Project
Portfolio: Commercial and Public Projects
Commercial projects offer a rich pallet of materials, particularly when the
old can be combined with the new. Many commercial structures go through
several major changes of use during their lifetime. Utility and function
are weighed carefully in the design of commercial projects. Budgetary
targets are linked tightly to the project's proforma. Code and permitting
requirements are very rigorous and need to be part of the project planning
from the start. The site plan, must meet zoning requirements including
parking, setbacks and buffers. Most sites will require considerable grading,
and proposed grading elevations must be studied carefully with the land shape
or topography, to keep grading costs to a minimum.
In our commercial work you will find studied, well-organized floor plans with
the staffing, operations, and daily functions of your business or institution
in mind. You will find the new facade, accented by a new entry canopy
focal point in such projects as Ken Wilson Ford or Saturn of Asheville. You
will find good examples of carefully planned day-lighting for office and business
interiors. You will find the adaptive re-use of existing buildings to
new occupancies and you will find respect for preserving significant historic
elements and themes. The award winning William Mull Building we designed
provides the imaginative adaptation of an historic brick power plant structure
into four levels of administrative and engineering offices. At the center
of a dramatic atrium with day lighting from the industrial cupola 55 feet
above the main level, is the original four-post carriage built in 1915 from
riveted steel plate girders and columns, like the steel bridge construction
of the day.
