Bialosky + Partners Architects received a 2013 Honorable Mention Award from the Cleveland Chapter of the American Institute of Architects for Achievement of Excellence in Architectural Design for the Lorain County Community College Ben & Jane Norton Culinary Arts Center in Elyria, Ohio. Our thanks goes out to the college, the construction team, our consultants, and our photographers as well as our colleagues and the prestigious jury for this great honor. The following images and project brief were included in the award submittal: [slideshow_deploy id='2236'] LCCC Ben and Jane Norton Culinary Arts Center Culinary Theater The project, sited between existing campus buildings with complex access and service issues, combines two unrelated programs: the college’s relocated TV studio and the new culinary school. By employing twelve access points from the adjacent buildings and eight level shifts on the ground floor as a mechanism for carving and shaping the final form and program areas, we created an experience of culinary arts instruction akin to a public theatrical production. The west façade, acting as the formal building entry, is a proscenium-like frame of metal and wood around a wall of glass that allows views into and out of the kitchens on the lower and upper levels. The entry plaza is an outdoor living room with shaded multi-level seating encouraging viewers to watch the interior activity. A rotated vestibule with a grand stair cuts across the front of the building and acts as the main pathway between the three buildings and allows viewers a close look into the teaching kitchens. Like the exterior, the demonstration kitchen and lecture room exhibit a series of overhead wood frames that spill out light, reminiscent of a stage. The kitchen and lecture room relationship is orchestrated as a culinary theater between the demonstrator and student. The space is an interactive distance-learning center that encourages audience participation. The three additional teaching kitchens feature state of the art video cameras and viewing screens including a two-way floating glass screen that can be simultaneously viewed inside and outside the kitchens. The TV studio takes on a similar process where the studio itself is on display to the passerby, but so is the control room and the video technology room where all the participants in the process are “on the air” to the public. The exterior materials are related to the adjacent buildings with blended brick, light buff concrete, and dark bronze metal. The interior pulls the exterior materials inward, transitioning to a crisp, clean palette centered on stainless steel, medium grey metal, blue tile, and a warm wood. The project is pursuing LEED Certification with high efficiency kitchen equipment, low-volume cooking hoods, reduced-flow plumbing fixtures, and LED lighting throughout.
The Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative has formally announced the opening for the upcoming COLDSCAPES Exhibit Opening & Book Release. Bialosky + Partners Architects are honored that our project, GLOW, will be featured in both the exhibition and in the accompanying book release. We invite you to join us on November 15th, to celebrate the exhibition opening and the ongoing development of CUDC's Center for Outdoor Living Design (COLD)! Additionally, check out this great article from Cleveland Magazine about COLDSCAPES: Cold Comforts - Cleveland Magazine
"One such Cleveland plan envisioned Lake Erie as a wintertime frozen playground with glowing, elevated observation pods over the lake that residents could ice skate or snowshoe to and take in the view."
Join the CUDC on November 15th, from 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm, for the public opening of the Snowball Pavilion and release party for our new book, Urban Infill Volume 6: COLDSCAPES. The Snowball Pavilion is a weather-responsive wood structure installed on PlayhouseSquare’s Star Plaza for one month, which will display boards of winning submissions and honorable mentions from the 2013 COLDSCAPES Competition. The COLDSCAPES Exhibit and new book are part of the CUDC’s recently launched Center for Outdoor Living Design (COLD), which aims to inspire, develop, and promote innovative approaches to enhance livability in cold climate cities. The public reception with drinks and light appetizers will be held in Star Plaza at 1302 Euclid Avenue. RSVPs are appreciated via Facebook event page or email at info @ coldscapes.org. The COLD programming is made possible with the generous support of Cuyahoga Arts & Culture and The Cleveland Foundation. More info on COLD available at www.coldscapes.org.
With close to 1,000 people in attendance, the Northcoast 99 awards dinner last night brought NE Ohio's best companies under one roof to celebrate as winners of the class of 2013. We went as first-time winners, and saw many of our clients, like Cuyahoga Community College and Lorain County Community College. While many jokes throughout the night poked fun at the legendary application process, multi-year winners assured us it gets easier the second year.
