BNIM Earns Four Awards at 2021 AIA Iowa Convention Awards Ceremony
BNIM was honored to receive four award recognitions at the 2021 AIA Iowa Excellence in Design Awards on Sept. 23. The Des Moines Heritage Center, a recently completed BNIM project and the location of this year’s AIA Iowa awards ceremony, received a 2021 Excellence in Energy Efficient Design Award. The historic adaptive reuse project is recognized for achieving 55% kBTU energy savings when compared to the Commercial New Construction (CNC) program baseline.
The MidAmerican Energy Corporate Office and Conference Center Renovation, and the Psychological and Brain Sciences Building at University of Iowa, were recognized with two of the three Excellence in Design Honor Awards presented at the event. The new Tom and Ruth Harkin Center at Drake University in Des Moines, IA, received an Honorable Mention Award.
The MidAmerican Corporate Office and Conference Center Renovation
facility provides an intervention of light and volume within an existing warehouse structure to create a vibrant environment of workspaces and amenities. The design maximizes the existing office space through reorganization, modernization, and strategies that promote employee productivity and wellness. Features include 70 formal and informal meeting areas, a conference center, and a variety of public office amenities. A central ‘Main Street’ circulation area connects the facility’s spaces and introduces ample daylight in a series of truncated pyramid skylights.
The Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
is a dynamic, dual-purposed teaching and research facility on the University of Iowa campus. The facility is responsive to programmatic departmental needs of the University while serving as a campus destination that welcomes students, researchers, and public visitors. Connections to nature, generous daylight, and enhanced mobility, accessibility, and wayfinding strategies focus on occupant wellness and open the existing building in a transformative way.
The Tom and Ruth Harkin Center
provides a new home for the Harkin Institute on Drake University campus that elevates the experience of all building users and sets a new standard for inclusive and equitable design. The new building embodies the values of The Harkin Institute and promotes understanding of former Sen. Tom Harkin’s work, including the Americans with Disabilities Act. Inclusive design strategies include a two-story ramp as the primary pathway between floors, generous space for improved accessibility and mobility, high-contrast and textural cues for low-vision individuals, and gender-inclusive restrooms.
