AIA Kentucky Honors EOP with Citation Award

 

At its November regional conference, the AIA Kentucky presented the 2012 Honor Awards for Excellence in Architectural Design.  EOP was awarded a Citation for Excellence in Architectural Design for Urban Active at Polaris in Columbus, Ohio. 

“The Jury was very impressed with the interior spatial development, which suggested an exciting and enriching community environment.  The spatial and volumetric development inside enhances this sense of community, perhaps doing what trainers aspire to:  make exercise interesting.  It seems like a great place to see and be seen – would make me want to work out more.”

Click here to read more about the AIA Kentucky Honor Awards. 

For more information on EOP’s design for Urban Active at Polaris, click here.



EOP's Upcycling Initiative Featured in Business Lexington

LEXINGTON, Ky., November 8, 2012 — EOP Architects, an award-winning architecture and interior design firm based in Lexington, is transforming its old drawings and scrap paper into sketch pads for students in the Fayette County Public Schools. With production help from Lynn Imaging, EOP has produced 150 sketch pads in this ongoing initiative.

“Each sketch pad has been created using only materials we had on hand,” states Paul Ochenkoski, AIA, an EOP principal. “We always recycle our paper, but we knew there had to be another use for it. We always look for ways to make a positive impact in the community and that’s when we hit on upcycling the paper into student sketch pads.”

Each pad has approximately 100 sheets of paper that is blank on one side. But on the other side, there are pieces of architectural drawings, color renderings, hand sketches, floor plans and even old code manuals.

“This innovative gesture from EOP will go a long way towards helping our Graphic Design and Drafting students understand the real-world applications to what they are learning in class,” remarks Tresine T. Logsdon, Energy & Sustainability Curriculum Coordinator for Fayette County Public Schools.  “Teachers will be delighted to incorporate these sketch pads into their classroom instruction and familiarize their students with authentic work of architecture and similar career pathways.”

Click here to read the feature in Business Lexington.

EOP to Design New Clinic for HealthFirst

After searching all over Lexington for months for a building to renovate, HealthFirst Bluegrass announced Wednesday the planned demolition of a 29,000-square-foot building at 496 Southland Drive and an 11,000-square-foot adjacent building. An $11.7 million federal grant initially pegged for renovation will be used for constructing a new clinic.

Rick Ekhoff, AIA, LEED AP, will lead the design of the new clinic.  "As a medical facility, especially one that will serve a good number of children, the building will have to feel inviting, not threatening."

Read the Herald-Leader article here.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/10/24/2383571/renovation-is-out-construction.html#storylink=cpy

EOP Architects to Participate in International PARK(ing) Day Friday, Sept 21

LEXINGTON, Ky., September 20, 2012—EOP Architects is transforming a downtown Lexington curbside parking space into a miniature park on Friday, September 21st from 3:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in recognition of international PARK(ing) Day. The movement, which began in 2005, challenges people to rethink the use of urban space since the vast majority is dedicated to the private vehicle, while only a fraction of that land is allocated to open space for people. This will be the first year Lexington has participated , joining nearly 200 cities around the world.

In urban centers, inexpensive curbside parking results in increased traffic, wasted fuel and more pollution. A metered parking spot is an inexpensive short-term lease for a plot of precious urban real estate. There is a range of possibilities for creativity in a space usually dedicated to the storage of a private vehicle.

There will be more than a dozen mini-parks around downtown Lexington on Friday. Stop by EOP’s park on West Short Street across from Shakespeare & Co. and find out how we re-envision urban space.

For more information on PARK(ing) Day, visit www.parkingday.org.

EOP Breathes New Life Into Cigar Warehouse

Tops In Lex magazine features EOP Principal Brent Bruner's adaptive reuse of a vacant 1940s cigar manufacturing company warehouse into a stunning living space. Working with Matthew Carter Interiors, Bruner created "a space that feels open and airy, in spite of essentially being a cinder block box in the heart of Downtown. A wonderful entertaining space, this gorgeous home seamlessly blends industrial chic with modern flair."

Read the entire article from Tops In Lex by clicking here.

For more information about the project, click here.

EOP's CentrePointe Design Approved

LEXINGTON, KY - March 28, 2012.  At a special meeting of the Courthouse Area Design Review Board today, the mixed-use development CentrePointe was unanimously approved. This was the last hurdle in the sometimes controversial project.

"We would've gone nowhere if we hadn't passed today. So this was the last big hurdle in terms of clearing the government requirements. So huge day," said EOP's Rick Ekhoff.

Next for the project is coming up with the finance package. Currently Jeff Ruby's, Saul Good, Urban Active and J.W. Marriott have committed to the block, with several banks expressing interest as well.

Click on the links below to read more about the project from various media outlets.

WKYT-TV
WTVQ-TV
Herald-Leader's Beverly Fortune
Herald-Leader's Tom Eblen

Business Lexington Features CentrePointe

In the March 16th edition of Business Lexington, Celeste Lewis writes an overview of the CentrePointe project in downtown Lexington, with a spotlight on the collaborative efforts of four local architecture firms.

Click here to read the article. 

For more information on the project, click here.

Tom Eblen Says CentrePointe "Looks Great"

In his blog for the Lexington Herald-Leader, Tom Eblen writes, "The designs look terrific, thanks to a long, difficult but ultimately very productive process of architectural refinement and public input."

