Keoni Fleming is a project architect with DesignGroup, where he also serves as sustainability manager, focusing on the integration of sustainable design into all areas of the firm’s design processes. He has considerable experience on sustainable and LEED-certified projects. Keoni is also an adjunct faculty member at the Knowlton School of Architecture, where he teaches design, sustainability, and construction.

JENNIFER HORVATH
ASSOCIATE. BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT LEADER.

Jennifer Horvath is DesignGroup’s Business Development Leader. Her expertise includes business development, strategic marketing, and implementation of the annual marketing plan. Jennifer leads the project pursuit approach, from beginning to end, in each of DesignGroup’s five markets.

JANE PETERS, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, ACHA, NCARB
ASSOCIATE. SENIOR HEALTHCARE PLANNER.

Jane has dedicated her professional career to the planning and design of forward-thinking healthcare environments. She understands and emphasizes the need for strong planning as the basis for future architectural work that can proceed in a thoughtful and efficient manner providing the best result for our clients.

DesignGroup congratulates these individuals for their hard work and dedication. The promotion of these key individuals serves to strengthen DesignGroup’s position in the markets it serves and ensures continued excellent customer service to the firm’s current and future clients.

Design sketch of the Columbus Museum of Art Expansion Project

The expansion project, the third phase of a three part master plan, consists of the renovation of the 38,000 square foot 1974 Wing, a major addition of 50,000 square feet, and the associated site work related to a new main entrance, relocated sculpture garden, and related outdoor spaces. CMA’s vision is to foster a dynamic visitor experience built around a world-class collection, which places CMA at the vanguard of a new movement among art museums that focuses not only on art, but also on visitors and their experiences with art and with each other. The leadership of CMA has a strong vision of how their facilities need to be improved to better serve their mission and major priorities identified for the expansion project were:

A new entry experience
Expanded special events areas
Increased special exhibition and collections spaces
A new retail store and restaurant
Installation of a new Sculpture Garden

Under the design leadership of DesignGroup principal Michael Bongiorno, AIA, the museum design team of Keoni Fleming, Keith DeVoe, Joseph Mayer, and Brandon Pence has developed a bold and novel design strategy. DesignGroup asked provocative questions of CMA about both the relationship of the museum to contemporary culture and the museum’s physical relationship to the city and its citizens. From those questions, the design evolved out of our deep understanding of the particularities of the site, the imperatives of the programmatic relationships, and the redefinition of the museum’s relationship to its physical and social context. The building design, then, is a reflection of the museum’s ambition to be more visible, relevant, and connected to the community as a meeting point between art, the public and the physical city.

The building design concept is fairly simple: A long bar of gallery space on the east side of the site is separated from the Ross Wing by a light filled concourse and entry forecourt that serves as the central organizing element of the project. The museum’s presence to the north and south is announced through “cinematic facades” that allow a dialogue between the museum interiors and the surrounding neighborhood. The entry forecourt is a gently sloping covered walk defined by, and accessing, the new sculpture garden to the West and a green space along Washington Avenue to the East. Semi-public program elements such as the retail store and café are strategically located with relation to outdoor spaces in order to provide the maximum amount of ground floor activation. The café is able to fully open itself to a terrace overlooking the sculpture garden by way of large folding glass wall panels. The new special event space, axially related to Derby Court, sits on the second floor overlooking the sculpture garden to the north. The sculpture garden is then accessed by stair from an outdoor terrace serving the special event space.

Experientially, the project was guided by the study of the poetics of light, by harnessing the power of simplicity and essentialism, and by defining the visitor experience as a cinematic procession. Strategically, there are five noted features of the building design planning:

The Shard of Light, a dynamic multi-level concourse and lobby defined by natural light and city views, is a central organizing element that ties together historic galleries and new program spaces.

The Shard of Light

Cinematic Facades connect galleries, special events spaces, retail, and cafe to the garden and surrounding neighborhood in a way the museum has never been able to engage the public realm.

View from the south as seen from Broad Street

The Upper Gallery, is a vast and flexible exhibition space, clad in pre-patinated copper, sitting above a first floor gallery defined by limestone and glass.

The Upper Gallery

The Special Event Spine relates the original Broad Street entry to Derby Court, the new Special Events Space, and the Sculpture Garden.

The Historic Jewel that is the Ross Wing is set within the serene and minimalist architecture of the addition.

This project is seeking a LEED Silver Certification.

View the Columbus Museum of Art’s Expansion Promotional Video

Our design partners are Columbus’ MKSK (site), Corna-Kokosing (construction), Shelley Metz Baumann Hawk (structural), and Heapy Engineering (MEP).

