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>>> who's doing what, where in the design industry

City Center Gensler’s CityCenter.

Gensler has delivered CityCenter for MGM Mirage, an 18 million-square-foot mixed-use development on the Las Vegas Strip, the largest single development project in the world. Serving as executive architect, Gensler, which has an office in Las Vegas, led a team of seven other architectural firms, including Pelli Clarke Pelli, Kohn Pedersen Fox, Helmut Jahn, Studio Daniel Libeskind, David Rockwell/Rockwell Group, RV Architecture led by Rafael Vinoly, and Foster + Partners. The 67-acre project, delivered from concept to completion in five years, features four separate hotels, a retail and entertainment district, and residential towers. In addition to design leadership, Gensler was responsible for the design of the project’s common areas, signage/wayfinding, much of CityCenter’s branding and marketing collateral, and the design of the Automated People Mover, CityCenter’s self-contained transit system that links the development to neighboring casino hotels.

ODA’s tenant-improvement project

ODA, Office of Desert Architecture, has completed a tenant-improvement project for the offices of Santy Integrated, a marketing agency in Scottsdale, Arizona. The Phoenix-based architectural firm, led by Daniel Saari, LEED AP, and Roberta Clay, designed an open, 7,800-square-foot work environment for the agency that includes a series of boxes and planes to contain or divide the work spaces, which include three conference rooms and a cluster of movable seating nooks. The architectural firm specified contemporary, eco-friendly furnishings, installed against a raw backdrop that includes exposed trusses, beams and ductwork, as well as polished concrete flooring.

Phoenix-based interior designer Nicholas Cappele, principal of H2E Interiors, has completed the design of a Scottsdale plastic surgery office, creating a luxurious residential ambiance while still accommodating ADA requirements for surgical areas. The interior includes numerous custom touches, such as alder doors, a chandelier and wallcoverings from Maya Romanoff. One private room just off a garden caters to post-op patients and features a large aquarium.

Douglas Architecture and Planning’s offices.

John Douglas, FAIA, has completed the renovation of a building in downtown Scottsdale to serve as new quarters for his firm, Douglas Architecture and Planning. Douglas revamped the two-story office, built in 1980, to include a conference room, office space and kitchen on the first level, office space and a design studio on the second level and a rooftop deck with views of Camelback Mountain. The firm also has completed renovations on the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts (see “Renovations and Additions” in this issue).

Tucson, Arizona tensile sculptor Geoffrey H. Bruce has completed “Parapend,” a 19-foot-tall, 14-foot diameter sculpture comprised of 15 translucent, stretched Lycra panels attached to five ceiling connections, interconnected with stainless steel cable. The entire composition is held in tension by an 80-pound stainless steel pendulum. The sculpture was installed under a large skylight in the entry of a recently remodeled home in Paradise Valley, Arizona.

Geoffrey H. Bruce’s “Parapend.”

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has recognized the City of Tempe’s Transportation Center with a Smart Growth Achievement Award. The 40,000-square-foot center, designed by Tempe, Arizona-based Architekton with OTAK, Inc. of Portland, Oregon, serves light rail, bicycle and regional bus patrons. The three-story building includes retail and office space as well as a green roof.

Merzproject of Phoenix has been honored with an Architectural Record Design Vanguard 2009 Award, recognizing the architecture, interiors and urban design firm as one of the world’s best emerging firms. Merzproject received the recognition based on several featured projects, including the renovation of a building that now serves as its new studio and offices.

In other Merzproject news, the firm has merged with Shepley Bulfinch of Boston, and will be known as Merzproject-a studio of Shepley Bulfinch.

Circle West Architects of Scottsdale has received an Honorable Mention from the Sunset-AIA Western Home Awards for a single-family desert residence. The home, the renovated private residence of Circle West founder Peter Koliopoulos, is characterized by floor-to-ceiling windows and building materials high in recycled content.

Circle West Architects’ desert residence.

James Logan Abell, FAIA, has been honored with the 2010 national AIA Edward C. Kemper Award, which recognizes individuals who contribute significantly to the profession of architecture through service to the AIA. The Tempe-based architect has spent the last 35 years offering the public a myriad of community design solutions the AIA has to offer through its Regional and Urban Design Assistance Teams (R/UDAT). Abell has worked with numerous R/UDAT programs nationwide. He founded Abell and Associates Architects in 1979.

The Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Council for Educational Facility Planners International has named Adele Wilson, AIA, LEED AP, as Planner of the Year. Wilson, a partner of Denver, Colorado-based Slaterpaull Architects, heads the firm’s K-12 practice and has designed more than 100 school projects.

H2E Interiors’ plastic surgery office.

