The 7,300 bridges in Washington state are full of stories. Some are stories of history and culture, necessity and politics, or the challenges and marvels of civil engineering. Learning these stories connects communities more closely to their built environment and honors the design, engineering, and legacy of these significant spans.

 

For the 10th Annual Fall Forum, the Structural Engineers Foundation of Washington is honored to host Maureen Elenga, local historian, and John Stanton, PhD., a professor of civil engineering at the University of Washington, to present an educational evening showcasing bridges in Washington. Ms. Elenga will share the cultural, quirky, and even surprising histories of several local bridges, while Dr. Stanton will reveal engineering mysteries to bring them to life for the technical observer. The event will be of interest to designers, engineers, students – and anyone who travels over bridges.

Baptism by Fire: How a flurry of construction in the wake of Seattle’s 1889 conflagration left us with an architectural time capsule in Pioneer Square like no other.

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Architectural historian and author, Maureen Elenga gives a virtual tour of Seattle’s oldest neighborhood and explore how Seattle architects applied the familiar to emerging architectural trends in their break-neck-speed effort to build a city of strength and permanence on the cusp of a new century. The tour will look at eight buildings designed by seven architects (some in collaboration) that were constructed between 1889 and 1893, when the nation-wide financial panic brought construction to an end.