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

CO Architects of Los Angeles, California has won a national AIA Healthcare Design Award for its work on the Peter and Paula Fasseas Cancer Clinic at University Medical Center North in Tucson, Arizona. The project, one of only four projects lauded by the AIA's Academy of Architecture for Health, was noted for its integration into the desert landscape and healing access to the outdoors.

Scottsdale, Arizona–based Kendle Design Collaborative has won a 2008 Gold Nugget Award for Best Custom Home in the category of 5,000 to 10,000 square feet. The contemporary Arizona home features rammed-earth walls, a soaring roof form and the extensive use of glass. The Gold Nugget program is the premiere event of the annual Pacific Coast Builder's Conference.

Denver, Colorado's Kephart, a community, land planning and architecture firm, also won a Gold Nugget — an Award of Merit — in the category of Best Garden Apartment for its design and planning of Water Tower Flats for Camel Companies in Arvada, Colorado. The project is a 324-unit, mixed-use luxury apartment complex geared toward young professionals.

Kephart's Water Tower Flats

In other Kephart news, the firm recently relocated to Denver's Ballpark Neighborhood Historic District. Kephart purchased and renovated a 1929 Robert K. Fuller–designed warehouse for its new quarters.

DLR Group of Phoenix, Arizona also garnered a Gold Nugget Award of Merit in the Rehab Commercial Project category for its work on the Hotel Indigo in Scottsdale. The hotel, owned by Everest Holdings, was a former national-chain business hotel that was transformed into light, art-filled urban accommodations.

KTGY Group, Inc., an architecture and planning firm with offices in California and Colorado, was another Gold Nugget winner, obtaining a Grand Award in the category of Best Adaptive Re-Use Project for its work on the Whole Foods Market in Pasadena, California. The project, located on the site of an 80-year-old historic building, also won a Pasadena Beautiful Foundation redevelopment award. The project developer is Gordon Ekstrand/Bellevue Ventures, LLC.

KTGY Group, Inc.'s Whole Foods Market.

The Denver office of RNL won two design awards from the recent ASID Colorado Chapter design competition. The full-service architectural firm won in the Commercial Single Space category for the Qwest Executive Briefing Center and in the Industrial and Government Facility category for the State of Colorado Economic Development and International Trade office.

RNL Denver's State of Colorado Economic Development and International Trade office.

On a lighter note, RNL also won First Place/Best of Show in the annual Rocky Mountain Chapter IIDA Pret-a-Porter design competition. The event encourages design firms to create wearable fashion from materials used in interior design and architecture. The firm won for a dress bearing the image of Marilyn Monroe, made from Armstrong vinyl composition tile.

RNL's Pret-a-Porter winning dress, made of vinyl composition tile and other architectural materials.

In other RNL news, the firm was recently selected to provide interior architecture services for Xcel Energy's new 340,000-square-foot regional headquarters to be located in downtown Denver. The space is being planned to meet LEED CI Platinum levels. Additionally, Bradford Bull, AIA, LEED AP has joined the firm as senior project manager and associate in the architecture studio, while Omar Baghdadi has joined the urban design/landscape architecture studio as an urban designer.

The Origen at Las Vegas Springs Preserve in Las Vegas, Nevada, has won a Merit Award from the 2008 Innovative Design in Engineering and Architecture with Structural Steel awards program. The visitors' complex, which celebrates the human and natural history of the area, was designed by Tate Snyder Kimsey Architects of Henderson, Nevada, with SME Steel Contractors, Inc. of West Jordan, Utah and Southwest Steel, LLC of Henderson as the structural steel fabricators.

The Origen at Las Vegas Springs Preserve, as seen in the July/August 2008 issue of Sources+Design.

Moran Architects of Scottsdale has received an Award of Merit from the Phoenix-based Valley Forward Association for the firm's in-house Moran Architects Sustainability Initiatives, which includes operating a carbon-neutral business and designing its own headquarters to LEED Silver level. The association promotes environmentally conscious projects in metro Phoenix.

Scottsdale's Est Est, Inc. has completed the interior design and renovation for the 16,125-square-foot Virginia G. Piper Trust Foundation offices in Phoenix. The charitable trust foundation was formed in 1995 to fund community projects in metro Phoenix. Est Est, Inc., established in 1959, specializes in residential, commercial and hospitality projects.

Virginia G. Piper Trust Foundation offices by Est Est, Inc.

Assemblage Studio, a Las Vegas architectural firm founded by Eric Strain, AIA, has completed renovation of the Border Grill restaurant in the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino, also in Las Vegas. the restaurant was remodeled to expand dining and bar capacities, and includes rammed-earth veneer panels at the entry.

Assemblage Studio's Border Grill.

