This month, WMF was invited to the Awards of Excellence at TRUSS hosted by the NAIOP Northern Ohio to receive two awards: the Exterior Renovation Project of the Year and the Placemaking of the Year. The first award was given to us for our work at 1128 State for the Great Lakes Insurance Services Group, LLC. while the second was received for Stocker Plaza Reimagined at Lorain County Community College.
At the ceremony, Senior Associate David Thal, AIA shared his insights into the awarded projects, showcasing WMF’s design philosophy and our commitment to improving the commercial real estate market as recognized by NAIOP. He also served as an Awards Co-Chair for the event.
The award jury stated, “1128 State was chosen as the winner of the Exterior Renovation category because the design enhances the indoor-outdoor connection, visually activates the street corner, and increases usable square footage resulting in improved value to the community. We also observed the pedestrian connection through engagement of a suspended canopy over the sidewalk, highlighting storefronts, and wrapping the façade with raised vegetation planters. Finish materiality and implementation of architectural elements paying homage to the original design successfully create a more relatable and appealing street frontage.”
For Lorain County Community College, “The jury appreciates that the college and its designers recognized the need to create a beautiful experience in what was an otherwise typically bland, utilitarian, and, at times, unsafe environment. By developing a comprehensive and elegant plan for this large campus, the designers created an art-inclusive program with a high level of detail, design consistency and sustainability that will serve the college for decades to come.”
