WRK provides structural engineering design and consulting services to education clients through new building design and renovation of existing facilities. WRK provides cost-effective structural system solutions through the creative adaptation of structural building materials to suit each projects unique needs.
Ridgefield High School Addition
Ridgefield, Washington
Provided structural design for a new 54,000 sq. ft. high school addition. The project included a new 12,400 sq. ft. classroom building, a 41,000 sq. ft. gymnasium & two-story multi-purpose/performing arts space and extensive softball and football stadium improvements. The performing arts space included multi-level catwalks and a fly loft for theater production. The project structural systems included extensive use of structural steel, CMU, concrete, wood and light-gauge metal framing. The project also include renovation of the existing cafeteria space which resulted in targeted seismic strengthening of the existing building.
Clark County Skills Center School of Cosmetology Building 500
Vancouver, Washington
Provided structural design for this new 15,000 sq. ft. cosmetology educational building on the Clark County Skills Center campus. The building program consists of classrooms, computer laboratories, and cosmetology stations. The building structure consists of conventional wood frame construction with a mixture of structural steel and heavy timber elements to achieve “floating canopies” and a clear story space to maximize building daylighting.
Clark County Skill Center Building 600
Vancouver, Washington
Provided structural design for this new 8,000 sq. ft. aviation technology educational facility. The building includes a large open airplane hangar space for aircraft maintenance education. In addition, a large clearstory provides daylighting for the education work spaces. The building structure includes both CMU shear walls and structural steel braced frames to achieve the specialty spaces needed for the aviation technology program.
Clark College Early Learning Center
Vancouver, Washington
Provided structural engineering services for this 5,000 sq. ft. one-story early childhood education facility. The building provides classroom and multi-purpose spaces along with a kitchen, art room and children’s library. Project included extensive use of exposed heavy timber wood framing elements and reuse of on-site harvested timber for building columns.
DNR School Seismic Safety Assessment Project
Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has begun taking steps to assess the seismic safety of many of Washington’s K-12 schools. Washington has a high risk of damaging earthquakes which makes it essential to establish seismic safety of schools throughout the state, especially when considering a Cascadia subduction zone event aka “The Big One.” More than 72 percent of schools are located in a high to very high seismic hazard zone
DNR recently received funding to work with the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and we are part of a team of structural engineers to conduct seismic assessments at approximately 220 school buildings in the state. Conceptual seismic retrofit plans will be produced for 20 of the school buildings deemed most at risk. The project will also prioritize the remaining schools that are seismically deficient and help identify additional funding sources for seismic retrofit. WRK Engineers is assigned ~60 of these schools and 2 fire stations for the project. This effort is led by Reid Middleton, Inc and also supported by BergerAbam, DCI Engineers, Dykeman Architects, Rolluda Architects, and ProDims.
Brian Knight, SE presenting at ETS ’18
Our very own President and Founder, Brian Knight, is presenting this week at the Electrical Transmission & Substation Structures Conference in Atlanta, GA. He’ll be presenting a group paper on the Seismic Design of Substations – IEEE Std 693 Gets a Major Update. Brian was fortunate to be able to co-author this paper with three highly respected members of the engineering community. Eric Fujisaki, P.E., Leon Kempner Jr. PhD., P.E, and Craig Riker, P.E.
Brian received his Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Washington and a Master’s Degree in Structural Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His 20+ year professional career has focused on earthquake performance and resiliency of critical infrastructure, especially in the area of power and transmission infrastructure performance. Brian is a highly valued consultant providing his seismic expertise to Power Utilities, High-Voltage Equipment Manufacturers, EPC contractors. Brian’s experience includes seismic qualification of equipment, substation vulnerability assessment, seismic strengthening of buildings and power system seismic risk assessment, and the design of new substation structures and foundations. This unique cross section of experience gives him valuable insight into the holistic needs of every project he is engaged in. Brian’s professional commitment to advance the state-of-the-practice for earthquake engineering in the electric power industry is demonstrated by his involvement in numerous national committees including IEEE Std. 693 (Recommended Practice for Design of Substations), IEEE Std. 1527 (Design of Flexible Buswork Located in Seismically Active Areas) and ASCE 113 (Substation Structure Design Guide). Brian has served for the past 8 years as the Secretary for the IEEE Std. 693 Committee.
"It is good to have a resource with experience to help establish a proper and accurate analysis of the equipment so as to limit cost by getting the design right the first time… WRK is not simply asking us what we want them to do, but they are trying to understand what we want to do, and then use their experience to determine the best way to get there."
Wesley Wills, Southern States LLC.
"The benefit of working with WRK is that they are creative. I work with many engineers that are very conservative–they prefer to stick to standard details. WRK brings innovative solutions and enjoys the challenge of using new technologies that might be less costly and easier to construct. Brian was trained to be innovative, and his firm operates the same way."
Jeff McGraw, MWA Architects
"What separates WRK from other firms is a working, hands-on, experience based knowledge. They’re not just theory based. Everyone, including construction crews, is impressed with WRK’s response time. When we had a question or minor changes, they responded within hours. My experience with WRK has been nothing but good."
Casey Scoggins, Tennessee Valley Authority
"I trust WRK. It isn’t about being the biggest firm, it is about getting the work done correctly."
Matt Weisensee, PacifiCorp
"WRK consistently provides creative solutions for highly sensitive projects. Approaching each project as if it is unique is highly valuable."
Casey Wyckoff, LSW Architects
"The WRK team is easy to work with, knowledgeable, and they have the credentials. They are approachable, they listen, respond and do what they can to meet our needs without argument. Over many years their work has been consistent, always learning and adapting."
Leon Kempner, Bonneville Power Administration
"I value WRK’s nuts-and-bolts approach with their ability to communicate in the field and provide constructable solutions. Historic projects can be convoluted, which can cause structural engineers to jump through hoops. This can be difficult for many engineers, but not WRK. They are great at considering and explaining all of the options with the understanding that structural isn’t driving the design."
Eric Philps, SERA Architects