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BY NORA BURBA TRULSSON

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

Douglas Sydnor Architect's Yen-Li Chen Ballet School. Photography by Mark Boisclair.

Douglas Sydnor Architect and Associates, Inc. of Scottsdale, Arizona has recently completed six projects and has been commissioned for a number of new buildings. Recently completed works include the Yen-Li Chen Ballet School in Chandler, Arizona, a 5,300-square-foot, two-story structure that includes two dance studios, a reception/lobby, real estate office and storage facilities. The school was designed for Yen-Li Chen Zhang, a recently retired principal ballerina with Ballet Arizona, who now teaches some 100 dance students. Also completed was the City of Chandler Solid Waste Facilities, a three-building complex that includes an administration area, a place for residents to dispose of hazardous materials and a recycling warehouse. Other completed projects in the metro Phoenix area include a Sir Speedy printing center, the Paradise Memorial Gardens Mausoleum Phase II, a Prestige Cleaners suite and a retail project. New projects include the City of Scottsdale Appaloosa Branch Library; a transit passenger facility for Arizona State University/Scottsdale; Main Street Place, a mixed-use structure in downtown Scottsdale; and a chapel/community room for Paradise Memorial Gardens.

Douglas Sydnor Architect's City of Chandler Solid Waste Facilities. Photography by Mark Boisclair.

Ground has been broken on the Papago Gateway Research Center in Tempe, Arizona, a privately developed speculative research facility designed by the Phoenix office of SmithGroup. The 265,000 square-foot, seven-story building, developed by Chesnut Properties and built by Okland Construction, will seek LEED certification and is designed with a double-skin louver system on the east, south and west for sun control. The building will be fully laboratory capable, able to accommodate companies with requirements ranging from 1,500 square feet to more than 100,000 square feet. Completion is expected in 2008.

DLR Group of Phoenix has been hired by the Maricopa County Animal Care and Control Services to design a new animal shelter in Phoenix. The 55,000-square-foot shelter will provide 300 indoor/outdoor dog kennels and 100 indoor kennels and display areas for cats and dogs. The design will emphasize more user-friendly public spaces, including showcase kiosks for adoptable pets and get-acquainted rooms for visitors and prospective pets. The facility will also include clinic space, play yards and pet-friendly administrative offices. The project is being done in conjunction with Jackson & Ryan Architects of Houston, Texas.

DLR Group's Maricopa County Animal Care and Control Services shelter.

In other DLR news, the architectural firm was ranked number one for 2006 in two market sectors by World Architecture magazine. It achieved first-place ranking in the justice sector and in educational projects. The magazine, published in London, bases its rankings on the number of fee-earning architects. The architectural firm ranked 30th overall among the world's top 100 architectural firms. DLR, which has 13 locations in the United States, counts the Boulder Creek High School in Phoenix and the Yuma County Juvenile Justice Center among its Arizona projects.

DFDia, a Phoenix-based commercial interiors firm, has been tapped to design the 200,000-square-foot Inter-Tel corporate office, with a location to be determined once the programming phase is completed. Inter-Tel is an Arizona company that offers communications software and hardware to businesses. DFDia has also been selected to design a 24,000-square-foot law office in Las Vegas.

In other DFDia news, three interior designers have passed the NCIDQ. Karen Harris, Dina Naslund and Joshua Thompson received certification, bringing to 12 the number of staff members who are NCIDQ accredited.

Denver-based Nuszer Kopatz, a landscape architecture and planning firm, has added architecture to its list of services with the addition of a new studio led by principal Patrick Berrend, Associate AIA, and joined by Greg Lockridge, AIA, LEED, as an associate. Additionally, Kelley Savage, ASLA, has been hired as a senior associate in the landscape architecture studio.

The Phoenix office of Leo A. Daly has announced several new employees and a promotion. David D. Stone, IIDA, LEED, has joined the firm as a senior interior designer, Mike Ganson as construction administrator, Kurt F. James as architectural intern, Reggie Blonstein as director of business development, Kay Melia as marketing coordinator, and Colleen M. Blaylock as associate marketing coordinator. Virginia E. Marquardt has been promoted to registered architect. The Leo A. Daly Phoenix office, which opened in 1988, employs more than 60 design professionals.

Patrick Berrend

Karen Romersa

Rest Assured, a Phoenix fine art and furniture storage, delivery and installation firm serving the interior design market, has partnered with Your Source, a sales and marketing firm headed by Karen Romersa. Your Source helps small to mid-size businesses increase sales and improve customer relations. Rest Assured, which has a 26,000-square-foot storage facility, is known for performing complex installations, including paintings, mirrors and sculpture.

The Phoenix showroom of NYLoft Kitchens & Home Interiors has been selected to provide the cabinetry for The Galleries at Turney, an eight-residence development in central Phoenix set to be the first new residential project in Arizona to achieve LEED certification. NYLoft, known for its environmentally sensitive and ergonomic European-designed cabinetry and system furniture, will provide the Logos and Keralta lines of cabinetry for the project, spearheaded by Modus Development.

Stark Carpet Corporation has selected two Arizona showrooms to represent its lines. UnderFoot, a luxury carpeting firm in Scottsdale, will offer Stark Carpet products, along with its own private label. Dean-Warren, also in Scottsdale, will handle Wallcovering, as well as Old World Weavers, Grey Watkins and Fonthill, all divisions of Stark Fabrics.