SMAC-YA brings youth from community colleges together for an up-close look at a career in sheet metal.
By / Jessica Kirby • Photos courtesy of SMACNA-Western Washington
SMACNA-Western Washington is a leader in opening up opportunities for students to see firsthand just what a career in sheet metal entails. Networking, education, and recruitment activities geared to young people are the business of SMAC-YA, SMACNA-WW’s Young Leaders Association, which focuses on drawing young members to the association and industry.
The SMAC-YA group, comprised of people looking to draw youth together and into the sheet metal industry, arranged a Site and Hop Tour in November for students attending community colleges and universities int he Seattle area.
“The event was open to college students interested in a fast-paced, innovative, and challenging career in commercial construction,” says Patricia Bovie, administrative services co-ordinator for SMACNA-Western Washington. “We asked several community colleges to invite their students to join us for a site tour of the new Rainier Tower Building in Downtown Seattle by MacDonald-Miller Facility Solutions and a McKinstry Shop Tour. Afterwards, we provided chance to network with young professionals at a Happy Hour hosted at Bowlero S. Seattle.”
Fifteen students from Edmonds Community College, Renton Technical College, Seattle University, and University of Washington participated in the event, designed to demonstrate what a career in sheet metal looks like on the site and in the shop.
The first stop on the tour was Rainier Square Tower, an active jobsite provided by MacDonald Miller Facility Solutions in downtown Seattle. Students arrived by shuttle bus and met tour guides, who took the participants in the manlift up to the 40th floor of the tower.
The lift scaled the outside of the building, providing stunning views of downtown Seattle during the ascent. The top floors (58) were not accessible yet for the tour, but when Rainier Tower completes it will be the second tallest building in Seattle. It will include office space and 181 residential units, a 12-story boutique hotel with 220 rooms, and 71,000 square feet of retail, as well as below-grade parking for 879 vehicles.
According to the project’s architecture firm, NBBJ, the 1.15-million-square-foot development aims to be an urban catalyst that attracts top-tier businesses and new residents and visitors to the center of downtown, reinvigorating the pedestrian realm and bringing long-term value to the surrounding blocks.
“During the tour, guides explained how the revolutionary core is constructed using steel frame around a concrete core,” says Bovie. “This was especially useful to the students interested in the modern engineering of the tower.”
After touring the top levels, students took the lift back down to the ground level where guides explained more of the mixed-use retail space on the bottom floor. PCC Community Markets grocery store will be added on the bottom level. This is the first fully scaled grocery store to be accessible in the heart of downtown—exceptions being Target and small independent grocers.
According to an article in the Seattle Times by Benjamin Romano, the floors above PCC will provide office space for more than 3,500 employees of Amazon, which claimed all 722,000 square feet of office space in the project. “This was one of Seattle’s largest leased deals, announced last fall,” the article says. “Above them, 188 high-end apartments are planned, part of more than 6,700 residential units under construction in the city’s downtown.”
The second stop on the tour was McKinstry’s office and shop. Here, students were shuttled to McKinstry offices to break for lunch. During lunch they received an educational presentation about McKinstry’s fabrication shop and the tools and technologies that generate 3D models of fabrication pieces before production.
“After lunch, students received a full tour of the fabrication shop,” Bovie says. “They were able to ask lots of questions and see the different types of sheet metal use throughout the shop.”
Students also received a tour of the offices: this included a gym with a basketball court, open office desk space, and fully functional cafeteria where employees can order meals.
The last stop was Bowlero South Seattle where a bowling Happy Hour was held with SMACNA members for networking. Students were able to capitalize on the networking opportunities with different companies that attended the bowling happy hour and exchange contact info.
Moni Mungin, student at Edmonds Community College, says she enjoyed the tour and felt grateful to see the operations first hand.
“It was great talking to fellow students and speakers,” she says. “I was excited to see Lean Thinking in practice through the Last Planner Method, and it confirmed for me that it’s worthwhile to keep studying that system. I learned that a lot of people (including women) come to the field with non-construction backgrounds, and it gave me some encouragement.”
Rainier Tower – NBBJ
Rainier Square is inspired by and respectful of the adjacent Rainier Tower, whose iconic tapered form — designed, along with the nearby IBM Building, by noted midcentury architect Minoru Yamasaki — has become a Seattle landmark. The new building steps back to preserve views to and from Rainier Tower, and its curved elevations reflect both its architectural forebears and the glacier-carved topography of Seattle itself.
Metal “prism” panels are designed to respond to the city’s varying requirements for facade density. Adding or subtracting panels as necessary, and rotating them 180 degrees, creates variation in the facade, which further alters throughout the day based on the position of the sun.
Through this integrated, holistic building systems approach, Rainier Square is targeting a performance level at least 7.5% above the requirements of the Seattle Energy Code, already one of the country’s most stringent.
Learn more about Macdonald-Miller Facility Solutions at https://macmiller.com and McKinstry at www.mckinstry.com. ▪
