For a small firm like Nathan Good Architects, being featured in a nationally-released book on environmentally-sensitive design is a “big deal.”

Nathan Good has six employees at its main office in Salem and only one in its Portland branch. Meghan Laro, business operations manager, said the firm was thrilled that it had four homes featured in a new book by E. Ashley Rooney, “LEEDing the Way: Domestic Architecture for the Future.”

The book features 53 homes with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design ratings from the U.S. Green Building Council, Laro said. Nathan Good is the only Northwest firm touted in the book, she added.

“It is a big deal to us,” she said, “not only that we are prominently featured in a wonderful new book, but that we are one of the few firms that is aggressively pursuing LEED certification for residential.”

Nathan Good, founded in 2005, performs commercial work, Laro said; however, 90 percent of its business is residential.

All four Nathan Good homes in the book are in Oregon, but the LEED platinum Skyline Residence is the only one in Portland. The others are the Cannon Beach Residence, the Vineyard Residence in Yamhill County and the Oregon Gold Residence in Neskowin.

The south-facing Skyline house in Portland’s West Hills features clerestory windows below the roofline, Laro said. The design meets the client’s goals for an abundance of natural light, views to the south, use of natural materials and “uncompromised indoor air quality,” according to .

“It uses solar panels and is (net) zero energy,” Laro said.

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Two Portland architects and a Portland State University architecture professor have been named 2015 Fellows of the American Institute of Architects.

Nathan Good, founder of Nathan Good Architects; John Weekes, principal at Dull Olson Weekes-IBI Group Architects; and PSU professor Barbara Sestak are among 147 AIA members from across the country selected this year by the Jury of Fellows. Good, Weekes, Sestak and other honorees will be recognized at this year’s AIA national convention, May 14-16 in Atlanta.

The AIA developed the fellowship program to recognize architects who have made significant contributions to architecture and society, and achieved a standard of excellence in the profession.

Good in 2005 founded Nathan Good Architects, which has received numerous design awards from the AIA and other organizations. The mostly residential firm has offices in Portland and Salem.

Good’s design work emphasizes balancing environmental performance with aesthetics. This includes efforts to reduce projects’ environmental impact through thoughtful site planning, reduction of energy consumption and careful selection of building materials.

Weekes is a founding principal of Portland-based Dull Olson Weekes Architects, which was acquired by IBI Group, a Canadian firm, in 2011. He specializes in educational design, and has contributed to projects such as Sandy High School, Parkrose Middle School, Canby Applied Technology Center, Gladstone High School and Gladstone Center for Children and Families.

Outside of Oregon, Weekes has served as an adviser for the New York City Department of Education’s School of One project, an educational model that customizes instruction based on each student’s needs.

Weekes has served on the AIA’s Committee on Architecture for Education. He is involved with the Council of Educational Facilities Planners International, the U.S. Green Building Council and the U.S. Coalition for Green Schools.

Sestak worked in architecture offices in Seattle and Portland before joining the PSU faculty in 1982. She teaches design studio, structures, building technology, environmental design and leadership courses.

At PSU, Sestak has served as dean of the College of Arts, associate vice provost for sponsored research and chairwoman of the architecture and art departments. While dean of the College of Arts, she oversaw remodels to Shattuck and Lincoln halls as well as creation of the master of architecture degree program and Center for Public Interest Design.

Sestak is a former president of the AIA Portland chapter. She also served for 12 years on the Oregon Board of Architect Examiners and has been involved with the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards.

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The International Interior Design Association’s Oregon chapter on Thursday announced the winners of the 2014 Design Excellence Awards during a dinner at McMenamins’ Crystal Ballroom in Portland.

Among firms that took top honors in the competition for Oregon and Southwest Washington architects and interior designers were ZGF Architects, Nathan Good Architects and Fieldwork Design & Architecture.

Portland-based ZGF Architects took home the Juror’s Choice Award and “best of” award in the health care category for the St. Charles Cancer Center in Bend.

The People’s Choice Award, decided through online voting, went to Portland-based Nathan Good Architects for a remodel and additions to Willamette Valley Vineyards in Turner.

Fieldwork Design & Architecture earned the GRAY’s Choice Award from media sponsor GRAY Magazine for the West Hills Residence, done for an anonymous client. Jurors also selected the same project for the “best of” award in the residential category.

