Interconnected Islands: Design Influence in Southeast

A Sense of Community

Self-sufficient as Southeast communities can be, they are also interconnected, in the view of Sean M. Boily, another principal at NorthWind Architects.

“Southeast Alaska is a bunch of small, connected communities that rely on each other in more ways than most folks recognize on a day-to-day basis,” Boily says. “When we do a project in Kake, for example, it affects a tribal community with family members all over the region. That continuity is refreshing; in such a small region with a small population, they hold you accountable for doing a quality job.”

NorthWind Architects provides architecture, planning, project coordination, and construction administration for projects throughout Alaska and Oregon. As a “living part” of the communities in which it works, the company’s mission is to serve the public’s best interest.

“This is a really unique region, and there aren’t too many architects practicing here, so we’ve been working consistently with some of the same clients and consultants for twenty or thirty years,” adds Bibb. “It’s a really close community, so you hear pretty quickly if a company isn’t performing; it gets around fast. You don’t have to follow up and interview clients about your performance; you’ll hear it through a third party.”

Tim Whiteley, who founded Welsh Whiteley Architects (WWA) in Ketchikan in 2002 with firm partner and wife Amanda Welsh, says he was surprised to find how many repeat clients a successful Southeast firm could have. WWA works on public and commercial projects ranging from multi-family housing to commercial, public offices, healthcare, transportation, public safety, community service/nonprofit, and education facilities.

“In college, you hear about how architects may do one building and then aren’t needed by that client for another twenty years,” he explains. “We’ve done several buildings for local clients like First Bank, and some of our clients need something once a year, or every other year. They like to work with people they trust, and [they] understand what we can bring to their project.”

WWA especially likes working on public projects and has been involved in the design of the Ketchikan Public Library, Ketchikan Fire Station, and UAS remodel in collaboration with Bettisworth North.

“That was fun because it enabled us to do some larger projects and to learn a lot about how other architects do things,” says Whiteley. “But some of our more rewarding projects are the modest ones. We’ve done a few playgrounds for elementary schools here that were forty-plus years old and hazardous. Those were great because kids got to look at our designs and give their input, and it was fun to see their perspective.”

Housing is particularly important to Southeast communities. WWA has worked on Opportunity House for the nonprofit Community Connections, a one-story, fully accessible building with apartments for those who are developmentally disabled and cannot live alone.

MRV Architects has been involved in designing homes in Juneau, Ketchikan, and Bethel, including permanent supportive housing for folks experiencing homelessness. One of its larger projects was the Cordova Center, which brought an entire community together.

“That project was one of my personal favorites,” says Jones. “There was some funding in place from the Exxon Valdez [oil] spill. Though it started small as a plan for a science center, the library and the rest of the community got involved. To meet their needs, we decided to use that money under one roof.”

The result was a truly multipurpose building. “We were able to design municipal offices, a library, museum, events center, and theater all in one place and also make it culturally reflective of the town by including a lot of copper and maritime/nautical elements,” Jones says. “It’s the story of a small community doing something impressively large with a once-in-a-lifetime pot of money.”

As part of its goal to serve the public’s interest, NorthWind Architects takes part in healthcare projects as well as community-based projects like the Mendenhall Valley branch of the Juneau Public Library and the Auke Bay Integrated Science Building for UAS.

“I really relished working on the library because, as a civic project, it has such a role in the community,” says Bibb. “While some people may question the value of a public library as its role has changed so much over the years, it gave us the chance to educate people on the greater purpose of this community space and to convince the municipality, who have a responsibility to be prudent and make the lowest-cost decision, to put more design effort into it. It was wonderful to see the public react once it was done.”

Principal Architect and Partner Dave Hurley has taken a lead role in healthcare design at NorthWind Architects, including working on the Aurora Behavioral Health Center for Bartlett Regional Hospital. The company also does work for Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium, JAMHI Health and Wellness, and Gastineau Human Services, among others.

“There is a mental health crisis in this country that is bad, if not worse, in Alaska and Southeast Alaska, and I take that very seriously,” says Hurley. “It is an honor to be awarded projects that serve such a huge public need.”

Building in Southeast

Buildings in Southeast must withstand the coastal climate, which includes wind, rain, snow, and fluctuating temperatures that can be extremely harsh on the built environment. But designing in Southeast also has its advantages, including the inspiration that architects find when living in such a spectacular setting.

