William McDonough + Partners’(WM+P) project, Apex Plaza, is an AIA DC Chapter Design Award 2023 recipient from the Energy and Resources category. The building, located in Charlottesville, VA and completed in May 2022, is the largest mass timber building on the East Coast. It is a mixed-use building, consisting of office, residential and retail space, and serves as Apex Clean Energy Headquarters.
“It’s beautifully proportioned…perfectly executed, and the design…the subtlety is the power of it,” says jury member David Darling, FAIA.
“This was the only predominantly mass timber project that was submitted. The building is a really beautiful design…and I appreciate the restraint of the design too,” says jury member Adam Yarinsky, FAIA. “It’s appropriately a building of context that would become part of the city of Charlottesville as it’s developed.”
Project Statement: Mass timber products exhibit natural beauty and allow for transparency in material sourcing, material health, material reutilization and carbon management. Mirroring Apex’s work at the forefront of the new energy economy, the new building harvests enough energy from the sun, through 875 roof-and canopy-mounted solar panels, to provide net-zero energy use for the Apex offices. The design prioritizes energy efficiency, occupant well-being, excellent views, and natural daylighting; Cradle to Cradle Certified® products were incorporated throughout the building. Apex Plaza is also a good neighbor, setting a contemporary standard for healthy, mixed-use, urban density in downtown Charlottesville that will accommodate changing use needs over time.
Thank you to our amazing team of collaborators, including:
- Staengl Engineers, MEP Engineers & Energy Modeling
- Simpson Gumpertz & Heger, Structural Engineers + Facade & Waterproofing Consultant
- ARUP, Mass Timber Fire Engineering Consultant
- Collins Engineering, Civil Engineers
- Loisos + Ubbelohde, Lighting Consultant
- Charles M. Salter Associates, Acoustics Consultant
- Lerch Bates, Inc., Elevator Consultant
- Hourigan, Contractor
- Prakash Patel, Photographer
To read the award submission, click here.
To check out the project page, click here.
