Cannon Design has announced the development of a new healthcare consulting arm of the practice, called Cannon Consulting. Targeted toward providing healthcare companies with support and the tools to increase efficiency, the new practice is staffed by healthcare professionals with backgrounds in clinical, operational, and financial management. Cannon Consulting will be led by firm principal Mark A. Stinson.
Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback & Associates of Atlanta, known as TVS, has changed its name. Effective last month, the firm is now known as tvsdesign.
The ULI Terwilliger Center for Workforce Housing has announced the winners of the first annual ULI/J. Ronald Terwilliger Workforce Housing Models of Excellence Awards. The three winning projects, recognized for creating workforce housing in high-cost communities, are The Boulevard in Anaheim, Anaheim, Calif., developed by John Laing Homes; Legacy at Lincoln Park, Rockville, Md., developed by Urban Atlantic Development; and Morgan Woods, Edgartown, Mass., developed by The Community Builders. At least 25 percent of the units in the three projects are designated for families earning between 60 percent and 120 percent of the median income in their respective areas.
AutoDesSys—the software company behind form•Z—selected 16 students working on 11 projects as the winners of the company's 16th annual student design competition. The architectural design Award of Distinction winner was Farzam Yazdanseta from the University of Maryland, with an honorable mention awarded to Ben Mokri from the NewSchool of Architecture and Design. The program is run in conjunction with the form•Z Joint Study Program to teach 3-D design in schools. Winning projects can be seen at www.formz.com/jointstudy/award_winners.html.
The National Park Service is entertaining the idea of holding a design competition to revitalize the grounds around Gateway Arch, the iconic St. Louis structure designed by Eero Saarinen. The goal would be to better link the arch to downtown and to the nearby waterfront, including incorporating barrier-free pathways to the Mississippi River. Currently, there are no funds to run the competition.
San Francisco–based SMWM has merged with Perkins+Will. Led by founding principal Cathy Simon, SMWM has done design and planning work nationally and abroad, with notable projects including the San Francisco Ferry Building and U.C. Berkeley's Hearst Memorial Gym.
A renovation project at the University of Toronto uncovered a historic ceiling in the Gerstein Reading Room. The ceiling's neo-Gothic wood trusses and carved beams, which had been hidden for more than a century by metal bracing installed in the early 1900s to support the structure, are being restored and preserved and will remain exposed.
England's University of Hertfordshire has designed a room it is touting as the most relaxing room in the world. Deep green lighting, combined with a skylike screen and lavender aromatherapy, creates an environment that, the university says, promotes introspection and increases dopamine levels. The university plans to use its research and work with the design industry to develop less stressful work environments.
