AIA Honor Awards Announced
November 17, 2017 – Congratulations to all of the 2017 AIA Minnesota Honor Award winners, announced yesterday. According to the AIA press release, 87 projects were submitted for consideration and 13 selected by an awards jury made up of four out-of-state judges. As structural engineers on four of the winning projects, we feel honored to have been chosen to serve on the teams that won for Deloia Residence, Duluth, and Hyytinen Cabin, St. Louis County, with Salmela Architect, and for Lofts at Mayo Park, Rochester, and Straight River Northbound Safety Rest Area, Owatonna, with Snow Kreilich. Winning projects will be acknowledged at the annual AIA Minnesota Awards Dinner on December 8.
Kathleen John on Talent Management
November 3, 2017 – Kathleen John, Principal and Operations Director at MBJ, participated with colleagues from two other design firms in a panel discussion about talent management. Kathleen’s message stressed the importance of an engaged and accessible leadership that stands side by side with young professionals, mentoring them not only in the development of technical competence, but, just as importantly, helping them to understand ours and our clients’ business models and to advance their social/client skills. 
The interview, which was conducted by DesignIntelligence magazine, can be read in its entirety here.
Sun Devil Stadium Tour
September 18, 2017 – On September 20, Kurt Kindermann and Lindsey Schultz will give a presentation on the construction process of the newly renovated Sun Devil Stadium at the Arizona American Concrete Institute’s fall kick-off meeting. The event and tour will take place at the stadium on the Arizona State University campus from 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM (MST). MBJ provided engineering services for an initial condition assessment of the stadium, the newly constructed south end zone seating (Phase 1), and a 3-story, 85,000 square foot student athletic facility for performance enhancement and training, tucked into and expanding out from the new north end zone (Phase 2).
Find out more about attending Kurt and Lindsey’s presentation at AZ ACI’s web site.
Pederson Speaks on Lean Design
September 11, 2017 – Jason Pederson recently participated as a panelist presenter at the annual Upper Midwest Lean Construction Institute Workshop, sharing themes of Meyer Borgman Johnson’s lean journey with an audience of design professionals, contractors, fabricators, and academics. During the first half of the presentation, speakers shared their experiences of using lean processes to enhance projects and described the integration of lean thinking into their firms’ practices. The second half of the event was a structured brainstorming exercise to gain further understanding of how the community sees waste in the d
esign process and what can be done about it.
Jason has led MBJ’s lean thinking initiatives for 7+ years, guiding the alignment of the firm’s culture while integrating practical applications of lean methods within the design and construction industry. He is a member of the nationally-based Lean Construction Institute, as well as an active participant with the regional LCI Upper Midwest Community of Practice.
Tate Hall Reopens at U of M
September 5, 2017 – Tate Hall at the University of Minnesota reopens to students this fall, after a major renovation that refits and modernizes the building for use by the School of Physics and Astronomy and the Department of Earth Sciences. As part of the campus’s historic mall, preservation of the building’s historical character was an important feature of the project. In an interview conducted by the Civil, Environmental, and Geo-engineering Department, Tina Vath, MBJ lead structural engineer on the project, recounted details of the structural renovation and also recalled her impressions of the building during her student days at the University compared to now. Major structural elements of the project included structural isolation of new portions of the building from the old to minimize loads on the existing portions of the building, and the use of structural support around the edges of the large lecture halls to free the space from columns that could obstruct sight lines.
Keeping Cool With Copper
August 2, 2017 – The copper cladding on the University of Arizona’s Biomedical Sciences Partnership Building echoes the striated mesa formations of the Arizona desert, while screening the building from the desert sun to maintain cool temperatures inside. MBJ worked with client DPR Construction and the copper fabricator to design a unique cold-formed/steel hybrid framing system to support the building’s remarkable exterior covering. In recognition of its innovative design, the building recently received the 2017 North American Copper in Architecture Award from the Copper Development Association and, also, the 2017 Metal Architecture Judges Award for “the innovative use of regional, recycled and recyclable copper in its inspired and high-performance façade.”
Metal Architecture magazine writes: “To make this sunscreen, the cladding system uses nearly 4,800 formed, bent and perforated copper panels to reflect light and cast shadows that reflect the canyon walls. Installing the copper cladding required more than just industry standard flat-panel installations. To meet the design intent, the panels have custom shapes with custom folds, and the wall assembly was fully engineered for the extreme desert climate.”
Maurices F&C Top Project
June 22, 2017 – Maurices new office headquarters in downtown Duluth was recently named one of Finance and Commerce’s Top Projects. To meet criteria for the honor, projects had to be completed in 2016 and demonstrate complexity, creativity, and innovation in both design and construction with a high level of cooperation among contractors and management.
Maurices also graces the cover of the latest issue of Architecture MN. The story, which is illustrated with lots of photos, starts on page 22.
Bees Win Again!
March 10, 2017 – Check your mailbox or local newsstand for the March/April issue of Architecture MN, featuring this year’s six AIA Minnesota Honor Award winners. As structural engineer of record on four of the six, we are proud of our contribution and grateful to our architect colleagues for bringing us on board these exciting projects: Tashjian Bee and Pollinator Discovery Center (MSR Design), The Rose residential development (MSR Design), Izzy’s Ice Cream Factory and Scoop Shop (Salmela Architect), and Larson Bergquist residence (Salmela Architect).
Bee Center Wins Award
March 2, 2017 – The Tashjian Bee and Pollinator Discovery Center building at the Landscape Arboretum in Chanhassen, Minnesota, highlights both the functional and cosmetic beauty of wood in building structures. We were pleased to learn this February that the project won a Wood Design Award from the WoodWorks Wood Products Council in the Beauty of Wood category. The insulating properties of wood used in the structure help reduce the building’s energy costs by 70%. The exposed repetitive wood-framing displays wood’s perennial beauty. More than simply a building, the bee center stimulates awareness of the crucial part bees play in pollinating the world’s food supply.
Learn more about the building structure at WoodWorks Wood Products Council.
