Capitol project on track despite change

Architect switch has no impact on cost, timeline of renovation

BRAD SHANNON THE OLYMPIAN

OLYMPIA -- State officials overseeing a more than $100 million renovation of the domed state Capitol say their project is still on time and on budget, despite a switch in architects that will alter how some of the work is done.

Rep. Sandra Romero, D-Olympia, who had pushed to preserve the Legislative Building's historic features, says she's thrilled by the change in architects.

"It's night and day," Romero said last week during a meeting of the Legislative Building Renovation Oversight Committee, which includes lawmakers and statewide elected officials.

The architectural firm, NBBJ of Seattle, previously drew up the satellite Capitol Campus plan for Tumwater and designed Safeco Field, where the Seattle Mariners play.

The firm will be paid $7.4 million, including $400,000 to make changes to schematic design work the previous architect created, said Pat McLain, project director for the Department of General Administration.

Preservation worries

NBBJ replaces Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates, a national firm with offices in Los Angeles and New York. HHPA was hired in June 2000 with the expectation that it would oversee the work for the entire four-year project, but not everyone was satisfied by the firm's sensitivity to historical design.

So when the first phase of work ended last fall, HHPA's contract was not extended, McLain said.

"We needed a lighter touch with regard to impact on historic preservation and also on space use in the building," McLain said. "Their approach was going to have an effect on the historic fabric that we didn't think was acceptable."

McLain praised HHPA for some of its work, including its response after the Feb. 28, 2001, earthquake and other efforts to study the way space is used in the building.

"I don't want to characterize this as, they didn't add value to the project. They did," she said.

However, there were concerns about the handling of historic features ranging from the marble to ceiling heights and cornices, McLain said.

"I would be surprised of that. I certainly had not heard that comment before," said Stephen Johnson, a principal with HHPA, reached Friday by telephone in Los Angeles.

He said that in meetings with state historic preservation officials, "there seemed to be a good deal of satisfaction" with his firm's work.

But Romero said she had worried about a proposal to cut holes in the floors so new staircases could be added. The holes would have been cut into wings of the House and Senate to add emergency exits for staff and visitors to the legislative galleries.

"It was going to have a significant effect on how the building would look," Romero said, adding that House members were so concerned they hired their own architect to come up with alternatives.

The new plan is to install walls next to stairwells in the Capitol that link the top and bottom floors of the four-story building. The walls and doors will create a safe haven for exits in the event of a fire.

Unlike the hiring of HHPA, the hiring of NBBJ was done without a formal bidding or interview process. McLain said that was because NBBJ had been the No. 2 ranked firm in the original search. That search had produced four finalists.

HHPA and its sub-consultants were paid $2.1 million, and that has settled all accounts with the firm, which wrapped up its work in September, when its preliminary contract expired, McLain said. Although the firm had been expected to handle the entire project, its contract was structured in segments, McLain said.

Despite the change in architects, the project remains on budget and on time, scheduled for completion in October 2004. Most of the work has to do with infrastructure, plumbing, heating, ventilation and making accommodations for technology.

Maintaining the construction schedule will allow the Legislature to return to the Capitol for its January 2005 session. Next year and again in 2003, the Senate will convene floor sessions in the refurbished Joel M. Pritchard State Library building, while the House will convene in modular units that are being installed.

Many state workers already have been moved out of the more than 70-year-old stone building in advance of the construction work, which is scheduled to begin in June. Others, including Gov. Gary Locke, will move out in the next two months.

"The building will be vacant by June 1," McLain said.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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