Landmark buildings by AMC Engineers: company celebrates 30 years in Alaska.

• Author: Freeman, Louise
• Position: BUILDING ALASKA SPECIAL SECTION

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Preliminary design concept of the new 189,000-square-foot Seawolves Sports Arena at the University of Alaska Anchorage by McCool Carson Green architecture firm. The arena features seating for 5,000 spectators in the performance gymnasium, which is being designed to NCAA standards and will accommodate television broadcasts for basketball, volleyball and other venues. The new facility also will house an auxiliary gymnasium, gymnastics practice facility, athletic fitness center and multiple support spaces. The complex will host sporting events, UAA graduation ceremonies, speakers and traveling musical concerts.

AMC Engineers recently held an open house to celebrate its 30th anniversary and to recognize the appointment of new President J. Pat Cusick and the recent expansion of its board of directors. AMC's awardwinning work ranges from small projects--a new electrical service at the Bear Tooth Theatre in Anchorage, to enormous and complex projects--a $686 million oil production facility for BP Exploration. AMC's staff of 13 mechanical engineers and 10 electrical engineers and a skilled support team regularly tackle work in the fields of transportation, education, medicine, industry and public buildings. Theuir work includes the $82 million, 196,000-square-foot-foot UAA Seawolves Sports Arena now under design with architect McCool Carlson Green, and the new $92 million Alaska Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory with architect Livingston Slone Inc., now under construction in Anchorage.

AMC's roots reach back to 1981, when Dave Adams, an electrical engineer, and A. Boyd Morgenthaler, a mechanical engineer, launched the business, then known as Adams, Morgenthaler and Co. Inc. In 1996, the company was renamed AMC Engineers.

After Adam's sudden death in a car accident in 2004, the ownership of AMC was expanded when Morgenthaler brought on board several other engineers.

EXPANDED LEADERSHIP

AMC expanded its board of directors from two to five in June, another significant change. Cusick has worked for AMC for 28 years, leading the electrical engineering department since 2004. Former president and co-founder Morgenthaler now holds the position of vice president, and Chief Financial Officer Sandy Houlihan continues in her role as secretary-treasurer. The other two new board members are Dave Shumway, principal mechanical engineer, and Ken Ratcliffe, principal electrical engineer.

AMC has an industry-wide reputation for quality...