“Since I was born and raised in Juneau, I have a really unique connection to it,” says Bibb. “It’s a place of change, heavily influenced by the natural environment, and there’s a good relationship between nature and the built community.”

Bibb perceives a strong connection to place in Southeast. “We don’t design or build anything that doesn’t respond to the environment,” he adds. “We are not only influenced by the uniqueness of the weather, the harsh climate, and darkness but we’re also influenced by the culture around this small coastal village and the indigenous development of thousands of years of placemaking.”

“Part of our approach to architecture is rooted in the notion of critical regionalism; when you design, you do so in a way that is reflective of and respectful to the specific region that you’re working in,” adds Hurley. “It’s not just the geography and climate and flora and fauna, but also the people and culture. We absolutely couldn’t do what we do anywhere else in the world.”

Designing for a coastal Alaska climate requires making sure that buildings can withstand the weather and will be sustainable in years to come. This means paying attention to the building envelope and ensuring that facilities are sustainable in terms of maintenance and energy consumption for the long term.

“The climate really takes a toll on a building’s infrastructure; it beats the crap out of it between freezing and thawing, constant rain, deicing salt, and the maritime environment,” says Hurley. “While the maintenance aspect of a building may not be considered glamorous work, along with energy efficiency, it plays a critical role that is very much in the public interest.”

The climate is even different from one coastal city to another. “Our climate here in Ketchikan is a lot warmer than Juneau’s,” says Whiteley. “Heat pumps work really well here, though it’s more of a challenge as you go further north. Electricity is fairly inexpensive here because it’s all hydro, so it makes more sense to use. We also take advantage of windows to provide views and natural light because it doesn’t get nearly as dark as Anchorage in the winter.”

MRV Architects is strongly committed to sustainable design principles and not only designs structures to work for occupants but that work for the environment as well.

“We try to be at the leading edge of sustainability and have a number of LEED [Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design] projects in Southeast Alaska that range from gold to silver to certified,” says Jones. “We’re taking part in the AIA [American Institute of Architects] 2030 challenge, striving for carbon neutral buildings in the state by 2030. While some clients love it, some don’t because it can add costs. But we are committed to being sustainable and have made a firmwide pledge to meet that challenge.”

Where the Past Meets the Future

Architects can’t work in Southeast without being aware of the huge historical and cultural significance of the land and its people, especially the Indigenous population.

“So much of the vision for Southeast has focused on mining and fishing history, but what is really wonderful to see and to be a part of is the reemergence of the traditions of the Indigenous people here,” says Boily. “Part of the area’s architecture comes from a sense of community embedded in the Tlingit and Haida culture of the Southeast region, and that affects contemporary architecture as a design element.”

“It is our privilege to work on the traditional lands of the Tlingit and Haida, and we have a huge responsibility to respect that,” adds Hurley. “We’re guests, and we’re lucky to get to practice here.”

Welsh and Whiteley previously worked at the Alaska Regional Office of the National Park Service, producing documentation for historic buildings and assisting with reports on historic structures. They have also been involved with projects requiring field surveys of historic areas and written building descriptions and recommendations for determining National Register eligibility.

“We both have minors in historic preservation, and we really like old buildings,” says Whiteley. “We’ve worked on Portland House in Skagway, which was an old boarding house and commercial building built in 1898 or so, and that was fascinating.”

The next project for WWA is a small cruise port scheduled to open next year. “I’m currently working on an old cannery complex in Kake, which is a giant building that hasn’t been used in years,” Whiteley says. “We had to get the whole building sprinklered and add a fire system, and while that may seem unglamorous, it required architects that understood historic preservation and modern codes. It’s fun when two disciplines overlap.”

MRV Architects has been working with Indigenous people since its founder, Linn Forrest, came to Alaska to work with the Civilian Conservation Corps in the ‘30s to restore tribal houses, including Chief Shakes House in Wrangell and Totem Bight State Historical Park in Ketchikan. The company’s more recent projects have included the Walter Soboleff Center and the Sealaska Heritage Institute arts campus in Juneau. The company is currently working on the Angoon Visitor Center and Indigenous education centers for the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska.

While every firm has a few favorite projects, what matters most to architects in Southeast is designing buildings that make their clients and communities proud.

“My favorite projects are those where we have good connections with our clients and have empathy for where they’re coming from and where they want to go,” says Boily. “Having a strong community identity and being part of the community outside of architecture is part of the fun of living here and being part of this place. While there are great opportunities in big cities, there’s more reward here in our smaller towns.”