In a recent ranking of the “highest-rated LEED certified buildings” in the state of Missouri, the LEED-platinum Alberici Office Headquarters building designed by Mackey Mitchell still tops the list with a total of 86.96% points earned. The ranking was featured in the May 10 issue of  the St. Louis Business Journal. Also making the list were two LEED-gold projects designed by Mackey Mitchell at Washington University in St. Louis. These include College Hall and South 40 House, Phase 2, and Eliot B Hall. According to the article, “The state of Missouri is making waves in the green building movement. The USGBC noted that more Missouri people, institutions, and organizations are joining the LEED way of life at a faster pace than other U.S. states.”

In 2007, Mackey Mitchell Architects was engaged by Washington University in St. Louis to study and propose three possible renovation scenarios for the Olin School of Business. After the study was completed, the project was put on hold. In 2011, Moore Ruble Yudell of Santa Monica, California, in association with Mackey Mitchell, teamed to design the long-awaited renovation and expansion of the Business School.  (more…)

Bistro Box is one of four winning ideas in the Sustainable Land Lab Competition, a partnership program between the City of St. Louis and Washington University in St. Louis. The challenge was to put vacant land to good, sustainable use. The idea was conceived by Mackey Mitchell architect and principal John Burse who teamed with landscape architect Jim Fetterman and chef Ben Poremba to conceive and submit the winning idea. Although Ben is no longer involved, chef Clint Whittemore is now serving as a consultant.  The Bistro Box will be built from used shipping containers and run by a rotation of guest chefs.  Winners receive $5,000 in seed money and a two-year land lease. Burse says the team is actively seeking investors and plans to launch a Kickstarter campaign in the next week to secure additional funding. In the meantime, those interested can follow the project’s progress on the Bistro Box’s Facebook page. Congrats to a winning team!

For the past 20 years, Gene Mackey has sent to each architect named a “Fellow,” a sketch of the site of their investiture ceremony, personally welcoming individuals to the prestigious College of Fellows. For his thoughtful efforts over the years, he was presented in 2008 with a Leslie N. Boney “Spirit of Fellowship Award,” given to individuals who demonstrate continuous exceptional service and dedication to the College. The College of Fellows has now pulled together all the investiture sketches from 1991 to 2011 in a 7 x 7 linen-bound book which is now for sale in the AIA Bookstore. Fellowship is one of the highest honors the AIA can present to its members.

McMillan Hall at Washington University in St. Louis was built in 1907 as the university’s first women’s residence hall. By mid-century, the building had been renovated for academic use for various Arts & Sciences humanities programs, chiefly the Department of Anthropology. 

To maximize land-use surrounding the new Business School building project, the University elected to remove McMillan’s Gymnasium Wing, which had been used since the conversion as a large classroom, with laboratory and smaller classrooms below. Mackey Mitchell was engaged to design the Gym Wing’s replacement, as well as a new 5-level elevator/stair tower, and a 14,000sf, one-story addition to replace the classrooms and laboratories lost to demolition. (more…)

Washington University in St. Louis has released its strategic plan for environmentally sustainable operations. The plan details the university’s sustainability achievements, aspirations, and challenges in terms of energy and water use, food sources, recycling and transportation, among others.

Mackey Mitchell Architects has provided design services to Washington University in St. Louis (including the Washington University School of Medicine) for the past 30+ years and has completed a number of US Green Building Council LEED certified buildings on campus. These include the LEED Gold South 40 House; LEED Silver Village East Student Housing and Umrath Rubelmann Student Housing; and the LEED certified renovation of Mallinckrodt Center.  We’re currently working on the Olin School of Business, and the Brown School of Social Work which are both LEED Silver anticipated.

Williams Village at the University of Colorado-Boulder has earned the distinction of “Best Green Multi-Residential Building” from the first annual Boulder Valley Green Buildings Awards program. The $46.5 million residence hall is rated LEED Platinum, making it the first residence hall of its size in the nation to earn the U.S. Green Building Council’s highest possible designation. In 2011, Williams Village was named a grand prize winner by Buildings magazine in the “Green Facility” category. It also won an “Outstanding Design” award from American School and University magazine.  Mackey Mitchell Architects, as part of the design/build team of Whiting Turner Construction Company and Aller Lingle Massey Architects was selected to design the project as the result of a design competition. MMA’s design team included Dan Mitchell, Gwynn Zivic and Matthew Roeder.

The University of Miami-Ohio held a design competition for  three new residence halls on their Western Campus.  Currently under construction, each building, although part of the same family, has its own personality and adopts a variety of architectural styles and materials from the existing Western Campus. The selected design calls for a new pond and plaza to create a visual link to a new dining facility. The simple, yet elegant buildings are sited to tie all active community locations together and instill a sense of  local identity. As a residence hall community, each building is connected and understood as a contemporary, vibrant family expressed through materials and details. Gwynn Zivic is the lead designer on the project, working with Whiting Turner and CR Architecture + Design. Completion is scheduled for the summer of 2014.

Eastern Kentucky University is in the process of constructing its first new residence hall in almost 40 years. Working with Ross Tarrant Architects, the Mackey Mitchell project team includes Gwynn Zivic, Matthew Roeder, Steve Emer and Dan Mitchell. The LEED-silver anticipated 259-bed hall features full suite-style living with individual bedrooms connected by a common living space shared by 2 to 4 people. A multi-purpose room/student lounge with moveable partitions provides flexible use of space. 

Eastern Kentucky ranks in the top tier of  “Regional Universities in the South” in the 2011 edition of “Best Colleges” by U.S. News & World Report.  Recently, Forbes also ranked EKU among “America’s Best Colleges” for the third consecutive year, essentially placing the university in the top 9 percent of colleges and universities nationwide.

Washington University in St. Louis is sponsoring a sustainable land lab competition where teams are invited to propose innovative projects that would transform vacant lots in the City of St. Louis into sustainable assets. Out of 48 initial submissions, eight have been selected to move forward to the third and final round of the competition, including the Bistro Box. Mackey Mitchell architect and principal John Burse, along with landscape architect Jim Fedderman, and chef/restaurateur Ben Poremba submitted their entry titled “The Bistro Box.” The concept is a small business incubator that transforms surplus cargo containers into a compact restaurant where young chef entrepreneurs apply for a 1-year fellowship residence. The program is designed to hire and train young people from the North St. Louis neighborhood in culinary skills using locally sourced products. Concept boards are on display at the Old North Restoration Group office on 2700 N. 14th Street through the end of February. Congrats to the team for making it to the final round of the competition with this creative and innovative concept.