Wham BAM! The Bainbridge Art Museum Takes Shape

Inside Bainbridge
by Sarah Lane on June 5, 2011.
http://www.insidebainbridge.com/2011/06/05/wham-bam-the-bainbridge-art-museum-takes-shape

At the corner of 305 and Winslow Way, right next to KiDiMu, there is a large, brand new building and a large recently flattened area of dirt, subject of much Island speculation. Part of the building now houses Pretty Stick, the flagship store of a new nontoxic makeup company, and Avalara, a provider of web-hosted sales tax and use tax management services. Violet Restaurant (formerly Real Foods) will be opening in the facility soon. Another part of the building houses the start of the Bainbridge Art Museum, or BAM (as I have decided to call it). In the area of flattened dirt in front of it will soon rise the rest of the 20,000-square-foot museum.

Completed portion of the BAM facility

Although BAM is quite a ways from being completed–the earliest anticipated opening is late 2012–it already paints an impressive picture, and the description of what it is to become is quite ambitious. The brainchild of Cynthia Sears, who has been contemplating such a creation for a decade or more, BAM aims to house a permanent collection of works by contemporary regional artists, feature a gallery for changing exhibits (up to 16 per year), work with local schools and the Bainbridge Island Park District to display art by young people, and partner with local organizations, including KiDiMu, to support their efforts by offering space resources such as classrooms and an auditorium.

Greg Robinson, the museum’s Executive Director, says that since achieving nonprofit status for BAM in 2009, the founders have been asking themselves, “What does it mean to be right here, on Bainbridge Island, where the environment is so important?” Members of the board hope to reflect that reality through many of the exhibits they offer. And they intend for the museum’s physical incarnation to reflect the Northwest environmental sensibility as well. To that end the building has been designed to meet the standards of LEED Silver, the U.S. Green Building Council’s third-highest level of recognition, which Robinson says is always an accomplishment for a museum. Museums have particular lighting needs and temperature and humidity concerns that make it particularly challenging to attain LEED energy-use standards.

Solar panels on the roof, a mechanized louver system to maintain a constant temperature inside, the use of sustainable building materials including denim insulation (provided through a grant from Levi Strauss) and FSC-certified woods, recycled-fiber carpeting, a bamboo ceiling, waterless urinals, a green roof, living walls, a permeable surface surrounding the building, and, most impressively, the incorporation of geothermal energy tapped via pipes embedded on site are all part of the building’s innovative design.

Bainbridge Art Museum Classroom

The finished facility will include a reception area and main lobby space; four galleries; a special collections display; glass display cases for smaller, more delicate items such as books and jewelry; a café; a museum store; art archives; and a rooftop garden named in honor of Island garden artists George Little and David Lewis. For now at this early stage, BAM consists of offices, classrooms, and a 95-seat auditorium. As part of its education-focused mission, BAM is inviting groups to use its existing spaces for lectures, classes, small concerts, and video screenings. Bill Baran-Mickle, one of BAM’s board members, is especially excited about the auditorium, as it will enable the museum to digitally document and present artists’ processes.

The Island Gateway campus

The Island Gateway campus is set up as a condo association, with residents sharing responsibility for common areas. The BAM project’s architectural firm is Coates Design, project management is being handled by Asani, and the construction company is PHC. BAM will own the finished building. An additional retail/commercial building will be constructed in the southwest corner of the campus.

Architectural renderings courtesy of Island Gateway. Photos by Sarah Lane, 2011.

KiDiMu's Birthday Bash and Pretty Sitck - Now Open

It was a sunny and lively day at Island Gateway today.  The Kids Discovery Museum celebrated their first birthday with games, face painting, music, Mora ice cream, a bouncy house and much more.  Our first retail tenant, Pretty Stick also opened their doors today!

Welcome Pretty Stick

Island Gateway would like to welcome Pretty Stick to our community.

check out their website at:  www.prettystickbeauty.com

Don't miss KiDiMu’s First Annual BIRTHDAY BASH

KiDiMu’s First Annual BIRTHDAY BASH

 Start: June 4, 2011 10am-4pm

Venue: Kids Discovery Museum at Island Gateway

Phone: 206-855-4650

Address: 

301 Ravine Lane N.E., Bainbridge Island, WA, United States, 98110 

 

click here for more details 

 

 

 

BigBelly Solar compactor trash cans at Island Gateway

 More BigBelly Solar compactors bound for Bainbridge Island

By DENNIS ANSTINE
Bainbridge Island Review Editor
May 06 2011, 4:50 PM

Sustainable Bainbridge has finally found a way to rid Winslow Way of its overflowing garbage cans, at least it will once the reconstruction project on the street is finished.