EOP held a Public Forum for CentrePointe on March 1st at ArtsPlace.

Click here to read Tom's blog.

Click here for more information on CentrePointe.

WTVQ-TV Airs Segment on New Plans for CentrePointe

WTVQ-TV's Jacqueline Sprague was at the March 1st Public Forum for CentrePointe and spoke with quite a few of those in attendance.

"I think it's great. I think it incorporates a lot of different aspects.  It's satisfying a lot of different interested parties and I think it does a nice job of pulling those things together," said one member of the crowd of 200.

To watch the segment, click here.

To learn more about CentrePointe, click here.

MSNBC Comes to UK

College of Pharmacy will host MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan

The Atrium at UK’s College of Pharmacy will be the setting of MSNBC’s The Dylan Ratigan Show on Wednesday February 22nd. The program has embarked on a tour of the country called “30 Million Jobs” and selected Lexington as one of its stops.

EOP is thrilled that our project will be featured on a global broadcast. The show airs tomorrow at 4 p.m.

To visit Dylan Ratigan's Web site, click here.

For more information on EOP's design for the College of Pharmacy, click here.

CentrePointe Is Innovative Architecture

As Tom Eblen writes in his Herald-Leader column, EOP "designed a stunning building for the corner of Vine and Limestone. One review board member likened it to the 'bird's nest' stadium built for the Beijing Olympics, but it reminded me more of a forest. Some people won't like it, but it struck me as the kind of innovative architecture Lexington could use more of."

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/02/18/2074673/latest-version-of-centrepointe.html#storylink=cpy

Click here to read the article.

For more information on the CentrePointe project, click here.

WKYT-TV Interviews EOP's Rick Ekhoff on CentrePointe Design

WKYT-TV's Sean Evans interviewed Rick Ekhoff, EOP's design principal, today on the new designs for CentrePointe.

Click here to watch the segment.

To learn more about CentrePointe, click here.  

EOP Releases CentrePointe Concepts

At the February 15th preliminary review meeting of the Courthouse Area Design Review Board, EOP presented design concepts for CentrePointe, the much debated development in the middle of downtown Lexington.

EOP’s design builds on the master plan presented by SGA and includes a 28-story tower consisting of a Marriott hotel on the lower floors and condominiums, pied-a-terres and two-story penthouses on the upper floors; an elevated expansive outdoor public space with sculpture garden, terrace and pool; an 8-story wedged office building with a Saul Good restaurant; a 3-story signature building for Jeff Ruby’s Steakhouse and Urban Active Fitness; plenty of underground parking; and 3- and 4-story buildings along Main Street designed by other local architecture firms. The Main Street buildings will be a mixture of two-story townhouses and one-story flats above street level retail in varying heights and materials.

The board’s comments were encouraging and supportive and they shared in the design team’s hopes that it is now time for this project to move forward. EOP and the three “Main Street Guest Architects”—Biagi, Pohl Rosa Pohl, and CSC—will now present enhanced concepts at a public forum. CentrePointe will provide a wide assortment of restaurants, shopping, living spaces, fitness facilities, spas and nightclubs, complementing the already vibrant downtown. Marriott, Saul Good, Jeff Ruby’s, and Urban Active have already committed to the project.

Grocery Headquarters magazine features Shorty's

Since it opened in May, Shorty’s The Urban Mar­ket has become quite the local hotspot, draw­ing a wide range of down­town office work­ers, res­i­dents from nearby apart­ment tow­ers and his­toric Civil War Era-mansions and tourists. In its first six months, the EOP-designed adaptive reuse has racked up numer­ous awards and accolades including "Best New Store" by readers of Aces Weekly magazine and "Best Hotspot for Lunch." 

In addi­tion, the project won an Honor Award from the Ken­tucky Soci­ety of Archi­tects, a chap­ter of the Amer­i­can Insti­tute of Archi­tects, as well as the Blue Grass Trust for His­toric Preservation’s Clyde Car­pen­ter Adap­tive Re-Use Award for giv­ing an old build­ing new life as a chic urban busi­ness location.

Click here for entire article.

EOP Selected to Design NET ZERO Facility for Boone National Guard Center

EOP Architects, in partnership with Mason & Hanger, has been selected to design the new Army Aviation Support Facility at the Boone National Guard Center in Frankfort, Kentucky. The new 125,000 sf hangar will house the Army’s Black Hawk helicopters as well as fixed wing aircraft. The facility will be a NET zero energy building, which uses the power grid to offset energy demands during peak times and contributes excess energy produced during low demand periods over the course of a year, equal to what is used when compared to what is produced.

For additional information, click here

Rupp Arena Renderings Released

Renowned sports architecture firm, NBBJ in association with Skanska and EOP Architects, released renderings for the proposed renovation of Rupp Arena. Mayor Jim Gray presented the new renderings at his State of the Merged Government speech in Lexington Center. 

To read the entire article, click here.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/01/25/2040961/gray-says-rupp-arena-task-force.html#storylink=cpy

Design Excellence Task Force Enhances Downtown Construction

In an article in the Herald-Leader, EOP Design Principal Rick Ekhoff noted, "Iconic design stimulates economic growth. Milwaukee's art museum by Calatrava increased economic development by 45 percent in the neighborhood where it is located...Just that one building. Architecture can be transformative."

Read the entire article here.