Design Collective, Inc., one of the area’s premier architecture, interior architecture and planning firms, has been awarded two American Institute of Architects (AIA) Maryland Design Awards. The Maryland Science Center Expansion, a Merit Award winner in the Institutional category, and the National Aquarium in Baltimore Center for Aquatic Life and Conservation, an Honor Award winner in the Unbuilt category, were each one of 31 awarded projects out of 134 submittals.
The Maryland Science Center, which was also this year’s location for AIA Maryland’s Annual Meeting and Design Awards celebration, commissioned Design Collective to program and design a major expansion and renovation project to prepare them to move forward in the 21st Century. The $35 million project, completed in May 2004, included the renovation of more than 36,000 square feet of existing space and the addition of 43,000 more square feet. New visitor amenity facilities, substantial internal reorganization of space, two new exhibit galleries, new entry atrium and orientation space, and acoustical and environmental upgrades were all developed to improve upon the visitor experience.
The Center for Aquatic Life and Conservation, a facility to support the National Aquarium’s husbandry and exhibitory operations and the base operation for a new conservation education and scientific center, called for planning and designing for a 20-acre site in South Baltimore. Plans for the site features the adaptive use of a pre-existing industrial building and the creation of a public waterfront park and natural conservation area that utilizes sustainable design principles.
Award designations for these two projects were presented Thursday, September 28 at the 2006 AIA Maryland Annual Meeting.
About Design Collective, Inc.:
Design Collective is an award-winning multi-disciplinary design firm headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, with a branch office in Durham, North Carolina. Founded in 1978, the firm provides innovative solutions nationally and internationally in architecture, planning, landscape architecture, and interior architecture. For additional information, please visit www.designcollective.com.