Project Details
- Project Name
- Center of Developing Entrepreneurs
- Location
- Va.
- Architect
- EskewDumezRipple
- Client/Owner
- CSH Development
- Project Scope
- Interiors
- Size
- 215,000 sq. feet
- Year Completed
- 2022
- Awards
- 2023 AIA - National Awards
- Shared by
- Zonda Media
- Team
-
Jose Alvarez, Design Principal
Steve Dumez, Design Principal
Tyler Guidroz, Design Staff
Jill Traylor, Interior Design
Max Katz, Design Staff
Noah Marble, Design Staff
Tom Gibbons, Design Staff
- Consultants
-
Design Architect and Architect of Record: EskewDumezRipple,Architect of Record: Wolf Ackerman,General Contractor: Hourigan Group,Civil Engineer: Timmons Group, Inc.,Structural Engineer: Fox and Associates, Inc.,Plumbing Engineer: 2RW Consulting Engineers,Electrical Engineer: 2RW Consulting Engineers,Landscape Architect: Gregg Bleam Landscape Architect,Lighting Designer: David Tozer,Audio-visual and Information Technology: Sextant Group,Other: Iconograph (Wayfinding),Other: Design Chesapeake (Kitchen),Other: REI (Envelope),Other: Assa Abloy (Hardware),Other: DEW (Fountain),Interior Designer: EskewDumezRipple
- Project Status
- Built
- Cost
- $93,000,000
This project was selected as a winner in AIA's 2023 Architecture Awards.
Aiming to retain local talent, CSH Development envisioned giving University of Virginia graduates and area entrepreneurs a hub where they could cultivate community, business, and technology projects closer to home. The resulting Center of Developing Entrepreneurs, brought to life by architect-of-record Wolf Ackerman and associate architect EskewDumezRipple, offers a central location for innovators in the Washington metropolitan area to gather and share ideas.
Located in a bustling pedestrian mall on historical Main Street in Charlottesville, Va., the 215,000-square-foot building, which features jagged edges that resemble a staircase, is set at different elevations to provide visual interest and ensure unobstructed views of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. Brick cladding and punched-in window openings make up the façade, where ground-level, glazed entrances provide peeks into the interior. Inside, open-concept coworking spaces and conference rooms on the first two floors encourage collaborative work. An auditorium on the second floor, meanwhile, offers a venue for presentations, events, and film screenings. Finally, on the upper floors, private offices serve as additional workspaces.
PROJECT CREDITS
Project: Center of Developing Entrepreneurs, Charlottesville, Va.
Architects: EskewDumezRipple
Architect of Record: Wolf Ackerman
Associate Architect: EskewDumezRipple
M/E/P Engineer: 2RW
Structural Engineer: Fox & Associates
Civil Engineer: Timmons Group
Landscape Architecture: Gregg Bleam Landscape Architects
Fountain: Dan Euser - WATERARCHITECTURE, INC.
Soil Consultant: Pine & Swallow
Irrigation Consultant: Guy Boulahdou
Horticulture: Patric Cullina Horticultural Design + Consulting
Lighting Design: David Tozer Lighting Design (DKT Lighting)
AV/IT/Security: NV5
General Contractor: Hourigan Group
Size: 215,000 square feet
This article first appeared in the May/June 2023 issue of ARCHITECT.
Project Description
FROM THE ARCHITECTS:
Envisioning multiuse space for entrepreneurs, designers, and developers, and additional ground floor retail, the new 215,000-square-foot Center of Developing Entrepreneurs (CODE) will act as a connective ligature between the institutional, commercial, and the historic avenues of the city. The project will feature an open-air, pedestrian gallery that will promote public circulation from the Mall to Water Street. This will be a dynamically engaging new approach to the west end of the Mall. At the center of the site, there will be an exterior courtyard with a sunken water feature and amphitheater for public and private outdoor events. As the building steps up from the Mall to Water Street, you will glimpse a series of planted rooftop terraces. Each of these outdoor terraces will serve as work and gathering spaces for tenants on each floor and provide panoramic views of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
The building will include one level of subgrade parking that will feature electric vehicle charging stations. Parking spaces may be converted to alternate uses in anticipation of evolving transportation trends. The project will also provide a variety of retail spaces on its ground floor along with the main lobby entry on the Downtown Mall. A secondary entrance to the lobby will also be provided on Water Street. The Water Street side lobby is spacious and may serve as a coworking studio when not being used as a state-of-the-art 200-plus seat auditorium. The auditorium will serve both tenant specific uses and local community events.
At the ground floor, the brick facade will be replaced by a glazed storefront to expose a unique public space intended to enliven the street and promote connectivity. An interior plaza will also serve to extend the terminus of the main thoroughfare, Main Street, with a direct connection to adjacent Water Street. The move will facilitate access between the adjoining areas and allow further retail space to be integrated into the surrounding pedestrian mall.
CODE is on track for LEED Platinum certification. The design employs systems and technologies even beyond LEED standards, that will increase the fresh air exchange, provide fine-tuned environmental controls allowing for natural ventilation and daylighting. Additionally, the building has been designed to harvest and reuse rainwater for green roof irrigation. The building’s envelope is designed to meet the AIA’s 2030 challenge for efficiency and thermal performance. The project is estimated to be completed later this year (2021).