Lynn Coit, principal and founding partner of BOX Studios in Denver, has received the Woman of Vision Benefactor award from Colorado Real Estate Women Denver. Coit was honored for projects such as the donation of architectural services for the Denver Children’s Home renovation, and for paying for the BOX Studios staff to work over a weekend at a nonprofit residential adoption center in Las Vegas. BOX Studios is a commercial interior design and architectural firm that also has an office in Chicago.

Fountain Hills, Arizona-based Interior Motives, Inc. has been honored with a Heart of Business Award from the Phoenix Business Journal. The award, for Outstanding Company Project, recognizes the interior design firm for its renovation of Sunshine Acres Children’s Home in Mesa, Arizona. The firm, founded by Anita Lang, Allied Member ASID, remodeled one of the facility’s residences for at-risk children, recruiting a network of contractors, trade partners and clients to donate to the project.

Dane Palmero of Natural Reflections Pools and Spas in Glendale, Arizona has won the Silver Award in the technical and engineering category of the Association of Pool and Spa Professionals’ 2009 International Awards of Excellence. Palmero, who has more than 32 years’ experience in the pool industry, won the award for a residential project in Phoenix. He received the award during a fall ceremony in Las Vegas.

Sources+Design contributor Pamela Bir’s company, Your Computer Lady has been named the Step It Up Phoenix Business of the Year. The Step It Up competition was part of the Business Accelerator Program sponsored by American Family Insurance and several other business organizations, a five-month program that included learning sessions, teleconferences, newsletters and discussion forums.

Chandler, Arizona glass artist BJ Katz of Meltdown Glass has received a 2009 Crystal Achievement Award for Most Innovative Decorative Glass Product from Glass Magazine. Katz received the award for the site-specific installation of a cast-glass mural at Chandler-Gilbert Community College in Gilbert, Arizona. Katz opened her glass studio in 1993, specializing in architectural glass installations.

Phoenix interior designer Amy Bubier of AB Design Elements and developer Philip Beere of Green Street Technologies, also in Phoenix, were interviewed recently for a segment on National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition” program. The program focused on their involvement in the renovation of older, existing homes near the light rail system in central Phoenix, utilizing green practices. One of their projects will be the first NAHB Emerald-Certified home in the nation.

SmithGroup Phoenix has elevated David Vernellis, AIA, LEED AP, to principal. Vernellis, Phoenix office director of operations and a registered professional engineer, has been with the firm since 2000. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan.

Scottsdale interior designer Anjelica Henry, ASID, has launched a new design firm, Anjelica Henry Design. The firm offers comprehensive residential and commercial design services. Henry was formerly a partner in Brooks Henry Interior Design Studio, also of Scottsdale.

Gabrielle Roeckelein, ASID, of Chandler has launched The Park Avenue Design Catalog Collection to the trade, offering trade pricing, order placement, receiving and delivery, as well as freight estimates. The collection includes more than 300 vendors of furniture, accessories and bedding.

Patrick McCourt/Fine Furnishings To The Trade has relocated to the Arizona Design Center in Scottsdale. The multi-line showroom features lines such as Hickory White, Lee Industries, Scott Thomas, South Cone and Innerasia Rugs.

Scottsdale’s Underfoot LLC, a trade showroom specializing in carpeting and area rugs, is now representing Garrett Leather and Sky Rugs. Garrett Leather is an Italian upholstery leather distributor, while Sky Rugs, its subsidiary, allows designers to create rugs using the Garrett leather choices. The custom rugs are handcrafted in the United States.

Biltmore Shutter Company of Phoenix has been awarded the contract to manufacture and install wood shutters for the Talking Stick Resort near Scottsdale, Arizona. Designed by FFKR Architects of Salt Lake City, Utah, the 15-story resort is being developed by the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. Biltmore Shutter Company will do the shutters for the 497 room and suites.

Aterra Lighting Design & Controls of Scottsdale and Outhouse--One Source, One Solution of Phoenix have entered into a definitive merger agreement to create a combined company, The Contrado Group. The combined company will offer a leading technology/design source for homebuilders, architects, interior designers and the trades nationwide. Specific services will include architectural drafting, structural engineering, 3-D rendering and animation services, BIM services, city design-review documentation, technical sales option development/revenue streams, sales-center merchandising and more. The individual companies will remain in their respective locations.

The exhibition “Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward,” which appeared at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, has won the United States section of the Association Internationale des Critiques d’art’s award for Best Architecture or Design Show. The exhibit, which opened last spring, was curated by the Guggenheim staff in collaboration with Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer, Margo Stipe and Oskar Muñoz of the Frank Lloyd Wright Archives, located at Taliesin West in Scottsdale.