The Denver office of the landscape architecture and planning firm EDAW/AECOM partnered in a pro bono project with the City of Denver to revitalize the landscape along Auraria Parkway in time for this summer's Democratic National Convention, held at the Pepsi Center along the parkway. Using a sustainable theme, the firm redesigned the streetscape to include native grasses and xeric trees, efficient irrigation technologies, bioswales and water-quality filters.

San Diego, California–based Domus Studio Architects is designing three new fire stations for the City of Encinitas, California. The new facilities will replace existing fire stations in a phased design and construction schedule. Each station's style and materials will reflect the Encinitas neighborhood in which it is located.

AB Design Elements, a Scottsdale interior design firm founded by Amy Bubier, recently completed the remodel of a Southwest-style home in Scottsdale. The project, done in conjunction with Link Architecture, also of Scottsdale, involved updating the residence through the use of more contemporary materials, lighting and furnishings.

An Arizona residence by AB Design Elements. Photograph by Mark Boisclair.

Linthicum, a custom commercial contracting firm with offices in Scottsdale, as well as California and Hawaii, has broken ground on a $100 million clubhouse and spa at Kukui'ula, a 1,010-acre luxury residential development in Kauai, Hawaii. The Plantation House and Plantation Spa will feature coffered ceilings and a wrap-around lanai with ocean and golf-course views. The project is developed by Kukui'ula Development Company, LLC.

The Denver architectural firm D.H. Ruggles & Associates has completed an Italianate residence in Castle Pines, Colorado. The residence features stone masonry, clay roof tiles, old wooden beams, and mahogany doors and window frames. Interior touches include a custom spiral staircase and an elevator.

A Colorado residence by D.H. Ruggles & Associates.

Phoenix architect Michael Underhill recently completed work on Portland 38, a 38-unit townhome development in downtown Phoenix. The project, for JAG Development, features three-level units with private garages and gardens, and contemporary materials such as sandblasted CMU walls and polished concrete floors.

Davis, a Tempe, Arizona architectural firm, has been selected as architect for City-Scape Phase II, a downtown Phoenix mixed-use development that includes a Palomar Hotel by Kimpton, residential tower and retail shops. Scheduled to break ground in early 2009, CityScape is a RED Development project.

Slaterpaull Architects of Denver recently announced three promotions. Jennifer Cordes, AIA, leader of the firm's higher education studio, has been named principal; Matt Porta, AIA, a team leader on numerous projects, has been named senior associate; and Lyn Eller, AIA, LEED AP, leader of the firm's design fitness team, has been named associate.

Rick McLain has been promoted to partner at Repp Design + Construction of Tucson. McLain joined the firm in 2002, working as both an architect and construction administrator. The firm was founded in 1996 by architect and contractor Page W. Repp, Jr.

SmithGroup Phoenix has announced several staff achievements and promotions. Mark Patterson, AIA, ACHA, LEED AP, healthcare studio leader, has received the College of Healthcare Architects certification. Adam Denmark, AIA, LEED AP, has been promoted to lab planner. Staff members promoted to associate status were Lori Buchanan, AIA; Brad Gildea; Chris Kelly, AIA; Jim Koehler, AIA, LEED AP; Linda Lee; Ben McRae, LEED AP; Carrie Perrone; Robert Sty, LEED AP; and Eric Watson.

Corey Brooks has joined the Tempe office of Design Workshop as an associate and landscape designer, transferring from the landscape architecture firm's Asheville, North Carolina office.

Denver's Pahl Architecture has hired Jason Ingerslev as job captain and announced the LEED accreditation of Tyson Morozs and Mark Brazee, bringing the firm's number of LEED AP employees to five.

Joe Herzog, AIA, principal of Merzproject Architects + Urban Design of Phoenix, has been honored with an Alumni Award from his alma mater, Illinois Wesleyan University. Herzog received his bachelor's degree in international studies and studio art from the university in 1998 and a master's degree in architecture from Arizona State University. The award recognizes his accomplishments since graduation.

Robb & Stucky's Heirloomed Oriental Rug Gallery in Phoenix has been awarded exclusivity in representing Arzu rugs. The rugs are woven by Afghan women.

Interior designer Mark Nichols, LEED AP, of Mark Nichols Modern Interiors in Palm Springs, California, has launched a Web site portfolio at marknicholsinteriors.com. Nichols is the only LEED AP designer specializing in commercial interiors in the Coachella Valley.

The L.A. Mart Design Center recently sponsored and hosted the DIFFA Dining by Design 2008 event. The fundraising event featured numerous dining environments and tabletop settings created by locally and nationally recognized design professionals, artists and talent.

Denver's WorthGroup, a full-service architectural firm, celebrated the opening of its new office with a Las Vegas–style open house. The new location, once a warehouse for Model T production, now houses the 22-employee firm, led by partners Brian Fagerstrom, AIA and Bryan Hamlin. The firm, which specializes in gaming, hospitality, entertainment and convention projects, is currently engaged in work for Harrah's in Las Vegas and for the Choctaw Tribe of Oklahoma.