For showcasing how metal panels can be leveraged in a transformative retrofit project, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 134 headquarters building in Chicago won the 2019 Metal Architecture Design Award for renovations and retrofits. Metal wall panels were used in the adaptive reuse project to give the building a new identity, express its use and the importance of some spaces. The retrofit completely transformed a 1960s elementary school building into a labor organization’s modern headquarters, which includes a lobby, large meeting hall, offices, meeting rooms, lounges and gymnasium community center.

South Texas College (STC) officially opened its Technology Campus expansion in McAllen, Texas, in January 2018 with a unique ribbon-cutting ceremony in which college officials wielded a blow torch to cut a steel ribbon created by welding students.

Members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 134 in Chicago celebrated the grand opening of their new headquarters and union hall in May 2018 – a renovation project that has been described in glowing terms that are reflective not only of the building’s light-filled architectural design but of its significant impact on the surrounding Bronzeville neighborhood revitalization.

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 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 England Council of Carpenters (NERCC) has represented the interests of its members for more than 130 years.  While a long-standing regional presence, this traditional organization based in Boston also embraces modern goals for its membership of 22,000 carpenters in six New England states.  So, when the new home of NERCC and the Boston Carpenters Training Center was designed, it was important to organization leaders that it be comprised of both traditional and modern architectural influences.