Project of the Year - Worship As one of the largest and most active Hillel programs in the country, UW Hillel required a worship facility to meet a broad spectrum of needs, from religious to social to educational. Photo: Mike Rebholz div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" The new Barbara Hochberg Center for Jewish Student Life is the focus of Jewish life on campus, providing a location for Jewish student groups to gather. Lounges provide space for informal gatherings and a formal dining room enhances the kosher meal plan. Other features include a café, fitness room, library and computer room,
Award of Merit - Cultural The Great Bear Wilderness exhibit is the new 7-acre home for Brookfield Zoo’s collection of polar bears, brown bears, bison and bald eagles. Photo: Mcshane-fleming Studios div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" Due to the wide variety of animals the exhibit houses, there were many animal program considerations to adhere to throughout construction. Ragnar Benson Construction worked closely with the construction team and animal program team to completely understand the needs and requirements of each animal and to incorporate them in every detail of the exhibit. Challenges that arose due to these requirements were overcome
Award of Merit - K-12 Education Patriots Hall is a new high school facility, 111,450-sq-ft in total, on the Brookfield Academy campus. Photo: Mark Heffron div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" A prominent entry tower welcomes building users into a lobby with a skylight, acoustically-isolated student lockers and an open stairway that puts visual emphasis on the college classroom. The academic wing wraps around a two-story sky-lit library and includes science labs and flexible classroom configurations. An art department, performing arts studio and two-station gymnasium round-out the academy’s dedication to the arts and athletics in addition to high academic standards.
Award of Merit - Higher Education/Research The Plant Conservation Center is a world-class laboratory designed to serve plant conservation science research as well as educate the public. Photo: Michelle Litvin div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" Ten laboratories and offices are the primary programmatic elements along with a green roof garden, herbarium, seed vault, seminar/conference rooms and a plant science library. All of the educational spaces have a direct connection to nature, emphasizing the basis of the research conducted in the facility. The Plant Conservation Science Center was constructed within an existing flood plane. Chicago Botanic Garden and the design
Award of Merit - Architectural Design This project required the massive re-structuring of a two-story type III-B building to house as assembly use for a entire 16,000-sq-ft structure. div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" Previously, the building had housed a number of mercantile units and contained large shear walls and core elements in the way of the desired first floor program. The building is now home to a live blues venue in Chicago, Buddy Guy’s Legends. Demolition of the old building core while protecting the north wall from collapse was a major challenge, particularly that all of the protection had
Project of the Year - Civil/Public Works (Tie) The City of Muskego’s Well No. 13 is both a stylish public works building and a high capacity municipal well. Photo: Westhauser Photography div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" Designed to blend seamlessly into an upscale subdivision, the complex architectural style and landscaping give no hint that up to 2,200 gallons per minute of radium-free water is being pumped to serve the needs of this growing community. When the Well No. 13 site was identified, the city had a need to generate between 500 and 700 gpm of radium-free water. Well No.
Project of the Year - Transportation (Tie)In fall 2008, construction began for the replacement of the nearly 50-year-old College Avenue Bridge in Appleton, Wis. div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" A major challenge during design and construction was the sheer height of the bridge deck above the water level. The bridge deck is 75 ft above the water. On many bridges a small lift on a barge can be used to reach inaccessible construction areas. This was not a luxury available on this bridge. Careful planning was done so the majority of the work could be installed from the bridge
Award of Merit - Higher Education/Research The project team for the Media Production Center at Columbia College in Chicago successfully navigated all the issues in developing one of the most advanced learning centers for film and interactive media arts in the nation. div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" In the end, the team pursued LEED Gold criteria and created the college’s first purpose-built building. Columbia College wanted a professional quality media teaching facility that would encourage interdisciplinary collaboration among students and faculty. Simply locating the sound stages in the same building as the motion capture studio provides the proximity that
Award of Merit - Renovation/Restoration Founded more than100 years ago, this Reform congregation decided to follow the migration patterns of its congregants by relocating to its fourth home in Deerfield, Ill. Photo: Michael David Rose Photography div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" The available property was part of a six-building, one-story office complex in an accessible location. The owner purchased three of the buildings, encompassing 70,000 sq ft of space. The project team realized from the beginning that this was not an ordinary construction project. The $18-million project was the culmination of several years of programming, design, fundraising and execution.
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