For more information about the expansion project please visit the Columbus Museum of Art’s website.

Additionally, you can view more project drawings and renders on our Columbus Museum of Art project page.

When DesignGroup staff are asked to bring food, the results are super tasty!

Yesterday, our internal departments competed in our 6^th annual Chili-Cookoff. But our chili competition doesn’t only include chili. We compete for the best side dish, dessert, costume, and theme. And needless to say, when you get a bunch of architects competing against one another, the results in both food and décor, are absolutely stunning. The themes get more and more elaborate each year! The teams:

Team DesignGrüb

Yes, they really did build a massive food truck. Since food trucks are a huge hit here in Columbus, Team DesignGrüb decided to add their own truck to the food truck scene. Look for it around the city.

Winners of:

Best Theme
Best Dessert

Team DesignGrüb consisted of our urban / civic / education / library studio

Team Most Wanted

As the saying goes, “everything old is new again.” Team Most Wanted brought the 1920’s Columbus back with flapper and mobster style.  However, their display was not 100% authentic.  The tommy gun was plastic, the Lucky Strikes were made out of bubble gum, and the bootlegged whiskey was actually apple cider.

Winners of:

Best Costumes
Best Side Dish

Team Most Wanted consisted of our shared services group: finance, marketing, business development, I.T., and specifications

Team Texas Showdown

You see, our healthcare architect Tom Gerken has a donkey named Elvis (seriously). Elvis decided to take a road trip to Texas this past summer. Team Texas Showdown decided to curate their theme around Elvis’ favorite dishes along his travels.

Winners of:

Best Chili

Team Texas Showdown consisted of our healthcare studio

As you can see, our chili cook-off was a huge success! Want to see other cool things we do around our office? Check out our Decoregg contest and Fruititecture Competition.

Ohio University Alden Library Learning Commons

This is an exciting time for academic libraries as they change the way they become relevant to student learning. By repurposing spaces to meet the needs of students, libraries are becoming a destination on campus. I recently presented a webinar with Mary Beth Lock of Wake Forest University Library and Mark Haubenschild of Patterson-Pope, summarizing my experience working with over 90 libraries.

To stay relevant, libraries are becoming the center for learning on campus. There are many names to describe this space, including learning commons, academic commons, or information commons. These spaces create a modern learning environment with key elements such as:

• State of the art technology
• Central service point
• Individual and collaborative learning environments
• 24/7 operations
• Faculty involvement
• Social spaces

Through DesignGroup’s work with Florida State University (FSU), FSU and Herman Miller embarked on a study that uncovered that students want the library to become the place to “see and be seen” on campus (www.hermanmiller.com/education). More importantly, students want a space that responds to their learning styles.

Learning Retention Pyramid

The learning retention pyramid shown above demonstrates the importance of collaboration amongst students as it increases the retention of information. The key to successful active learning is implementing a variety of flexible learning spaces. One of the keys in drawing the students back into the library is to make it inviting and comfortable. This includes creating individual study spaces with comfortable and flexible seating along with collaborative open seating spaces that can take the form of lounge seating around a coffee table. Additionally, the incorporation of a café and casual style seating creates a more comfortable learning environment, that when coupled with group study/quiet study spaces, give faculty the opportunity to meet students outside of class to further their learning experience.

Franklin University Nationwide Library

To attract students to the campus library, DesignGroup provides private rooms in a variety of sizes for group and quiet study. While these rooms provide acoustic privacy, the transparent walls allow students to “see and be seen”. In addition to learning and studying with peers, a student’s learning experience is enhanced by the professional guidance they can receive from the library staff. In repurposing the library, consolidating service points and providing collaborative desks make the space much more customer friendly.

Florida State University Strozier Library

By providing a variety of resources for the use of technology, subject tutoring, studying, and overall academic advancement, students will visit frequently and view the library as a learning center on campus.

Mike Bongiorno (left) accepts the AIA Merit Award for the Peggy R. McConnell Arts Center of Worthington and Jack Hedge (right) accepts the AIA Merit Award for the Franklin County Common Pleas Courthouse, both from Julie Snow of Julie Snow Architects

Franklin County Common Pleas Courthouse AIA Columbus Merit Award

DesignGroup wins the 2012 AIA Columbus Merit Award for the Franklin County Common Pleas Courthouse

The Franklin County Courthouse represents an innovative design solution focused on contextual siting in the urban core, high performance, sustainable design and an expression of design excellence. Designed in conjunction with Arquitectonica and RicciGreene Associates, this 325,000 square feet courthouse incorporates national best practices related to court’s functionality, technology integration and security.

Through extensive south-facing exterior glass the public can read the building’s internal workings.

