NAC Architecture is a well-recognized United States Architecture and Design firm based in Seattle and Los Angeles. The firm specializes in the fields of architecture, planning, interior design, electrical engineering, and capital facility consulting. Core markets of the firm include the field of design in categories featuring healthcare, educational, recreational, hospitality, civic, and restoration projects. Their distinctive values are leadership through collaboration, comprehensive perspective, creative and innovative thinking, and sustainable design.
Established in the early 1970, NAC architecture has won more than 230 Design and industry awards all these years. Here are some of the successful and ingenious projects completed by the firm.
1. NAC Architecture Office
LOCATION: SPOKANE, WASHINGTON
This project is the expansion of NAC Architect’s own office space. The expansion space includes administrative, studio, and support space to accommodate the firm’s growth. One large multi-use room for professional functions including the addition of 35 new workstations. Designed as a modern urban-infill structure, the addition plays a significant role in the continuing revitalization of the downtown. The addition of another structure in the existing building consists of subtle elements such as horizontal lines, the same palette of colors and complementary building materials which unites the two separate structures coherently.
The building is certified with LEED silver, in which the expansion projects include many sustainable design elements such as daylight harvesting, solar controlled blinds, and high-efficiency HVAC ventilation system.
2. Academic Instructional Centre
LOCATION: WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY, BELLINGHAM, WASHINGTON.
The academic instructional centre in western Washington University is a 126000 square foot building with a total of 725 seats. This building won the 2009 civic Design Honour award, AIA Washington council. The core intent of the design is to accommodate the consolidation and growth of the communication sciences disorders and Psychological departments with an adequate amount of general classrooms needed.
Planned as two separate blocks, the building encloses a bridge as a pathway connecting them which makes the circulation of the users coherent. The western and eastern blocks are designed in such a way, that each supports aesthetically well by scaling in a delicate proportion. The orientation and location also play a major role. The bridge as a design element is efficacious
And serves its primary purpose of connecting the two wings and the auxiliary purpose as informal study spaces and collaboration spots. The design process of this academic centre is done by teaming up NAC Architecture and Opsis Architecture.
3. Marimn Health Centre | NAC Architecture
LOCATION: PLUMMER, IDAHO
Marimn health center is an authentic and unique example of a tribal-owned community health center in the state of Idaho, United States. The total area of the building is 50,000 square feet.
The building celebrates the relationship of the tribes with land by using the natural materials available from the local environment. The design of the roof garden present makes the space more comfortable for the user which also holds the purpose of future expansion. The central collaboration space called Rotunda helps to gather the tribes which makes them celebrate the culture and traditions. This building also has achieved LEED Silver.
4. Ferris High School
LOCATION: WASHINGTON
The restoration and modernization brought existing characteristics together with input from all kinds of users such as students, alumni, teachers as well as parents. The school has an open plan in which it is designed in a series of four teaching wings that radiate from a street-style corridor.
The scale of the building is broken from massive to smaller elements which makes the planning more open and feasible for educational building typology. For preserving huge existing pine trees in the site, the building is planned in such a way that the wings create an intermediate courtyard. This is a key factor that reinterprets the existing context of the campus. The building also provides natural light and ventilation abundantly to all the classrooms.
5. Park Orchid Elementary School | NAC Architecture
LOCATION: MOSES LAKE SCHOOL DISTRICT, MOSES LAKE, WASHINGTON
This school located in the City of Moses Lake is adjacent to the public park comprising an area of 10.6 acres on the whole. The total built-up area of the school is 46,851 square feet. This site is designed for two different organizations that complement each other effortlessly to maintain economical concerns.
Visuals of the buildings are taken from the environmental rocky basalt hues and shades which blend very well along with the site and surroundings. These factors are reflected in elements such as roof form, patterns in flooring, concrete wall seating, and interior-exterior color and material compositions.
6. Rainforest Arts Centre
LOCATION: FORKS, WASHINGTON.
The Rainforest arts center is located in a small rural town in western Washington. The facility replaces a historic building that got burned down in the past. Even though the size of the project is small, the community impact it creates is a huge success. The firm engaged the community to get involved throughout the design and construction process which ended in a good design solution providing a civic building with a strong connection to culture and tradition of the town.
The North-west themed mural wall in the lobby is designed by local high school students by using square-shaped log woods and also, the students in the architecture department from the University of Washington designed and built the acoustic panels as part of their fabrication project. A mill located in the same locality donated a huge window seat made by a curved wooden beam.
7. Osborne Centre For Science And Engineering
LOCATION: UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, COLORADO.
This center located in the University of Colorado is an epitome of a collaborative, flexible, and interdisciplinary environment dedicated to sustainable design and advancement. The building consists of various departments such as biology, bioenergetics, physics, aerospace engineering, mechanical, and also the institute for space science.
