News Wayne Troyer (TSA ‘83) wins Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence
The 2009 Selection Committee chose St. Joseph Rebuild Center from a field of 87 applicants as an outstanding example of urban placemaking. The Committee commended St. Joseph Rebuild Center as an a very significant project that has accomplished the difficult task of delivering a variety of services to the homeless in a dignified manner, and in an environment that is loved and cared for by its clients. The Committee noted that there is a growing number of people in the country whose basic survival needs are unmet, and that St. Joseph responds to this problem with a structure that is elegant and inexpensive, and with programs that have proven successful over time.
The Committee commended the project for:
- Providing a model both for disaster relief, and for delivery of homeless services that could be used in cities throughout the country
- An outstanding architectural design that is extremely effective in creating a welcoming oasis for its clients, interweaving private and public spaces, and providing welcoming environment in a bleak industrial environment
- Demonstrating the way in which quality of design can impact everyday experience
- Involving students in the design and construction of the facility.
The Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence is a national award for urban places that seeks to promote fresh and innovative thinking about cities and the urban built environment. Established in 1987, the Rudy Bruner Award celebrates urban places that are distinguished by quality design and by their social, economic, and environmental contributions to our nation’s cities.
The credits for the St. Joseph Rebuild Center / Farther Harry Thomson Center include a collaboration between:
studioWTA
Wayne Troyer AIA, Design Principal
Kenyon Zimmerman, Designer / Project Manager
and
Detroit Collaborative Design Center
University of Detroit Mercy School of Architecture
Dan Pitera AIA, Executive Director
Brandon Becker, Designer /Project Manager
Jana Cephas, Design Team
Fr. Gilbert Sunghera, S.J., Programming
Structural Engineer
Avegno, Bailey & Associates
Michael Bailey
Mechanical Engineer
Professional engineering services
Damien Serauskas
Electrical Engineer
Bruce Creighton
06.23.09
