Using the AIA Framework for Design Excellence as a starting point, we begin each project with an internal kick-off session to explore and set high-performance design goals. By the time we have our kick-off meeting with the client, we are prepared to demonstrate which sustainability goals should and can be achieved.
We identify key performance targets early and assign responsibilities for tracking them throughout design and construction. We integrate analysis into the design process from day one, using models to create a feedback loop between design studies and predicted performance outcomes.
MSR Design has received two prestigious national AIA COTE Top Ten Awards, one for RIDC’s Mill 19 development and one for the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Tashjian Bee and Pollinator Discovery Center. Each year, AIA recognizes ten innovative projects that integrate design excellence with environmental performance by meeting COTE’s rigorous criteria for ten measures, design for integration, equitable communities, ecosystems, water, economy, energy, well-being, resources, change, and discovery.
MSR Design has worked on 29 projects that have received LEED certifications, including a LEED Residential Single Family Homes v.4.1 Platinum certification for the first of the GAP School Page Street Houses and LEED-NC v.3 Platinum certifications for Olbrich Botanical Garden’s new Frautschi Family Learning Center and the Madison Municipal Building renovation, both projects for the City of Madison.
Recognizing that the architecture profession must evolve quickly to create a more sustainable building industry, we share our research and design innovations. Recent publicly available tools include: