[au]workshop architects+urbanists has just been selected to design new offices, volunteer work spaces, a central kitchen and warehouses for the Food Bank for Larimer County.  The new facilities will be located in an as-yet-to-be-announced location. 

We are more than pleased to be able to provide architectural services for this fine organization whose mission is to provide food to all in need through community partnerships and hunger relief programs.

The Food Bank for Larimer County believes no one should be hungry and their dream is to deliver health, hope and humanity to stabilize the lives of their clients and build a vibrant community. They are a private non-profit organization and the only Feeding America clearinghouse for donated food in the county.  Each year, the Food Bank for Larimer County provides food to nearly 36,000 people in need through community partnerships and hunger-relief programs.  Visit their website for more information. 

We've been working on a design for this site in Honolulu for months, so we're pleased that it's finally public. The project application has been accepted by the Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting and it is well along in the entitlement process.  The hotel operator is expected to be announced within a few weeks.

From our project narrative: 

Mana’olana Place | Luxury Hotel and Residences will be an instrumental catalyst in the continued revitalization of the Ala Moana Neighborhood.  The tower will include ground level retail spaces, a 125-room five-star luxury hotel and approximately 109 branded condominiums culminating in a signature restaurant and bar 400 feet above the adjacent street level.

The Mana’olana Place tower is envisioned as a modern, vertical interpretation of an indoor-outdoor sense of place and connection to the landscape embodied in the concept of lanai.  Our vision for its character began with the warm and soft tones of a wooden building softened with landscape from ground to the uppermost levels.  Terraces and balconies provide deeply shaded areas and views from these lanai frame views and create pleasant contrast and variety.  Design details will reflect a modern interpretation of a tropical environment mixed with subtle Asian influences. And at every step, gardens are woven into nearly every front-of-house experience.

When complete, the 36 story tower will represent the first implemented project in the newly adopted Ala Moana Transit-Oriented District.  With a floor area ratio of 10:1 in anticipation of the planned light rail-serviced neighborhood already anchored with the Hawaii Convention Center immediately across the street and the largest mall in the state —Ala Moana Center—located within a five minute walk, Mana’olana Place will catalyze an already diverse and active Honolulu neighborhood and will become a unique and recognizable interpretation of the tropical high-rise typology.

More information about the project is available at its page. This is only one of several projects we're working on in Hawaii, so keep an eye out for more to come!

We are pleased to announce that [au]workshop's recently-completed Block One project has just received two local and state awards!

First, Bock One was selected as a 2015 winner in the Architecture category of the Fort Collins Urban Design Awards, which has celebrated and advocated for great urban spaces of all sizes since its inception in 2006.

Serendipitously, the project was also selected as the Best New Addition to a Downtown, in the major city category of the 2015 Downtown Colorado Inc. Governor's Awards for Downtown Excellence, which similarly recognizes projects with a positive community impact.

If you'd like to find our more about the project, please check out the project page here. And, please feel free to join us for a presentation of the project at the Urban Design Awards ceremony on Wednesday, October 7, 2015 from 4:30 - 6:30 p.m. at the Midtown Arts Center at 3750 S. Mason Street. 

Though the architecture and urban design is it's own reward for us, we are of course thrilled that the project has received these accolades. The community's response to the completed project has been overwhelmingly positive, and it is thoroughly exciting to see the public share our passion for great urban spaces and architecture. 

Thank you to Fort Collins and Downtown Colorado Inc!