The Portland-based firm also received an honorable mention in the conceptual category for a wood slat Nike brand wall.

In the corporate category, honorable mention awards went to Portland-based Yost Grube Hall Architecture for a Dow Chemical Company project and ZGF Architects for the Portland office building Block 300.

Portland-based Opsis Architecture earned the “best of” award for in the education category for the Reed College Performing Arts Building in Southeast Portland. An honorable mention in same category was awarded to Portland-based SRG Partnership for Portland Community College’s Southeast Campus library.

The “best of” award in the hospitality, restaurant and retail category went to Portland-based Fig Studio Architecture + Interiors for the Commissary Café in Northwest Portland. Portland-based Hennebery Eddy Architects earned an honorable mention for a confidential corporate client remodel project.

Portland-based Scott | Edwards Architecture earned the Against All Odds Award for the Dougy Center in Southeast Portland. The center, which serves children and teens who are grieving a death, was also a close second in the People’s Choice Award competition. After People’s Choice Award winner Nathan Good Architects accepted the honor on Thursday, the firm and Willamette Valley Vineyards announced plans to each donate $1,000 to the nonprofit organization.

A three-member jury of design professionals from outside the Northwest judged the competition. The jurors were Neil Schneider, a senior designer at IA Interior Architects’ Chicago office; Natalie Engels, design director of Silicon Valley office for San Francisco-based design and architecture firm Gensler; and Joey Shimoda, chief creative officer of Los Angeles-based Shimoda Design Group.

Judging criteria included project challenge, originality of the design solution, and the successful integration of planning, interior forms, finishes and furnishings.

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When Interstate 84 was built, the road cut off The Dalles‘ downtown from its riverfront. The city for several years has had a high priority to reconnect its parts, and one of the projects is to create a three-acre park on a vacant lot. The Lewis and Clark Park and Festival Grounds will connect to a highway undercrossing.

“It really is one of the key elements in this strong desire to connect with the waterfront that the city has,” said project manager and KPFF principal Curt Vanderzanden. are managing the project.

The park includes paths and landscaping that will suit festivals and vendors, Vanderzanden said. A large lawn will add to the event space.

The one structure on the site is a combination building that will serve as a band shell, and provide restrooms, a picnic shelter and space for concessions. The building is designed by .

“It’s pretty much the portal for the park,” Good said. He added that the team decided to combine its building needs into one structure so that more green space would be left and materials would be used more efficiently.

Good said the building is “iconic.” He created a unique, foil design to route wind up and over the building.

“Winds are constantly blowing from west to east,” Good said. “It creates a nice wind shadow where the band shell and picnic shelters are.”

He hopes that the shape of the building also will help to shield the park from freeway noise nearby. He said the attractiveness of the park area and building may catch the eyes of drivers passing by.

“Hopefully they’ll be drawn to go downtown and explore The Dalles,” Good said. “The city’s architecture is rich; it’s an overlooked community.”

The park will include landscape elements to shield it both from the freeway and an adjacent railway; fast-growing elm trees and native plants will provide shade, a noise buffer and water management. Landscape architect and Greenworks principal Mike Faha contributed to this landscape design.

Other design team members include: Shannon & Wilson, geotechnical engineering; Reyes Engineering Inc., electrical design; Kittelson & Associates, lighting design; White Shield Inc., surveying; and Biella Lighting Design, lighting consultation. 

“On the Boards” is a weekly feature that spotlights local firms’ best design work. Submissions from architectural and engineering firms are encouraged. Please email ontheboards@djcorprod.wpengine.com or call 503-802-7240.

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The firm has moved from Salem to Portland this month, director Nathan Good said.

“Ever since I started the firm in 2005, most of our work has been in Portland, Central Oregon, the Coast or out of state,” Good said. “Very little has been in Salem.”

The firm’s four full-time employees and one part-time employee have started to work out of the firm’s new office at Union Station in Portland. Salem-based members of the firm were given Amtrak passes, and Good said the location makes the commute easy.

Good plans to grow his firm to seven people in the next year, and the potential for finding talent in Portland to fill those positions was a major factor in the move, he said.

“We actually found our rent to be less expensive in Portland, and we have more square footage,” Good said.

Nathan Good Architects is a residential and commercial firm specializing in sustainable design. Good is the founder and former director of Green Building Services.

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