The new McAllen, Texas, Public Library – which opened on the site of a vacant Walmart in December 2011 – was envisioned by city officials from the start of architectural bidding to include environmentally friendly features. But, from the perspective of Boultinghouse Simpson Gates Architects in McAllen, no design could be more environmentally conscious than adaptively reusing the former “big box” retail store, saving approximately 130,000 square feet of building demolition debris from being sent to the local landfill.

The new 14-story $654-million hospital building at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, which is referred to as The Tower, stands out on the city’s skyline with a unique butterfly design and striking white exterior – both visual symbols of the medical center’s goal to transform healthcare delivery. Formable Alucobond® Plus aluminum composite material in the custom Spinnaker Bone White color was selected to realize the hospital’s shining, clean exterior image and its unique butterfly design.

The whimsically designed six-story Children’s Atrium at Oklahoma University (OU) Medical Center in Oklahoma City never lets viewers forget who it is there to serve – the youngest of patients who might just as well prefer to be playing with toys outdoors.  A flying kite – which serves as the Children’s Hospital at OU Medical Center logo – inspired the atrium’s overall design; and, the building’s striking curved roofline reflects the fluid movement of kite ribbons.

When design of the VanDusen Botanical Garden Visitor Centre was awarded to Perkins+Will Canada in late 2007, architects were challenged to create a building that not only would increase visibility for and attract more visitors to the approximately 54-acre internationally recognized garden in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, but also meet the highest goals in sustainable building design.

The new University Hospitals Ahuja Medical Center in Beachwood, Ohio, was designed not only to garner attention  as a modern “signature” building in this upscale southeastern Cleveland suburb but to incorporate an innovative theory of “evidence-based” design in which scientific research was incorporated to better serve patients and promote healing in a guest-centered environment.

The practical goal of the new $61-million 21-story Student Residence Hall at Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt) in Boston may have been to provide 145,600 square feet of on-campus accommodations for 493 students when it opens in the fall of 2012.  But the unique design of the new Residence Hall – which is clad in 5,500 Alucobond® Plus aluminum composite panels in seven custom colors that are dimensionally positioned with glass to invoke Gustav Klimt’s 1909 “Tree of Life” painting – has met an aesthetic goal to set the building apart on the Boston skyline and, thereby, create an idiosyncratic image for MassArt.