The sustainability guidelines are followed throughout the building and shaped well. The project built features to reduce energy consumption and the annual maintenance operational costs. Thick insulation of wall and roof systems, a thin 16.2 kW film of a photovoltaic system on the roof, sunscreen to reduce sunlight and heat gain, high-performance glasses used are some of the characteristic elements which make the building consume less energy and makes it more sustainable.
The floor plate itself maximizes the amount of interior daylighting; individual elevations of the building are studied for function, context, and also solar orientation. This building achieved a LEED gold level and also has received three honourable awards to date.
8. Animal Disease Biotechnology Facility | NAC Architecture
LOCATION: PULLMAN, WASHINGTON
This facility was designed for research purposes to investigate disease mechanisms at the cellular and molecular levels by the college of Veterinary Medicine and USDA scientists.
The existing Bustad hall research facility and veterinary teaching hospital completed in 1996 is very much integrated into a total area of 86000 square feet. The research center includes fifty labs and support spaces, including a vivarium with twenty animal rooms, a technology transfer unit, environmentally controlled rooms, chemical, and radiation waste handling spaces and over 80 offices and supportive administrative spaces.
9. Martin Woldson Theatre
LOCATION: SPOKANE, WASHINGTON
The Martin Woldson theatre is in the fox theatre, Washington. The theatre itself is an art deco treasure built-in 1930. This theatre is one of the largest five restored theatres in the United States. It’s also registered in the national register of historic places. The martin Woldson Theatre is one best example of the revival of the past in the present until the future.
10. Lewis And Clark High School | NAC Architecture
LOCATION: SPOKANE, WASHINGTON
The high school which has an area of 316,000 square feet built in 1912 had undergone a whole modernization and restoration of the main building done by NAC architecture after 80 years from its original construction period. The restoration process includes repair of the exterior brick, terracotta façade, and also the wooden sash windows. An addition of 12 classrooms to the main building blends seamlessly with the existing architecture gracefully.
11. Fulginiti Pavilion for Ethics and Humanity
LOCATION: UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO ANSCHUTZ MEDICAL CAMPUS, AURORA, COLORADO
Fulginiti Pavilion is located on the Anschutz medical campus. This center for humanities and bioethics serves a space for learning, teaching, and debating ethics in medical education. The new building design principle personifies that ethics should be accessible and open to all. It is designed as a flare in the darkness, which acts as a point of focus for gathering and communal activity center to the five schools of health and sciences.
The pavilion includes spaces like lobby, seats for 142 people, conference rooms, gallery, and faculty office and support spaces. The reception and lobby area is a two-story space that has a glazed perimeter with a maple ceiling. A flexible art gallery space with a library and a conference room are some of the additional spaces.
12. Kenneth King Performing Arts Centre
LOCATION: AURARIA HIGHER EDUCATION CENTER, DENVER, COLORADO
The Kenneth king center binds three educational institutes together to learn and cherish the performing arts. The total area of the building comprises an area of 185000 square feet. The building accommodates classrooms, faculty rooms, seven performing venues, and support spaces. An informal indoor street serving various needs replaces the usual formal lobby. Each institute holds one dedicated production studio with its auxiliary spaces. The backstage areas are designed in a transparent way that illuminates the process behind each performance.
13. Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering | NAC Architecture
LOCATION: UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA, TUCSON, ARIZONA
Focusing on the traditional Tucson courtyard of the University of Arizona as a focal point, the building of this department is arranged in a way that respects the existing buildings present. This is achieved by designing the department building which is in sync with the scale and proportion to the rest. The style of the building is more contemporary and industrial as it has an open-planning with modern materials and building systems. The building celebrates the elements in aerodynamics which reflect in the design of the building.
14. Rockwood South Hill Tower
LOCATION: SPOKANE, WASHINGTON
This project is a major addition and renovation project for the Rockwood retirement community located in Spokane. The new tower is built in the campus’ natural setting with views of a restored wetland area and 360-degree views of the surrounding landmarks of Spokane County including the city itself. The tower which is thirteen stories high, has sixty-four independent units as well. The special features include a modern cultural center with ballrooms, a penthouse sky bar, a workshop for the arts and crafts, a library, and theatre.
15. Riverfront Park Pavilion | NAC Architecture
LOCATION: SPOKANE, WASHINGTON
For over 40 years, NAC and Garco construction partnered with Spokane Parks and Recreation to re-imagine and rebuild an iconic feature of the city’s skyline; then Riverfront park pavilion.
The structure is planned to be a multifunctional space and an extension of the park, acting as a location for activities and as a passive leisure area for park guests. To achieve this dual function and improve the pavilion’s iconic image, the final design approach for the project consisted of ideologies not only for the views but also for the experience.
The pavilion now acts as a spot for residents to meet. The redesigned outdoor venue allows the community to connect each other and to the river which has been a vital source for generations in this region.
