Siplast

The Burke Museum

The Burke Museum is the oldest public museum in Washington State with a collection of over 16 million artifacts and specimens, ranging from totem poles and gemstones to dinosaur fossils. Because the Burke's collection is so wide-ranging and continues to grow - it is a collecting museum - the new building needed to serve as a coherent, effective container that would allow for flexibility over time. The building's rational scheme holds the complexity of the Burke's activities and collections, both now and into the future. Large areas of glazing maximize transparency and expose the interior experience to the street to connect the Burke to the campus, landscape and city. The design further breaks down traditional museum barriers between public and "back-of-house" spaces, integrating collections and research labs with traditional galleries and enabling visitors and the surrounding community to engage with the process of scientific discovery in a true working museum. A 24-foot-by-20-foot pivoting window wall continues this emphasis on transparency to literally open the Burke to the nature of a new outdoor courtyard. At its core, the mission of the Burke is to help everyone - curators, visitors, educators and students - make a connection with our natural world in all its complexities. Dual entrances link the museum to both the University of Washington campus and the surrounding community. The exterior Kebony siding and sequence of tall, narrow windows reference forests across the Pacific Northwest, and like cedar or fir, the Burke's Scots pine siding will silver with age. Windows helps to frame and exhibit objects for both internal and external views while providing natural light and ventilation. A large central atrium and "smart glass" skylight likewise foster a bright, daylit interior experience, without risking damage to sensitive artifacts. The project is LEED® Gold certified.

The Pope Francis Apartments at Loreto

The 83,000-square-foot Pope Francis Apartments, with 135 affordable apartments plus supportive services, community spaces and on-site laundry, represents several innovations for design and development of affordable housing. RKTB drew on decades of experience with housing for the New York Metro Region to help make the project financially feasible for nonprofit owner-operator Catholic Charities of Brooklyn & Queens. Sustainable design methods include integrating rooftop solar panels to reduce reliance on electricity from the grid. Perhaps most importantly, the project team worked closely with the owner and community at large to ensure a sensitive treatment of the site where the locally beloved and iconic Our Lady of Loreto church previously stood. To ensure that the site would benefit the Brownsville neighborhood and reknit a community fractured by the demolition of the church, long a neighborhood hub, the architects first had to help Catholic Charities to devise a financially viable solution. Refocusing the development on senior housing, RKTB designed a much bigger residence than originally conceived to take advantage of a recent New York zoning rule modification: the Affordable Independent Residences for Seniors program. According to associate principal Nelson Vega, Assoc. AIA, "Combining these allowances with reapportioned rights from adjacent sites allowed us to increase developable floor area from just 25,000 to over 80,000, making the project feasible for Catholic Charities as they envisioned it, with lots of affordable units and on-site services for the community."

Tucson Police Department Forensic Laboratory

The TPD Forensic Laboratory is a two-story 62,377 SF state-of-the-art science facility providing a safe and secure working environment for forensic examiners. It houses the Forensic Lab Administration, Quality Assurance, Trace Chemicals, Arson, Explosives, Drugs, Evidence Control, Firearms (including a firing range), Forensic Biology, Latent Fingerprints, Toxicology, and the Forensic Electronic Media Unit. Each group has dedicated laboratory space on the north side of the building and office space on the south side. Between the office and laboratory wings is a daylit atrium with crisscrossing bridges, clerestory windows, and an open monumental stair. The atrium serves as a space for spontaneous collaboration between disciplines with casual tables and chairs for the forensic examiners. Each major entry into the lab and office suites is highlighted by dynamic, colorful masses with integrated displays evocative of the forensic activities happening inside.

512 West 22nd Street Office Building / COOKFOX Architects

512 West 22nd Street, an office building in Chelsea adjacent to the High Line, embodies biophilic design principles that emphasize connections to nature while achieving LEED Gold certification. Its design integrates the building’s proximity to the High Line and views of the Hudson River, promoting health, productivity, and environmental awareness in the workplace. The structure references the neighborhood’s industrial heritage through materials such as anthracite terracotta, zinc, and granite, complemented by industrial sash-inspired windows. Curved glass corners with operable windows provide access to fresh air and natural light, while the custom terracotta façade enhances the building’s dynamic form. The lobby features a landscaped viewing garden and event space, establishing an inviting entry that extends the outdoor experience inside. The upper floors consist of flexible, light-filled office spaces equipped with an advanced air distribution system, ensuring comfort, high performance, and clean, filtered air. Echoing the High Line’s green, interconnected aesthetic, the building offers over 15,000 square feet of outdoor areas, including landscaped terraces on every floor planted exclusively with native species. These terraces, adjacent to the “Chelsea Thicket” section of the High Line, immerse occupants in greenery and create natural extensions of the work environment. From stepped terraces on the lower levels to elevated views on the fourth floor, the building seamlessly blends urban design with nature, fostering a sense of connection between the workplace, the city, and the surrounding landscape.

45 East 7th

Durr Systems Headquarters Facility / SmithGroup

The consolidation of three metro-Detroit locations led to the creation of a new headquarters, engineering, research, and equipment testing center in Southfield, Michigan, for this German-based company specializing in robotics and prototype testing for paint systems. The 92,000-square-foot office and 100,000-square-foot training, research, and assembly facility provides an efficient, light-filled workspace for approximately 500 employees, fostering increased collaboration, communication, and creativity. The campus includes a new validation building, testing, and training center, with much of the existing structure reused and enhanced with energy-efficient technologies, reflecting the company’s commitment to sustainability. A contemporary curtain wall and insulated metal panel system replaced most of the exterior skin, improving thermal performance, airtightness, and operational energy efficiency while unifying the appearance of the original structure and new additions. The main entrance was relocated to the north side and highlighted with an exterior canopy using the same material, creating a cohesive and modern identity for the campus.

Bedford-Stuyvesant Brownstone

The project being located in an historical area dictatedthat we were working with an established envelope and also exterior expression - we tried to alter the basic layout of a townhouse while still respecting its typology. Doing so was a challenge, both because of the rigidly defined envelope - and to some extent layout - and also because of the amount deep space that does not receive direct natural light. As a resultwe minimized the amount of enclosed space to ensure we had natural light penetrating as far as possible.Further we allowed for visibility to both front and back exposures simultaneously where possible and added two skylights on top floor to approximate the same effect. In minimizing full partitions we defined the space largely around objects - notably the kitchen island, master shower and closet - which also had the effect of making some spaces feel larger. Natural materials were utilized as a way to add tone and texture to a space in lieu of using applied materials like paint. As such we tried to balance the materials in each space and locate them to play off of each other while providing a non-abrasive base on which furniture and artwork can build on.