Dewberry has been recognized with four awards in the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Illinois Prairie Chapter Design Awards program for 2017. The firm’s Peoria office was recognized for its work in architecture, adaptive reuse and preservation, and interior design.
The firm won the chapter’s top award, the Excellence in Design award, for the Mayo Clinic Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center Phase 2 in Rochester, Minnesota, working with associate architect BWBR Architects, Inc. Phase 2 added five stories to the existing fitness and wellness center, creating new program space for a variety of non-traditional programs such as spirituality, healthy cooking, and non-exercise activity thermogenesis concepts.
Jurors noted “the consistency of vision across both phases and interior and exterior of this project.” The jurors also said, “the care with which the individual spaces were shaped makes the most of every surface.”
The addition was previously recognized for design by Athletic
Business magazine and the Association of Licensed Architects.
The firm also won two certificates of merit for adaptive reuse, preservation, and restoration, recognizing the Pekin Insurance office renovation and the Pekin Public Library, both in Pekin, Illinois.
For the office renovation project, the firm created an updated design for an original mid-century building and two additions from the 1980s. The renovation consisted of an upgrade of the 144,000-square-foot office space, plus a new data center and work cafe. The jurors noted the firm’s creation of a “clean, coordinated corporate identity” through a “wise use of resources.”
For the Pekin Public Library project, the firm provided the design for the renovation of the 1974 building, which included a new main entry and expanded children’s area with abundant natural light. “The careful planning effort that resulted in tightly targeted new construction pays off big time,” the jurors noted. The jurors also mentioned that “the subtle finish and fixture applications…convey a lot of direction and feeling.”
The firm also won an honorable mention for interior design for the Running Central project, a retail store relocation in Peoria, Illinois. The firm completed a rehabilitation of a 20,000-square-foot, circa-1903 warehouse into a new retail space and showroom, featuring hardwood floors, reclaimed artwork, exposed timber beams, a women’s lounge/dressing room area, and a front-of-store flex space. Jurors mentioned “Sometimes the best thing a renovation design can do is stay out of the way. This project had a warm and simple existing palette and the designers made the most of it.”
