SPRING 2009
ABA Architects Mentors “School of the Future Design Competition” Winner
Imago Dei Middle School, traveled to Washington, DC, in late April and came home with a $2,000 national first-place award in the School of the Future Design Competition. Imago Dei's design of a school complex incorporates solar energy, shade sails, water harvesting, and greenhouses for urban agriculture. There is also a community resource center to bring the neighborhood into the school community. The students were mentored by ABA Architects, Kim Fernández, AIA, LEED AP, and Marie Gervais, LEED AP. ABA mentored the students in 2008 as well when they place third nationally.
ABA Completes Design Phase on Several Projects
ABA Architects has completed design for several projects that have moved into construction phase: Pima Elementary School Classroom Addition, Cochise Community College Willcox Campus, Cochise County Association for the Handicapped new administration campus, Santa Cruz Valley Unified School District Vocational Agriculture Facility, and SCVUSD Culinary Arts Center Renovation. Design concepts are also completed for the new Tucson Waldorf School that is temporarily on hold for fund raising.
ABA Architects classroom concept for new Tucson Waldorf School; each classroom is hexagonal.
Other Recent ABA News
• In January 2009 Edward Vergara, RA, returned to ABA Architects after several years working with commercial developers.
• In February ABA Architects was named “Architect of the Year” by Cornerstone Foundation.
• In March ABA Architects principal, Kim Fernández, AIA, LEED AP, was named a “Woman of Influence” by Inside Tucson Business.
FALL 2008
Community Service: In September ABA Architects was joined by Schneider & Associates Structural Engineers (SAS) in completing an United Way Day's of Caring project. This year's benificiary was La Frontera Center. The ABA/SAS team designed and constructed a new ramada in the toddler play yard plus scraped and painted an existing ramada in larger children's playground. It was a long,hot day but well worth the effort. ABA Architects is committed to giving back to the community throughout the year.
The “new construction” team discusses next steps. L-R: David Wilson (ABA), Ron Scheider (SAS), Dave Gibbens (SAS), and Roel Krabbendam (ABA).
Another part of the project was scraping and repainting an existing structure. Here (l-r) Shelly Linson and Kim Fernandez, both of ABA, get started.
LEED Expertise: One of ABA Architects’ longstanding philosophies is to be aware of the environmental surroundings of a site when planning a design for any type of facility. Being surrounded by the Sonoran Desert in Tucson, the firm is keenly aware of the environment’s importance and this is evidenced by the fact that four current staff members have passed their LEED examinations. Four additional staff are expected to receive LEED accreditation by year's end. ABA Architects is proud of its accomplishments as the firm always looks to select design materials that accurately reflect its emphasis on the “greening” of projects.