A BigBelly Solar unit is a regular in the Kitsap Transit parking area at the Bainbridge ferry terminal

Dennis Anstine/Staff Photo

The eventual purchase of seven BigBelly Solar waste compactors/recyling bins will also help reduce the amount of fossil fuel used on the island’s main street by cutting down on the trip frequency of one of the biggest diesel gas hogs on the road – disposal trucks.

Els Heyne, a Sustainable Bainbridge board member, has been the lead person for WOW (Wiping Out Waste) Bainbridge in rallying the community to buy seven of the solar compactors from a company located in Newton, Mass.

Heyne believes the units have a bright future because the recycling and compacting units sit side by side and makes it easy for pick up.

The contraptions have two compartments: one collects glass, plastic and paper recycling; the other is a solar-powered unit that is highly energy efficient through a series of patent-protected processes that allow the waste compactor to operate 365 days a year.

The machines are a natural for Bainbridge Island, said Jim Poss, BigBelly Solar's founder and current CPO who is an island resident. Poss and his family moved here from the Boston area four years ago, but he is still involved with BigBelly.

"These days because of the economy, community activists rather than governments are often the people who initiate the purchase of our product," Poss said. "It's a natural for Bainbridge since communities that are environmentally advanced have embraced the product. We've had machines at the ferry terminal and behind City Hall at the Farmers' Market for a while, so Sustainable Bainbridge has known about them and came to us."

While each machine costs more than $6,000, they are cost-effective in the long run because they rarely break down and don't require daily pick up by disposal companies, Heyne said.

“What’s great about them is that they will cut down on Bainbridge Disposal’s daily trips for picking up the garbage, which is really bad during the summer with all the tourists,” said Heyne. “With the compactor, they’ll come down for pick up only about once a week.”

Heyne said Bainbridge Disposal is enthusiastic about the new devices because it will cut its trip costs, though it hasn't been charging for downtown garbage pickup since it has an exclusive commercial and residential contract with the city.

“We service the cans with concrete bases downtown every day,” said Dave Stanley, Bainbridge Disposal’s general manager. The business bought the cans years ago and then donated them to the city.
“There will be some savings,” he said, “because we won’t have to go there more than a once or twice a week. From what I understand, they have an electronic way of letting us know when they are full.”
Now, beginning at 6 a.m. daily, disposal trucks pick up trash on Winslow Way, the library and high school.

“But in the summer when the tourists are in town the cans can be overflowing by 10 in the morning,” he said. “It looks bad down there when the cans get full and spill out. We like to leave the street better than we found it.”

Heyne said WOW Bainbridge has received pledges for $30,000 of the $44,000 needed to buy seven of the solar contraptions. She said $6,000 each has come from a Rotary Club grant, a city grant, Island Gateway, Town & Country and Sustainable Bainbridge. Island Gateway will get one unit, and three will be placed on each side of Winslow way between Ericksen and North Madison avenues.
Poss said the use of a BigBelly unit will eliminate about $1,500 to $2,000 in collection costs annually.
"Our system is vastly cheaper and a better way to go environmentally than the old trash can," said Poss. "It decreases the amount of fossil fuel used in collection and amount of garbage disposed of. And our maintenance, when compared to the cost of maintaining a truck, is way ahead."

He said the machines have a long life cycle and are easy to maintain. The only moving parts are an electric motor and two motorcycle drive chains, all of which rarely need to be replaced and are under warranty when they do. They also have a small battery, which needs to be charged every five years or so."

"There's not much to go wrong," Poss said. "other than vandalism, a broken door lock or one of them getting run over by bus."

He said environmental activists in Portland, Ore., have launched a successful "Adopt A Belly" program with about 50 of them now on the ground, though the city itself has not been involved directly.
Poss said the units, 10,000 of which have been sold worldwide in less than a decade, can be purchased through a distributor and usually delivered in a couple of days.



For more information or to contribute, call 842-4439 or email: info@sustainablebainbridge.org.

Bainbridge Island Review Editor Dennis Anstine can be reached at editor@bainbridgereview.com or (206) 842-6613.

Buildings CF are Almost Complete!

Please contact our Leasing team TODAY if you are interested in office or retail space here. There are still some spaces available and we look forward to having you as part of this unique community.

please call
206.780.7450 or email
kelly@theislandgateway.com

Happy Earth Day!