Good office culture is one of the most vital attributes of an architecture firm, or any office environment. While it’s sometimes hard to conceptualize, it’s even harder to build from the ground up with predictable results. Here are some of the PRAXIS3 practices intended to foster a healthy, design-oriented office culture. We’ve broken them up into 3 categories.
After many years in development, PRAXIS3 is thrilled to announce the completion of the Media Bridge project at the Georgia Tech Library, designed by PRAXIS3 in collaboration with Second Story and Nanolumens. A truly unique and integrated art installation, the Media Bridge is both functional and inspirational, providing an interactive media “instrument” at a major crossroads on the Georgia Tech campus. The Media Bridge can be programmed – or ‘played’ – in multiple ways, including original content created by and for the students themselves.
PRAXIS3 is proud to announce the promotions of five team members for 2022. Over the years, all of these team members have gone above and beyond in the service of our clients and in contributing to the success and growth of our design practice. We are honored to share these promotions with you.
PRAXIS3 was among the first firms in Atlanta to embrace BIM 20 years ago, and we’re continually developing ways we can innovate to better serve our clients.
This year we’ve engaged Commense Design Studio to provide specialized BIM training for all levels of BIM users at PRAXIS3. Each week, a rotating group of six architects and designers participates in a 90-minute BIM workshop tailored to the skill of level of the group. Our goal is to elevate the quality of the designs, the documents, and ultimately the spaces we develop in partnership with our clients.
Affordability and equity are issues key to making Atlanta a better place for everyone.
PRAXIS3 is proud to be the architect for Rea Venture’s exciting new project on the Atlanta Beltline. Madison at Reynoldstown is a 116-unit all affordable housing development that broke ground on March 7th. This innovative mixed-use complex will provide below market rate rents for those earning at least 80% or less of the area’s mean income.
Partners in this unique development include developer Rea Ventures, the Atlanta Beltline, Atlanta Housing, The City of Atlanta, the Georgia Department of Community Affairs and a host of others.
PRAXIS3, in partnership with BNIM, recently received the “Excellence in Sustainable Preservation” award for the Georgia Tech Library Renewal during The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation’s 44th annual Preservation Awards ceremony at Macon’s Grand Opera House.
According to the Trust, awards for Excellence in Sustainable Rehabilitation recognize excellent rehabilitation projects that also incorporate appropriate conservation and sustainable treatments to lessen a building’s environmental impact while preserving significant features that convey its historic significance.
The Georgia Trust jury commented in support of the award, “Following its rehabilitation, the library is once again a state-of-the-art facility, serving an integral role in Georgia Tech’s core educational ecosystem. The final design ultimately transformed a well-designed but inefficient building into a technology-rich, people-centered space at the heart of campus.
PRAXIS3, along with partners BNIM, were very proud to win a 2021 Georgia AIA Honor Award for the Georgia Tech Library Renewal, a project 7 years in the making. Brian Tanner and Stuart Romm represented the design team at the annual GA AIA Awards Ceremony held recently at the Porsche Experience Center in Atlanta.
The challenge of transforming the GT Library, in addition to critical environmental priorities, was to convert its historic role as an inward-oriented book repository space into outward-reaching people spaces for creative collaboration. Brian and Stuart also noted that AIA awards are equally a testament to visionary and supportive clients; in this case, all at Georgia Tech that made this possible, the Library Deans, faculty and staff, as well as Capital Planning and Facilities Construction.
Congratulations to Logan, Bezzy, and Kris our most recently registered architects! Cheers to each of you for all of the work it has taken to reach your professional registration.
PRAXIS3 is proud to recognize two individuals that have made significant contributions to our continued success as a design practice. Scott Hardin and Dunja Suljicic have both been promoted to Associates in the new year. Please join us in congratulating Scott and Dunja!
Scott is now an Associate at PRAXIS3. As a Project Architect, he values a creative and collaborative approach to solving complex design problems, focusing on programmatic and technical building performance. Outside of PRAXIS3 Scott enjoys blacksmithing and metalworking, both of which inform his architectural endeavors.
Dunja is also now an Associate at PRAXIS3. She has an extensive working history with retail brands that have complex corporate image programs and understands the importance of being a good steward of the brand. In her free time, Dunja enjoys spending time with her family, reading and gardening.
The PRAXIS3 team is thankful for the opportunity to have assisted Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC), the Board of Regents, and GSFIC with their recently completed Carlton Center renovation and new Fine Arts Building. The college occupies an important role nationally in the realm of agricultural education and serves one of the most important economic sectors in the state of Georgia.
The Carlton Center is located near the center of campus, and has been transformed into a 21st-century student services center whose program includes a campus bookstore, student and faculty media offices, studios, the school radio station, periodical, newspaper, the financial aid office, and registrar as well as student study areas and the central library. As part of the façade renovations and re-purposing of interior functions, accessible improvements included new elevators and a common ground-floor lobby serving all levels of the building. The project’s ambitious programmatic goals were achieved on a tight budget which benefited from cost conscious design strategies and concerted value management efforts, such as the incorporation of advanced egress flow modeling in coordination with the State Fire Marshal, resulting in a $100,000 savings by demonstrating life safety equivalence without need for an expensive smoke evacuation system. The project also includes a complete replacement of the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems along with improvements to the envelope, which resulted in an EUI reduction of 18 kBtu/sf/yr and a 17% reduction in CO2 emissions.
The Fine Arts building is the fifth and final building along ABAC’s historic Sweet Heart Circle and is prominently sited at the entrance to campus. Designed in association with JMA, the layout prioritizes indirect natural light for painting studios, includes a computer design lab, a keyboard instruction classroom, individual instrument practice spaces, a rehearsal space for the ABAC band, and a choir rehearsal and recital space. Given the nature of the music program, adjacency of spaces, and proximity of an active railroad track, acoustics were of critical importance and closely coordinated between the architecture, engineering, and construction teams. Additional support spaces include student collaboration areas, faculty offices, break areas, and administrative offices.