Bialosky + Partners is a first time winner of the Northcoast 99 Award - hopefully the first of many years with some luck!
Cleveland's Singing Angels give a great performance for last night's event. Image from ERC.
Cleveland's own Singing Angels sent a surge of warmth through the crowd with their voices, and Craig Kielburger, co-founder of the international movement Me to We earned his standing ovation with an inspiring speech that reminded us that change can start with one person, one community, one company.
Craig Keilburger -who has built hundreds of schools and infrastructure for children and their families around the globe- speaks about the power just one person has to make a difference. Image from ERC.
All winners were awarded a lithograph for their accomplishments. Ours was proudly set up in our lobby this morning! Congrats to the fellow 98 winners!
Bialosky + Partners' lithograph proudly sits in our lobby.
Bialosky + Partners' newest designer, Hannah Friedman
Hannah may very well be one of our best-traveled young designers. While completing her Bachelor in Environmental Design (BEnvd, class of 2012) from the University of Colorado in Boulder, she studied abroad in Barcelona (2011) and Copenhagen (2012). With her chosen emphasis of Architecture (the program offers four different concentrations), Hannah was a globe trotter seeking out thought-provoking buildings and spaces- from Stephen Holl’s striking Kiasma Museum in Helsinki to poetic European cemeteries like Stockholm’s Skogskrykgarden, sited in a looming forest.
One of Hannah's favorite residential streets in Copenhagen. She would live there in a heartbeat.
For a week, Hannah escaped to the Scandinavian lowlands of the rolling countryside- which should clue you in of her innate passion for nature. It’s not only a passion, but an expertise. While working at a huge greenhouse in Michigan this past summer, Hannah gained a new knowledge and appreciation of living systems. Surrounded by hundreds of living species, between all the vegetables, fruits, succulents, bonsai trees, cacti, and tropical plants, Hannah learned about which plants lived harmoniously together, and in what climates they would thrive. She’s translated this love of living systems and ecology into architectural applications – creating living walls. Hannah would probably jump at the chance to make you one.
Hannah on the roof of Palau Güell in Barcelona
In another life, Hannah was a visual merchandiser at a furniture store converted from an empty roller-rink. She would set up vignettes, playing with light, color and space, to make interesting and appealing environments. She brings all these unique experiences to the table as she begins projects at our firm. Still want to know more about Hannah? We asked her a few of our favorite questions for new hires, and she has some pretty good answers for them: Favorite Designed Object: I really like clocks and watches. It is interesting how dramatically they have changed over different time periods- the range of materiality and transitions between ornate and simple. Your Ideal Dinner With One Architect or Designer (Bonus: Non-Architect/Designer): Guz Wilkinson from Guz Architects. They mostly do residential work and I love the way all of their designs incorporate nature into the built environment, “expressing as seamless a transition between the inside and outside.” I think that nature has a significant impact on a person’s well-being and I am interested to know about the effects it has had on the people who inhabit the spaces, as well as the thought that went into creating them. I also would really like to visit Singapore, so ideally we would have a native dish in the botanical gardens.
Guz Architects' Meera Sky Garden House
Hidden Talent: I guess I can cook pretty well. Sometimes it’s just an experiment of whatever I find in the fridge, but it always turns out nicely. Except for the time I made fried green tomatoes on a whim... that was a complete disaster. But I like to use all different herbs and spices. Presentation is also very important. Your Alternate Reality Career: I would definitely want to work with plants: a combination of landscape, organic farming, and flower arranging. I would also be a yoga instructor. And if I could fit in the time it would be great if I could design the stages for some of my favorite musical performers and then get to see them play! I think all those jobs would create a nice balance and allow me to travel frequently.
With recent press circling Bialosky + Partners' win of the Northcoast 99 Award, it's no wonder why Inside Business Magazine wanted to interview one of our newest designers, Philip Erb, about our innovative workplace.
Click here to see what Philip thinks about working at our firm (and what makes Bialosky + Partners one of the Best Places to Work in 2013)
2013 Northcoast 99 Winner Statistics