Two Commonwealth Architects Projects Named Projects of the Year
April 23, 2010
Two Commonwealth Architects' projects received top honors as Projects of the Year from the Richmond Real Estate Group on Tuesday night. The Molecular Medicine Research Building and the W. Baxter Perkinson, Jr. Building addition to the School of Dentistry, both designed for Virginia Commonwealth University, were recognized as exemplary compatible infill projects in downtown Richmond.
The Richmond Real Estate Group usually gives a public sector and private sector award annually; however, this year both awards went to VCU for their outstanding architecture and community support.
"One of our goals at VCU is to design buildings that respect their context and reflect Richmond's rich architectural tradition of permanence and dignity," said Mary Cox, VCU's University Architect. "We're very pleased with the considerable skill that our design and construction team brought to these two projects to bring this vision to life."
The awards were presented at RREG's dinner meeting on April 13 held at the Commonwealth Club. Dr. Eugene Trani, VCU's former president who served as the speaker for the meeting, accepted the awards. Project team members from VCU, Ballinger, Commonwealth Architects and Hourigan Construction attended the presentation.
"It is a unique tribute for two of our projects to receive top awards from the Richmond Real Estate Group in the same year," says Robert Mills, a principal at Commonwealth Architects. "We are honored, for our firm, for VCU and for the whole team. We appreciate the positive impact these compatible infill projects have had on VCU's urban campus. Good architecture is often quiet and contributes to the surrounding architectural fabric by linking less than compatible elements."
The Molecular Medicine Research Building, designed by Ballinger of Philadelphia and Commonwealth Architects, introduces a highly technical biomedical research facility into the dense, urban fabric of downtown Richmond. The 125,000-square-foot, eight story facility houses 48 researchers and their staffs. The steeply sloped site along East Broad Street is in a neighborhood rich in historic buildings including the William Beers House, the Egyptian Building and Monumental Church. The project was conceived to reinforce the lower scale streetscape of these historic structures while also creating a transition to the larger scale structures of the adjacent hospital complex. Skanksa USA served as the contractor for this project.
A four-story, 56,000 square-foot addition to the VCU School of Dentistry, The W. Baxter Perkinson, Jr. Building was designed by Commonwealth Architects as a sensitive infill structure to be compatible with the surrounding buildings on the downtown campus. Red brick and precast concrete combine with metal panels and glass to relate to the more traditional architecture nearby while also reflecting the high-tech functions housed within. The building expands the clinical, teaching and research facilities of Virginia's only dental school. Ballinger provided lab design support for the project and Hourigan Construction served as the contractor for the dental school addition.
The Richmond Real Estate Group is a professional organization of allied businesses that deal in Real Estate- brokers, financial institutions, contractors, facilities managers, zoning attorneys, architects and engineers.
