Nov 26, 2024 _ news

GBBN Earns Fourth Metamorphosis Award

We’re thrilled to be recognized by retrofit Magazine with a Metamorphosis Award, which honors outstanding work retrofitting commercial, industrial, and institutional buildings. This year marks our fourth Metamorphosis Award since the awards launched in 2019. We’ve received first place in the Wild Card category for our renovations to the main entry at UC Health Medical Center. The category recognizes projects that have made significant or creative improvements to a building, structure, or neighborhood, but don’t fit neatly into another category.

For the inaugural project of a system-wide renovation, UC Health put their main arrival under the microscope and saw an opportunity to enhance the patient experience. Inspired by UC Health’s brand, the design strategy of ‘Science as Texture’ was used to represent the complexity and balance of medical science research in the built environment. One way this gets expressed through architecture is the distinctive new entrance canopy that clearly defines the campus’ front door, whether people are arriving on foot from the parking garage or driving to drop off and pick up.

The canopy’s textures create interest as light changes throughout the day and season. These hidden patterns also inspired the textures used in the ceiling above the information desk as well as on the new grand stair and its overlook.

Receiving four Metamorphosis Awards is especially gratifying because adapting and improving existing structures is critical to reducing carbon emissions. We enjoy the challenge of using design to achieve our clients’ goals while extending a building’s life through enhanced functionality and beauty. We’re honored to be recognized again for these efforts.

Huge thanks to the project team: Kolar Design (environmental graphics); Heapy (MEP); THP Limited (structural engineering); REALM Collaborative (landscape architecture); The Lighting Practice (lighting); The Kleingers Group (civil engineering).

Read more about this project in retrofit.

See the full project case study on our website.

See more of our healthcare work here.

Read about our previous Metamorphosis Award winning projects: The Marriott Foundation Building at Penn State University, The Roundhouse at Hazelwood Green, and Contemporary Craft.