[David Ford of Crown Corr]

Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is the sixth busiest airport in the world and the third busiest in the United States serving nearly 63.7 million passengers – including 17 million international passengers – in 2012. Visitors are drawn to Los Angeles to experience everything from the area’s temperate coastal climate and beaches to the glitz and glamour of Hollywood movie-making.

The North Bergen, N.J., Housing Authority’s Paul F. Cullum Tower was built in 1972 to provide homes for low-income senior citizens and disabled individuals. While the 15-floor 200,000 square-foot tower still met its primary goal to provide 308 affordable apartments, its exterior façade constructed with a blue-and-white aluminum curtain-wall system set over reinforced concrete walls with exposed gray concrete columns had faded and looked utilitarian at best.

The University of North Texas’ (UNT) Apogee Stadium – the first newly constructed collegiate football stadium in the nation to earn LEED Platinum certification – opened in Denton, Texas, in September 2011 as the new home of Mean Green football.

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.