to combine my studies in a professional setting.

Read More

Interning with Hennebery Eddy’s Historic Resources Group

Hennebery Eddy hosted two interns this summer, both of whom are working on Master of Architecture degrees from the University of Oregon – Portland focused on historic preservation. In this two-part series, Michael Moran and Shannon Hines share highlights from their historic preservation internship and takeaways from their time with the firm. Read on for Michael’s experience, and click here to read about Shannon’s internship.

Michael Moran, left, and Shannon Hines, far right, completed historic preservation internships this summer with the Historic Resources Group at Hennebery Eddy Architects.
Michael Moran, left, and Shannon Hines, far right, interned this summer with the Historic Resources Group at Hennebery Eddy Architects.

I was first introduced to Hennebery Eddy through my second studio at U of O in Portland. We adopted Hennebery Eddy’s Albina Vision urban design concept and focused on the design of a cultural building that would connect the Rose Quarter to the Willamette River by spanning a plaza over Interstate Avenue. The studio collaborated with the Portland Opera for the program. It was great to have Tim come in to present the urban vision, and to have such an aspirational framework to provide inspiration for our designs. I like the philosophy of the firm, especially the commitment to thinking about the long-term life of a building.

Read More

Hennebery Eddy Architects to Design New Bonneville Power Administration Fleet Services Building

Firm will draw upon its proven track record to deliver sustainable building design and safer industrial work site for agency’s new Ross Complex facility

Bonneville Power Administration employees at the utility’s Ross Complex are getting a safer, simpler, and more efficient workplace. The power utility that services more than seven states and 300,000 square miles across the Pacific Northwest has selected Hennebery Eddy Architects to lead a major facilities upgrade at its Ross Complex in Vancouver, Wash. When complete, the site will include distinct zones for heavy equipment, personal vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians, and a new 45,000-square-foot fleet services building with separate repair and administrative spaces.

Read More

Hennebery Eddy renews Sustainability at Work Gold certification

When you visit our studio, there are a few things you likely won’t find around our workspace or conference rooms – items such as plastic water bottles, paper plates, or disposable cutlery. The absence of these single-use items is intentional. As a business committed to sustainability, we strive to make the most environmentally aware choices when it comes to our design work, material selection, and our day-to-day operations.

Wood plaque showing Sustainability at Work Gold certification for Hennebery Eddy Architects

As we know from the EcoChallenge, the cumulative effect of many small choices is powerful and impactful, and for Hennebery Eddy, they’ve resulted in our Gold certification as a Sustainability at Work business, a designation awarded by the City of Portland. We first applied for the three-year certification in 2014 and successfully completed the re-certification process in October. The Sustainability at Work program awards points for 50 different criteria in the categories of Reduce/Reuse/Recycle, Employee Engagement, Transportation, Energy, Water, and Community Engagement, as well as additional “actions” organizations can self-report. Bronze, Silver, and Gold designations are made based on the total points accrued from all categories.

Beyond the criteria outlined by the City of Portland Sustainability at Work program, at Hennebery Eddy we embrace the following business practices that contribute to a healthier environment:

  • An organized “net positive committee” of employees facilitates and implements on-going sustainability efforts and education within the firm
  • 100% of our design staff are LEED accredited
  • Became a JUST™ organization through the International Living Future Institute
  • A net-positive design approach is one of our core areas of expertise
  • Participate in NWEI’s EcoChallenge; for the last four years, we have finished in the top 10 teams out of more than 600
  • Offer employees a secure, sheltered bike storage room with shower
  • Our vendor food policy prohibits “box lunches” and encourages family-style meals without the use of paper plates and other disposable serving items
  • Offer a robust in-office composting program in addition to recycling
  • Transitioning much of our technology hardware to energy-efficient models

We are proud to be a Gold Sustainability at Work company and hope that our certification will inspire other organizations to participate in the program.

 

Interning at Hennebery Eddy Architects: Spotlight on Peter Harrison

Design intern Peter Harrison joined Hennebery Eddy Architects this summer from Utah State University, where he is earning a Bachelors of Interior Design. Passionate about sustainable design, he plans to relocate to Portland, Ore., after graduation. Below, he shares his path to studying interior design and highlights from his internship.

I’ve grown up with a strong passion for design and sustainability, which led me to explore the field of architecture and design. During high school, I took an internship course where I shadowed architects, marketers, landscape architects, and interior designers at MHTN Architects in Salt Lake City, Utah. This experience confirmed my desire to pursue a design degree and attend the highly acclaimed interior design program at Utah State University.

At Utah State, I have gained a wide variety of skills, both design and technical. My coursework has included commercial and residential design, materials, Revit and AutoCAD, architectural systems and code knowledge, sustainable design, as well as a strong emphasis on the fundamental principles and elements of design. I expanded my understanding of sustainable design by participating in the Utah State student chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council. One of the requirements for my program is that I gain professional field experience by completing an internship between my junior and senior year. Since I care deeply about sustainable design, I applied for internships in Portland, Oregon, a natural choice for this market sector. I knew I wanted to be at a mid-sized commercial architectural firm where I could see myself working after graduating.

Read More