© Brad Feinknopf Photography

Executives at The Connor Group set high expectations for design of the national real-estate investment firm’s new Central Support Office building, which opened in Miamisburg, Ohio, in August 2014.

Photo by Bill Baxley, AIA

The Toro Company celebrated its 100th anniversary July 10, 2014, at its world headquarters’ campus in Bloomington, Minn., shortly after unveiling a new three-story 75,000-square foot building designed to provide expanded product development and testing areas as well as office, training and conference spaces.

The New England Council of Carpenters (NERCC) has represented the interests of its members for more than 130 years.  While a long-standing regional presence, this traditional organization based in Boston also embraces modern goals for its membership of 22,000 carpenters in six New England states.  So, when the new home of NERCC and the Boston Carpenters Training Center was designed, it was important to organization leaders that it be comprised of both traditional and modern architectural influences.

Three architectural firms were challenged by the Vancouver Organizing Committee to design Millennium Water:  The Southeast False Creek Olympic Village in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, for its first use as a temporary home for many of the 2,600 athletes from 82 nations competing in the 2010 Winter Olympics. (The Olympic Games were held Feb. 12-28, 2010, in venues located throughout Greater Vancouver, as well as in the resort town of Whistler, British Columbia, where additional athletes were hosted.)  More permanently, Millennium Water was designed as a sustainable mixed-use residential and commercial community, incorporating not only environmental sustainability but social and economic sustainability goals as well.

Alucobond® Spectra ACM Helps Create Sparkling, Sustainable Gem at Tempe, Ariz. Transportation Center

City of Tempe, Ariz., architects and engineers are no strangers to sustainable building design. The $46.8 million East Valley Bus Operations & Maintenance Facility, which is owned and operated by the Arizona cities of Tempe and Scottsdale and Valley Metro, achieved two Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certifications from the U.S. Green Building Council following its summer 2007 opening.

Design Vision Continues at U.S. Xpress

In the mid-90’s, U.S. Xpress of Chattanooga, Tennessee and SSOE, Inc., architects and engineers, spent three days developing a vision for a new U.S. Xpress headquarters building, which was completed before the end of the decade. That vision allowed for expansion, now realized with the spring 2006 completion of an adjacent corporate campus and the first of four “companion” buildings.