Archives

1. 101 Dupont Place

   Originally serving as the headquarters for DuPont de Nemours, Inc., the Dupont Building is an iconic building within the Rodney Square Historic District in downtown Wilmington. This project involved transforming the historic 13-story building into luxury apartments and office space. Through a neutral materials palette, the design honors the legacy of the building, while reinterpreting classic detailing with a modern approach to keep the building timeless. In an effort to preserve as much of the building’s historic fabric as possible, the executive conferencing suite with a two-story boardroom has been converted into a club room,  lounge, theater, and coworking space. Other amenities include a gym, dog wash station, and roof deck with dramatic views of downtown.

    

    

    

2. Drexel University College of Media Arts and Design URBN Center

   The respectful repurposing of a landmark Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates (VSBA) decorated shed provides a new home for Drexel University’s College of Media Arts and Design (CoMAD). Key goals driving the project included bringing disparate CoMAD departments together in one location and encouraging cross-collaboration between disciplines. To transform the office building and annex (once a daycare center), the design concept focuses on respecting the original intent, making more with less, and providing opportunities for learning by doing.

3. Carleton College Weitz Center for Creativity

   The Weitz Center serves as a working laboratory for creativity—not only in the arts, but across the entire curriculum. It positions the college as a national leader in arts programs by creating an environment that fosters creativity, critical thinking, collaborative working skills, and cross-cultural exploration. An adaptive reuse and expansion of a former middle school complex, the center houses the departments of studio arts, dance and theater, and cinema and media studies. It incorporates classrooms, studios, a teaching museum, performance spaces, and state-of-the-art collaborative spaces.

    

    

    

4. Fortune 100 Company Facilities ESG Metrics & Recommendations

   MSR Design helped a Fortune 100 company achieve its next phase of corporate sustainability and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals. We analyzed and documented the embodied carbon content in the corporation’s typical facility designs and used the results of this assessment to develop a prioritized set of recommendations for improving their buildings’ structures, envelopes, and sites, tailored to their specific climates and locations. MSR Design also reviewed the composition and estimated the embodied carbon of currently specified interior assemblies and finishes. We reviewed transparency documentation and other manufacturer data and used our expertise in sustainable materials to identify harmful materials that should be replaced to create healthier environments for employees and visitors.

   Collaborating with the organization’s internal team, we developed category-specific recommendations and created a concept for a net zero carbon facility. These results will serve as a guide for the company as it advances its vision to cocreate an equitable and regenerative future together with partners and communities.

5. Herman Miller Design Yard

   Completed in 1990, the complex incorporates modified prefabricated metal structures, silos, and houses, which were flexibly designed to accommodate changing uses and future expansion. Twenty-seven years after the Design Yard opened its doors, the complex is still living up to its original intent. The durable, low maintenance exteriors have aged gracefully. Open, flexible interior spaces have accommodated changes in how people work, as well as evolving technologies. The whole fits well into its rural environment and serves as an appropriate backdrop for Herman Miller’s classic modern pieces and new designs for furniture systems and products.

6. Louisville Free Public Library Southwest Regional Library

   The construction employs a standardized structural steel frame, similar to those used in big box retail stores. The library design focuses on creatively using common materials. Standardized components—including modular masonry, window systems, and raised flooring—form a low maintenance, highly flexible public place. Through scale and a glowing beacon bay, the building establishes a presence in a fragmented environment of scattered building types along a highway. The open, transparent interior offers inviting spaces for different generations of people to experience and clear site lines for service efficiency and enhanced interactions between library staff and customers.

   MSR Design collaborated with architect JRA Architects and landscape architect MKSK on the project.

7. Meridian Library District Orchard Park Branch

   This new community library is designed to create connections in the community with a focus on removing barriers to access and expanding all-inclusive services and programs. In response to a public input process and focus group sessions with parents and local educators, the design team developed a design that supports the needs of neurodivergent community members, going beyond merely providing a dedicated sensory space to creating a holistic library experience approach focused on sound, durability, lighting, extension of tactile surfaces, and ease of building use. The library serves as a family-oriented gathering and learning center designed to inspire creativity and a sense of purpose.

8. Mount Curve Modern Residence

   The design respects the existing aesthetic of this significant work of mid-century modernism—originally designed by University of Minnesota architecture professor Robert Bliss—while incorporating new amenities. The kitchen has been expanded into the former maid’s room and includes an adjacent sitting area with a fireplace. The design connects this space to the dining and living rooms and terrace beyond by opening an existing oak-clad wall, which is detailed to match the original. The master bedroom suite includes a bath with a Japanese soaking tub and custom cabinetry designed to match the existing millwork found throughout the home. Adjacent to the garage, the former chauffeur’s room has been converted into a guest suite.

9. K.O. Lee Aberdeen Public Library

   As a new living room for the city, the new building inspires and serves the needs of the community as a center of creativity, research, and collaboration. Its linear configuration along 3rd Avenue reflects the predominantly Craftsman/Prairie style vernacular of the railroad depots located in Aberdeen. Because of the many railroad lines that ran through the city, creating spokes connected to a hub, the City of Aberdeen is nicknamed the “Hub City.” Located near the heart of where those railroad lines first converged more than 100 years ago, the new library links the past to the future, becoming another kind of community hub, designed to connect and enrich patrons for many generations.

   CO-OP Architecture served as executive architect on the project.

10. Washburn Lofts, 4th Floor Loft

    New, simple, modern additions complement the old mill’s re-exposed concrete shell and a graffiti-covered brick wall. An enclosed box in the center of the loft houses more quiet functions, including a study (that doubles as a guest room with a Murphy bed concealed in the millwork), bedrooms, and bathrooms. The open living and dining area and adjacent kitchen provide space for entertaining and offer stunning views of the Mississippi River. High-quality, neutral material choices provide consistency throughout the space, from the bleached wood floors and tiled bathrooms to the white walls contrasted with dark-stained oak millwork.