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Overview

TRA had its beginning in the early 1900s in Seattle. The Firm evolved over the 20th century becoming the largest, most accomplished, multidiscipline environmental design organization in the Pacific Northwest.

TRA, operating as a partnership, offered professional design services in architecture, engineering, planning, interiors, graphics and landscape architecture and also performed a wide variety of special investigations and studies. With its headquarters in Seattle and a staff averaging 100 to 200 professionals, it had at times branch offices in Denver, Las Vegas, Boston and Anchorage.

The Firm’s projects and studies were accomplished throughout the United States as well as internationally in such locations as Guam, The Philippines, Micronesia, Samoa, Mexico, Peru, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Qatar, Dubai and Al Ain. This geographic diversity was matched by the broad range of size of projects from modest to extremely large and complex. Whereas the Firm maintained a high level of quality at all scales it was also widely recognized for its unusual ability to deftly and effectively design large and complex architectural and urban design projects.

Since its inception the Firm operated as a multidiscipline organization believing that this was the best format with which to provide professional service and to achieve superior design. This type of organization allowed complete and balanced teams to be formulated to serve the specific needs of each project with the added advantage of individuals from various disciplines within the Firm repeatedly working together with the resulting increase in professional rapport. Of equal importance was the Firm’s belief that outstanding design is achieved through teamwork - with strong leadership, shared values and individual team members who have the initiative and authority to make effective decisions at a variety of levels. By developing a general practice of sufficient size and diversity of expertise the Firm was able to effectively design a very wide range of project types and perform a significant variety of studies as follows:

• Transportation - Airports, Airlines, Transit Systems, Parking
• Housing - Institutional, Public, Private
• Education - K through 12, Higher Education
• Healthcare - Hospitals, Clinics, Research Facilities
• Offices - Corporate, Institutional, Governmental, Private
• Hospitality - Hotels, Convention Centers, Food Service
• Science - Laboratories
• Sports and Recreation - Parks, Aquatics, Zoological, Youth Camps
• Criminal Justice - Justice Centers, Courts, Correction Facilities
• Financial - Central and Branch Banks
• Religion - Churches, Camps
• Military - Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps Facilities
• Industrial - Processing, Maintenance
• Exhibitions - Cultural, Educational
• Restoration and Renovation
• Planning and Urban Design - Regional, City, Business Districts, University / College, Historic Districts, Parks and Recreation

As well as being team members in the above categories the Firm’s Engineering, Planning, Interiors, Graphics and Landscape Architecture groups served their own prime clients on numerous assignments. In addition, The Firm offered its services through specialized subsidiaries including TRA International, TRA Farr and Engineering Consultants Incorporated.

Firm Mission

The Firm’s longstanding overall goal was to positively affect the widest spectrum of society through the creation of outstanding, high quality design. In order to achieve this the Firm deliberately developed sufficient size and breadth of expertise so that it could pursue the greatest possible variety of projects, sizes and locations. A primary objective of the Firm was to create designs that were both progressive and enduring. To accomplish this it established a design approach that consisted of adherence to a set of basic design principles applied to all projects. Representative of these principles are ones such as clarity of concept, completeness of resolution, honesty of expression and materials, functional effectiveness, technical excellence, thorough integration of systems, physical longevity, appropriateness to specific conditions, enduring visual quality and avoidance of current fashion. Through the use of both innovative and proven problem solving techniques the process sought to recognize the relevant physical, social, economic and legal factor inherent in each design situation and to analyze and integrate these considerations into the design solution.

Since the Firm’s practice was geographically wide ranging, it placed special emphasis on the cultural and physical conditions inherent in each location. This involved the quest to discover and interpret the relevant, unique and special characteristics of each particular venue and to allow these factors to have a major influence on the design solution. The Firm consciously avoided developing a particular style since doing so would be both unduly constraining and inappropriate for such a wide variety of project types and locations. However the Firm’s work has a basic consistency and recognizable design expression as a result of the adherence to the above noted basic design principles. The design quality of the Firm’s work is evidenced by its having received over 130 design awards from a wide variety of organization at the international, national, regional , state and local levels. The Firm’s accomplishments have been published in a multitude of articles in over 80 different periodicals and books.

Representative Projects

TRA has completed a great number of projects, studies and reports. The following is not a complete listing but rather is representative of the Firm’s efforts, listed chronologically, from the early 1950’s to the mid 1990’s.

• Snohomish County Public Utility District No. 1 Headquarters; Everett, Washington 1995
• Health Sciences GHI Wings Expansion University of Washington; Seattle, Washington 1994 *
• Denver International Airport; Denver, Colorado 1994
• Tacoma Federal Courthouse and Union Station Restoration; Tacoma, Washington 1990-92 **
• Landing Craft Air Cushion Vehicle Complex; Camp Pendleton, California 1987-91 *
• King County Aquatics Center; Federal Way, Washington 1990 **
• Al Salam Aircraft Maintenance Base; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 1990
• Metro Downtown Seattle Transit Project; Seattle, Washington 1990 **
• Central Waterfront Development Plan; Seattle, Washington 1990
• Albuquerque International Airport; Albuquerque, New Mexico 1989 *
• Seattle Center Master Plan; Seattle, Washington 1989
• Washington State Convention and Trade Center; Seattle, Washington 1988 **
• Son of Heaven- Imperial Arts of China Exhibit; Seattle, Washington 1988
• Al Sudairi Housing Compound; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 1987
• McCarran International Airport; Las Vegas, Nevada 1985 **
• Washington Federal Savings and Loan Headquarters; Seattle, Washington 1985 **
• Nine Regional Parks- Chelan County; Chelan County, Washington 1975-85 **
• Clallam Bay Corrections Center; Clallam Bay, Washington 1985
• Kotzebue Technical School; Kotzebue, Alaska 1984 (TRA FARR)
• Dillingham Elementary School; Dillingham, Alaska 1984 (TRA FARR)
• Sheraton Tacoma Hotel; Tacoma, Washington 1983 **
• Twin Rivers Corrections Center; Monroe, Washington 1983 *
• Farmers New World Life Insurance Company Headquarters; Mercer Island, Washington 1982 *
• Wegner Hall- Washington State University; Pullman, Washington 1982 *
• Biological Science Facility- University of Washington; Seattle, Washington 1982 **
• One Union Square Office Building; Seattle, Washington 1982 *
• Downtown Historic District Development Plan; Juneau, Alaska 1981 * (TRA with Victor Steinbrueck)
• Weyerhaeuser Corporate Aircraft Hangar; Seattle Tacoma International Airport 1980
• Seattle Tacoma International Airport; Seattle, Washington 1959-80 **
• Metro Transit Passenger Shelter System; Seattle, Washington 1975-80 **
• Sealaska Headquarters Building; Juneau, Alaska 1978
• Brigade Headquarters and Enlisted Men's Barracks; Fort Lewis, Washington 1978
• King Tutankhamun Exhibit; Seattle, Washington 1978
• Lake Chelan Recreation Study; Lake Chelan, Washington 1977
• Bothell Way Highway Design Study; Bothell, Washington 1976
• Northwest Trek Wilderness Park and Wildlife Preserve; Eatonville, Washington 1976 **
• Department of Public Assistance Office Building; Olympia, Washington 1975 **
• Master Plan for the Mexico City International Airport; Mexico City, Mexico 1973
• Rocky Reach/Rock Island Resevoir Recreation Plan; Chelan County, Washington 1973
• Master Plan for Columbia River at the Mouth; Washington/Oregon 1972 **
• Hastings College Master Plan; Hasting, Nebraska 1972
• Group Health Hospital; Seattle, Washington 1960-71
• Aerospace Research Laboratory- University of Washington; Seattle, Washington 1970 **
• Department of Highways Office Building; Olympia, Washington 1969 **
• Master Plan for Guam International Airport; Guam 1968
• The Tenth Church of Christ Scientist; Burien, Washington 1965 *
• McCarty Women's Residence Hall- University of Washington; Seattle, Washington 1960-62
• Unity Church of Truth; Seattle, Washington 1958 **
• Men's Residence Halls- University of Washington; Seattle, Washington 1952-57 **
• Children's Orthopedic Hospital; Seattle, Washington 1952 **
• Seattle's Parks Department Headquarters; Seattle, Washington 1952**
• Gaffney's Lake Wilderness Lodge; King County, Washington 1950

References

Sourcebook for Interior Design - December 1971, Editor Rex Goode

Pacific Coast Architects Database - digital.lib.washington.edu/architect/