NATIONAL AWARD OF MERIT
Designer: Andrew Lang (Morrissey Engineering), Brian Barrett (Morrissey Engineering), Nick Garaychochea (Morrissey Engineering), Michael Alley (Alley Poyner Macchietto), Erin Trofholz (Alley Poyner Macchietto), Ryan Fisher (Alley Poyner Macchietto)
Photographer: Tom Kessler
Three private foundations chose to relocate into two floors of an existing building. With a strong desire for the foundations to feel connected, a large portion of an existing floor was removed to create a two-story lobby and grand stair. With a floor above, the lobby had no access to natural toplight. The designer desired a backlit ceiling to fill the space with light. The two-story wood wall was washed with warm light to add an additional pop of warmth to the material keeping the space from feeling stark. The new stair was hung from structure above necessitating many rods passing through the luminous plane and light source behind. The resulting space fosters interaction between occupants by drawing everyone together at the central public spaces within the client’s budget.
