Commercial Buildings Earn Top Praise from AIA Kansas City

Commercial Buildings Earn Top Praise from AIA Kansas City

AIA Kansas City’s Design Awards show off the deep diversity of commercial architecture: an adaptively re-used bank, a hybrid academic/commercial office space, a historic building housing a plumbing supplier, and more.<br><br>Honor Award: Greensburg City Hall in Greensburg, Kan., designed by BNIM. Greensburg City Hall is the symbol of Greensburg’s vitality and leadership in becoming a model sustainable community where social, environmental, and economic concerns are held in balance. It will house the city’s administrative offices and council chambers, and serve as a gathering space for town meetings and municipal court sessions. The building will harness solar energy, collect and harvest rainwater, and maximize interior day lighting. Image courtesy of Farshid Assassi.

Honor Award: Posty Cards Expansion and Renovation in Kansas City, Mo., designed by McHenry Shaffer Mitchell Architects. Posty Cards, a small local greeting card company located near the historic 18th & Vine district, sought to expand and renovate their facility. A new exterior courtyard (the facility’s former dock area) is formed by expanding the new shop function off the southern edge of the existing warehouse area and locating the new two-story administration area off to the southeast. Image courtesy of AIA Kansas City.

Honor Award: Missouri Bank Brookside in Kansas City, Mo., designed by Helix Architecture + Design. Through this renovation, Missouri Bank hoped to articulate a vision for the “banking center as destination,” a memorable place where people can establish a personal connection, even as the industry moves toward greater use of self-directed technologies. The bank found a space formerly occupied by an auto repair shop in the commercial heart of an urban neighborhood, where parking is at a premium. The option of encroaching upon parking spaces to accommodate drive-through lanes was unappealing. Less obvious, but more consistent with the client’s wish to create a more interesting banking experience, was the idea of running the lanes through the building. Image courtesy of AIA Kansas City.

Merit Award: Iowa Utilities Board Office of the Consumer Advocate in Des Moines, designed by BNIM. An infill development on the State of Iowa Capitol Complex, the project was developed on a 6-acre former landfill site. The building serves as a testament to the sustainable stewardship of the state of Iowa, demonstrating proven, cost-effective, new construction energy efficiency measures. Image courtesy of Farshid Assassi.

Merit Award: Broadway Overpass in Kansas City, Mo., designed by el dorado inc. The primary concern was creating a holistic bridge design that functioned in an improved way for vehicular traffic, and simultaneously, supported the effort to increase the walkability of downtown Kansas City. The latter was achieved by providing wider sidewalks, full ADA accessibility, and improved crosswalk signalization. Most important beyond these functional achievements was the attention to the pedestrian experience while moving across the bridge. Image courtesy of Mike Sinclair.

Merit Award: Zahner Factory Expansion in Kansas City, Mo., designed by Crawford Architects. The innovative natural light addition to Zahner’s factory in Kansas City, Mo., goes beyond pure utility to breathe new aesthetic life into the existing facility. The concept for the addition’s dynamic rippling façade was inspired by metal oxidation patterns found on Zahner’s campus. The resulting facility serves as a representation of Zahner’s brand, and viewed externally, is a testament to the dynamic work taking place inside. Image courtesy of Mike Sinclair.

Merit Award: Joplin Interim High School in Joplin, Mo., designed by DLR Group. A May tornado destroyed Joplin High School, claiming 116 lives and causing $151 million in damage to the town. An abandoned big-box retail space was selected to house 1,200 students for the next school year. The design integrates every square inch of the existing space and features 21st century learning environments utilizing flexibility and interconnectivity. Large openings, oversized pivot doors, and a diverse array of furniture allow students to customize spaces for collaborative learning. Image courtesy of Alistar Tutton.

Merit Award: Blue Valley Southwest High School in Overland Park, Kans., designed by Perkins + Will, HTK Architects, and Nevius Serig Palmer Architects. The plan is organized around a courtyard, with all common spaces (theater lobby, administration, cafeteria, library, and cyber cafe) opening directly onto this central space. Image courtesy of James Steinkamp.

Citation Award: Morrow Garrison Complex Renovation and Addition at the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, Mo., designed by Gould Evans. Co-locating two departments (the student recreation center and Health and Human Performance), this renovation and addition weaves together three disparate buildings and adds an addition to create an iconic billboard for the campus. The original gymnasium, at the heart of the complex, is transformed into a new two-story gathering space that serves as a hub to all the programs. The new predominantly transparent addition slices into this commons, bridging the new with the existing. Throughout, extensive craftsmanship was warranted to preserve and match historic tile, woodwork, and masonry. Image courtesy of Alistar Tutton.

Citation Award: Sheridan’s Unforked Eats and Sweets in Overland Park, Kans., designed by 360 Architecture. Unforked reflects the practical creativity of a modern family farmhouse – a place as comfortable, nuanced and good for you as home when you don’t want to cook there. Image courtesy of AIA Kansas City.

Citiation Award: The Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Missouri State University in Springfield, Mo., designed by Gould Evans. [The center is] a dual function lab facility, with an east wing [made of] academic teaching and research labs. The west wing is a private sector research lab and office incubator. [It uses a] modular kit-of-parts for ease of expansion and fast-track construction. The site design and building envelope design permit future modules to be added on for future growth. Image courtesy of Michael Spillers.

Citation Award: The University of Utah David Eccles School of Business in Salt Lake City, designed by Gould Evans and MHTN. The design challenge was to create a new model for interaction – connecting students, faculty, and the community – that enables the collaboration models fundamental to a competitive school of business. The solution is a simple diagram with classrooms along one edge, offices along the opposite edge, and a collaborative and social space between. This diagram is continuous along the length of the building, with the collaborative and social spaces forming a canyon that connects all floors both spatially and visually. Image courtesy of AIA Kansas City.

Citation Award: O.H. Dean Building Renovation in Kansas City, Mo., designed by Helix Architecture + Design. The renovation of this two-story structure created a new store and corporate headquarters for a plumbing supply wholesaler that [moved] from a suburban location into the urban core of Kansas City. The concept behind the renovation was to celebrate the company’s trade with a variety of copper-clad surfaces – from the entry vestibule and elevator shaft, to the exterior balcony and transaction countertop. The glazed terra-cotta west façade was restored to include the original building medallion, which was re-cast by local artisans to match historic specifications. Image courtesy of AIA Kansas City.

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