The theme of “judicial transparency” is literally translated through vast areas of glass on the building exterior, affording extensive opportunities for daylighting of interior work environments, including all courtrooms.

The Courthouse is LEED Certified Gold as a high-performing, sustainable building through the US Green Building Council.

Peggy R. McConnell Arts Center of Worthington AIA Columbus Merit Award

DesignGroup wins the 2012 AIA Columbus Merit Award for the Peggy R. McConnell Arts Center of Worthington

The arts center involved the adaptive reuse of the 1918 Worthington High School designed by renowned Columbus Ohio architect, Frank Packard.  The program brings together 31 diverse art groups in one place:  theater, dance, choir, instrumental music, fine arts, photography, ceramics and more.

Theater lobby

Main level gallery

The expanded and renovated building provides a performance space with 250 seats, gallery/display space, dance studio, art and ceramics studios and office space for directors and staff.  The development concept includes an 8,000 SF addition to the existing 18,000 SF building.

Theater

The new Drexel Avenue entry plaza

DesignGroup congratulates Columbus School for Girls on the opening of the first phase of its Landmark Building Project. The new addition includes a Wellness Center featuring a light filled athletics entrance adjacent to the enhanced existing main academic entrance off of South Drexel Avenue. A new 8-lane swimming pool with bleacher seating and an abundance of natural light with exterior views replaces the existing second floor 4-lane pool.

The new athletic entrance into the Wellness Center features an abundance of natural light

The new athletic entrance features a bold and contemporary design using timeless materials.

A new multi-fitness center includes a workout room with panoramic views overlooking the pool. A new yoga and dance room, new locker rooms, showers and restrooms complement the existing wellness and athletics programs.

A new 8-lane swimming pool replaces a dark and small second floor pool

In addition, an expanded and renovated dining room, which opened in January, provides a flexible space for gathering and dining with more natural light and exterior views. A new drop off sequence at the Drexel entries has clarified wayfinding and queuing for visitors and includes new signage, seating and landscaping. The school motto is Forte et Gratum (Strength and Grace), and the building design has followed suit with a bold, contemporary statement in timeless materials.

The new Wellness Center entrance is flanked by the enhanced main dining room (on the right) and the new 8-lane swimming pool (on the left)

Perhaps it was best summed up in the words of CSG parent and past board chair Susan Tomasky: “I want to tell you what a treat it was today, on the first day of my daughter’s last year at CSG, to enjoy this wonderful, beautiful building.  It is as if the entire building is transformed. There is a great spirit about in the design and the execution.” We were proud to serve the CSG family on this special project with our construction partner, Corna-Kokosing. Mark Corna, president of CK, portrayed the collaboration succinctly: “Everyone worked together beautifully as a team to accomplish something of which we can all be proud.”

Structural steel frame of the Nature Center

Thanks in part to the cooperation of Mother Nature (for a few weeks of consistently sunny weather), structural steel erection went quickly and the steel frame is now complete.

View the entire 2012 schedule of events.

We were invited to present recently as part of their Sustainability Lecture Series.  I presented ‘Sustainability: The Triple Bottom Line’ to an engaged and attentive audience that asked some sharp and insightful questions.  We also had an opportunity to see the Marshall campus, where they are implementing the first steps in an ambitious sustainability program.

I was fortunate to have a chance to talk with Clark Davis of West Virginia Public Broadcasting about sustainable design (see the link below).  While I’m on the topic, a shout out to West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s Mountain Stage, which features terrific musicians, both emerging and established.

Zero Discharge Stormwater System Layout, DesignGroup & EMH&T

In this month’s edition of The Urban Review, a stormwater and erosion control newsletter put together by the Franklin Soil and Water Conservation District (FSWCD), the Alum Crest/Clearbrook school’s innovative stormwater design has been featured in an article.  To read the article, please visit “Innovative Stormwater Design at New School”, and proceed to page 3.

This article explains the “Zero Discharge Site” and design of the stormwater system and how this is one of the first of its kind for the City of Columbus.  It also goes into detail concerning the infiltration pit testing and the archeological analyses that were involved for the site.

Sections through Infiltration Chambers, DesignGroup & EMH&T

EMH&T, the civil engineering consultant for DesignGroup for the Alum Crest project, submitted a marketing sheet concerning this design to the FSWCD.  Then the FSWCD wrote the article attached in this post.

To read more about Infiltration Pit Testing, see the “Innovative Stormwater Design = Infiltration Pit Testing + Alum Crest/Clearbrook Site” blog post.

To find out more about the FSWCD, please visit the “Franklin Soil and Water Conservation District” website.