Toby was selected from scores of nominees hailing from a four state Midwest region including Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Missouri.

ST. LOUIS – This unique facility, designed for the German based company was awarded the Concrete Council’s Quality Concrete Award in September of 2011.

Visit the site here

Gray Design’s Lorrie Kramer wins Best CFO Award

Lorrie Kramer, CFO of Gray Design Group for almost 30 years, won the Saint Louis Business Journal’s Best CFO Award in the Small Private Company Category, 2010.

All of us at Gray Design Group are thrilled with this award, as we watch Lorrie tackling the responsibilities of not just a CFO, but a COO and CTO as well. Lorrie has tirelessly and selflessly dedicated herself to keeping an unwavering eye on the many issues necessary to run any company – much less a highly creative one – so well. No detail too small, no standard too high. You have set an excellent example for us all. Thank you, Lorrie!

Lakeside Crossing Building One + Two 

Southfield, MI — From hundreds of submitted projects, only the best have been selected as Building of America award winners. The award honors the country’s most innovative, unique and challenging projects — projects that are particularly noteworthy and/or that give back to their respective communities.  The Lakeside Crossing Building One + Two project is now available for viewing online here. 

The Building of America award-winning projects represent the best in new construction and renovation in a wide variety of categories, including commercial and retail, mixed-use, multifamily residential, government, transportation/infrastructure, health care, education, religion, historical restoration, and more. Submitted projects are reviewed by a selection committee that is looking for projects with unique design or construction elements; innovative solutions to challenges, including financing, environmental, zoning, etc.; efficient and cost-effective methods of planning and execution; and/or that have a significant economical impact on the region, among others.

The existing building was a plain, concrete block building. It was designed as a low cost vehicle emissions testing building, – essentially a garage with two drive-through bays with a small attached office and waiting area. Once Missouri ended its vehicle emissions testing program, no one could figure out how to reuse it. No one, that is, until CB+E Construction Group.

According to Gus Cervetto, principal of the CB+E Construction Group, most people wanted to tear the building down and start anew, but CB+E rejected that on the basis of how damaging that would be to the environment. ‘We are very big believers in sustainable construction – we did the very first green building project in Missouri years ago – and we knew that the energy we would use in knocking the building down would be too great. The problem we were struggling with was what we could do with it that wouldn’t end up looking like a gas station.’

CB+E wanted a headquarters building of their own; something cutting-edge that would make a dramatic statement and define their corporate image. In the end, they concluded that the plain block emissions testing building had the potential. The way in which they accomplished the transformation has become a case study for one of the prime materials used, Reflectit by Dryvit.

‘Since CB+E wanted to use it as a corporate office building, the building needed to convey an image of quality and sophistication. We also wanted to make it appear bigger from the street. We came up with the idea of the curvilinear facade, what Gus calls a ’swoosh wall’, which really catches the eye and give is a frontage elevation about three times larger than the original,’ said Gray principal, Larry Milles.

Curved elements are more complicated than straight line elements, ‘but we were very budget conscious,’ Milles said. ‘We considered stone panels or metal panels, but they were too expensive. We ended up using Reflectit, which is a metallic coating. If you didn’t know, you might think there were metal panels on the wall. Using Reflectit, he said, ‘is an affordable way to upgrade the facade of a building. This is what everyone is looking for – how to recycle, how to create value in affordable way, and still have a little flair and cutting-edge. This is a high-tech look that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.’

Milles said the CB+E building was the first time his firm had used Reflectit and he thinks it is the first time the finish has been used in St. Louis.

Wagster has spent the past decade working on a diverse mix of assignments that included five years of international theatre design. One of his strengths, an excellent working knowledge of state-of-the-art software technology, has earned him a great deal of respect from both clients and co-workers. Wagster’s recent projects include the Progress Point/Fireman’s Fund Office Building in O’Fallon, Missouri, one of Gray’s premier LEED office projects. His current focus is in overseeing healthcare and senior living projects for Bethesda Health Group.  

Wellman came to Gray Design Group seven years ago, immediately after graduating at the top of her class from the University of Missouri, with a degree in Environmental Design.

Known for her pragmatic and resourceful solutions, Wellman has played an integral role in Gray’s expanding senior living portfolio, working on projects for Bethesda Health Group and Delmar Gardens Enterprises. Most recently, Wellman was a key member of the Gray Design Group team responsible for the design and development of the 300^th Ronald McDonald House, located on the campus of St. John’s Hospital in Creve Coeur, Missouri.

Founded by Wendy Gray almost 29 years ago, Gray Design Group provides award-winning architectural and interior design services to a wide range of clients, locally, nationally and internationally.  Current projects include Schattdecor, University of Missouri-Columbia New Student Center and Bethesda Southgate.

The LEED Silver-certified Elsevier headquarters facility was selected from more than 2,500 projects as a Green Building of America award-winning project and will be featured in the upcoming Midwest Real Estate & Construction Review’s Green Success Stories edition. The issue showcases the region’s most important, innovative or unique sustainable facilities, both new and renovated. 

In addition, the Concrete Council recently recognized Gray Design Group’s Elsevier project as a 2009 Quality Concrete Award winner. Winners were presented with their awards at a formal dinner on Nov. 12, and the projects will be featured in the upcoming issue of Construction News & Real Estate. Gray found ways to use concrete to meet or exceed the functional and aesthetic properties of brick on the façade and structural steel bracing on the interior, as well as for pavers on the dining patio. 

Principal Toby Heddinghaus led Gray’s team on the project. Gray achieved enough points for Silver certification under the LEED for New Construction green building rating system by conserving water and increasing energy efficiency while providing an appealing contemporary and upscale design. Using a significant quantity of regional materials and successfully diverting nearly all of the construction waste from landfills provided LEED credits that set this large building apart from the rest. Elsevier’s products are showcased amongst a 1½-story granite-clad water feature located at the building’s grand central staircase and the thru-lobby, which features suspended acrylic canopies with indirect lighting complemented by stainless steel and back-painted glass clad elevators. The modern canopy-style lighting concepts extend into the full-service cafeteria, which has open ceilings and exposed duct work.