Foundation for Partnership

Sometimes you get lucky and have a legacy client who provides lots of interesting work to wrap your head around. Over the years, BDS has been honored to work with the University of Alaska Fairbanks to renew and expand their various campuses around the state.

Dan Seiser’s relationship with UAF began back in 1984 with the Reichardt Natural Sciences building, with state-of-the-art labs and lecture halls. When asked what the best part of working in higher education projects is Dan says it’s all about the end users; “working with a group of very talented inquisitive users and talented specialty consultants to plan new science teaching and research facilities is fascinating.?The users bring the perspective of their experience from learning and instructing and conducting research at Institutions around the US and sometimes in other countries.” These collaborations can lead to unique buildings, and when you throw in the fact that Fairbanks is climatically challenging, UAF campuses have some specialized buildings.

Dan also notes that UAF has “become much more sensitive that the quality and amenities provided in their facilities and on the campus matter for recruiting the best students and faculty to their unique and climatically challenging Far North locale. They recognize the need to differentiate themselves to sustain unique engaging programs (and related specialty facilities) in the humanities, high latitude studies and indigenous culture.”?

Victor Valenote has been working with Dan and the university as UAF continues to evolve as an institution. Victor notes they are an exceptional client because “UAF is very proactive in the design process, and they support innovative strategies for classroom/laboratory design learning principles that are backed by research. Academic institutions are always trying to keep up with the latest technologies, while remaining true to their mission”.

BDS has loved being a part of the UAF quest to bring state of the art higher education to Alaska, and we’re happy to continue helping UAF make it happen. There are some very exciting UAF projects on the boards in the BDS offices right now; we can’t wait to see what our partnership creates next!