Syracuse University is one step closer to selecting a world-class partner to conceptualize, design, and construct the new National Veterans Resource Complex (NVRC). The NVRC Selection Committee, made up of faculty, staff, students, and design professionals, recently reviewed the qualifications of 28 of the world’s foremost architecture firms. After careful consideration, the Selection Committee has selected three finalists to advance to the final round of the competition. The finalists are: Adjaye Associates; SHoP; and Snohetta. Notably, each of these firms is among the seven finalists currently vying for the opportunity to design the Obama Presidential Library in Chicago.
Directing the design competition on behalf of Syracuse University is Martha Thorne, dean of the IE School of Architecture and Design in Madrid. Thorne also serves as the executive director of the Pritzker Prize—the architecture award equivalent to the Nobel Prize.
“The three finalist firms and their teams are outstanding,” says Thorne. “I have no doubt they will propose ideas that go beyond traditional academic buildings and make the NVRC a pioneering facility that will contribute to the University, as well as the broader community.”
A first-of-its-kind, multi-use facility, the NVRC will serve as the enduring home of the University’s Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF), which has served more than 48,000 veterans and military families. The NVRC will offer state-of-the-art vocational and educational programs designed to advance the economic success of the region’s and the nation’s veterans and military families. The structure itself will include classroom spaces to accommodate local and national veteran-focused programming, along with a conference center and roughly 1,000-seat auditorium suitable to host community activities, lectures, and national convening events and conferences. The facility is also expected to include gallery space exhibiting the University’s storied legacy of serving America’s veterans. Designed as a LEED-certified facility and constructed in accordance with Universal Design practices, the NVRC will be an inclusive facility that welcomes and accommodates veterans and visitors with disabilities.
As part of the design competition process, the selected firms will collaborate with the School of Architecture to present lectures – about their firms and their past work – to the campus community. These lectures are tentatively scheduled to take place in March, and will be open to the general public.
The firms will return to campus in April to present their final proposals to the Selection Committee. The winning firm will be announced in May.
Related Stories
| Sep 2, 2014
Ranked: Top green building sector AEC firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
AECOM, Gensler, and Turner top BD+C's rankings of the nation's largest green design and construction firms.
Sponsored | | Sep 2, 2014
Judson University’s Harm A. Weber Academic Center resembles copper, but its sustainability efforts are pure gold
The building’s custom-fabricated wall panels look like copper, but are actually flat metal sheets coated with Valspar’s signature Fluropon Copper Penny coating.
| Sep 1, 2014
Ranked: Top federal government sector AEC firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Clark Group, Fluor, and HOK top BD+C's rankings of the nation's largest federal government design and construction firms, as reported in the 2014 Giants 300 Report.
| Aug 27, 2014
Study looks at lessons from involving children in K-12 school design
A study examining what architects can learn from children, especially during the design process, is being carried out through the University of Sheffield's school of architecture.
| Aug 25, 2014
Tall wood buildings: Surveying the early innovators
Timber has been largely abandoned as a structural solution in taller buildings during the last century, in favor of concrete and steel. Perkins+Will's Rebecca Holt writes about the firm's work in surveying the burgeoning tall wood buildings sector.
| Aug 21, 2014
Ranked: Top science and technology sector AEC firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
HDR, Affiliated Engineers, and Skanska top BD+C's rankings of the nation's largest S+T sector design and construction firms.
Sponsored | | Aug 16, 2014
Fire-rated framing system makes the grade at Johnson & Wales University Center
The precision engineering of TGP’s Fireframes Aluminum Series creates narrow profiles and crisp sightlines at Johnson & Wales University Center for Physician Assistant Studies
| Aug 16, 2014
The science of learning: Designing the STEM learning facilities of the future
New technology and changing pedagogies are influencing how to best teach a generation of learners who have never known a world without smartphones or tablets, writes HOK's Kimberly Robidoux.
| Aug 14, 2014
8 do's and don'ts for completing an HVAC life cycle cost assessment
There are many hurdles to overcome when completing a life cycle cost assessment. RMF Engineering’s Seth Spangler offers some words of advice regarding LCCAs.
| Aug 14, 2014
Life cycle cost analysis using energy modeling
A life cycle cost analysis helps a school district decide which HVAC system to use in $198 million worth of future building projects.
