Mithun

How can we transform yesterday’s spec office into the destination workplace of tomorrow? In response to record-high vacancy rates, Mithun recently helped a Texas-based developer explore how a typical commercial office could be redesigned as an innovative #masstimber structure, prioritizing wellness, community and environmental responsibility. Surprisingly, the transformation was possible without impacting the existing entitlement, including FAR, general building massing and below-grade parking. Read more via ARCHITECT Magazine: https://lnkd.in/gZUZQuDG

Congratulations to MidPen Housing Corporation on the opening of Gateway Rising – 140 new affordable homes on Willow Road near the Meta campus in Menlo Park! It’s been our pleasure and honor to design this replacement and expansion to the beloved Gateway family housing community, as well as the adjacent Sequoia Belle Haven senior affordable housing.   Kudos to the design and construction team including Devcon Construction, Emerald City Engineers, Inc., DCI Engineers, Coffman Engineers, Banks Landl Lighting Design and Steelhead Engineers, Inc.

Mithun is collaborating with design-build partner FORMA Construction to refresh eight existing community parks in Shoreline, WA. All the parks prioritize improvements that enhance accessibility and inclusivity, with a tailored design and mix of amenities at each location to reflect the distinct personality of their neighborhoods and create a range of unique visitor experiences across the city. Design-build delivery provided a key pathway for delivering design excellence and budget and schedule performance. Learn more in Deb Guenther's cover story, “Advancing park design with progressive design-build project delivery” in the Daily Journal of Commerce (DJC) Landscape Northwest special section: https://lnkd.in/g7qW794e Image by Plomp for Mithun. Special thanks to the City of Shoreline and DJC section editor Shawna Gamache.

We are honored to support Heirloom in their efforts to bring new Direct Air Capture (DAC) facilities to Northwest Louisiana. The first facility at the Port of Caddo-Bossier in Shreveport will begin construction later this year. When operational in 2026, it will remove around 17,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. “We couldn’t be more excited to be building these new facilities in Northwest Louisiana,” said Shashank Samala, CEO of Heirloom. “These investments not only bring meaningful economic activity and job creation to the region, but also help to cement Louisiana as a leader in this new energy economy and further America’s leadership on the global stage.” Mithun partner Jason Steiner said, “This is a generational opportunity for transformative positive change. In our collaboration with Heirloom we share a profound alignment of climate values and a vision for a sustainable, net-zero future. We are thrilled to contribute our integrated design knowledge to advance Heirloom’s DAC facilities, harnessing the natural power of limestone to permanently remove carbon dioxide from the air.” Mithun is providing architecture, landscape architecture and interior design services for this DAC facility, the firm’s second for Heirloom. Additional design team members include PAE, MEP; KPFF Consulting Engineers, structural; and Moffatt & Nichol, civil. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gN5gqdrA Image by Plomp for Mithun. #DesignforPositiveChange

“Home In Tacoma” received unanimous approval from the Planning Commission! This new zoning code regulates buildings, open spaces and landscaping in the residential neighborhoods of Tacoma, WA—allowing ambitious increases in both housing density and tree canopy to meet the City’s dual goals of affordable housing and climate resilience. Mithun is excited to be working alongside the City, ECOnorthwest, and Parametrix on the project. Next steps involve public hearings and City Council process and approval, with the goal of adoption in early 2025. Learn more via the City of Tacoma: https://lnkd.in/gPaYin9E #HomeInTacoma #DesignforPositiveChange #middlehousing

Construction has begun on Transbay Block 2! The $309 million full-block development incorporates two new affordable housing buildings, Transbay Block 2 West and East, which together will be home to more than 700 residents in the East Cut neighborhood of downtown San Francisco. Transbay Block 2 West (2W) features affordable senior housing developed by Chinatown Community Development Center and designed by Mithun with Kerman Morris Architects LLP, associate architect. The building includes 151 apartments for seniors (including 30 homes reserved for those who have experienced homelessness), supportive services, shared amenities to foster community among residents, a sixth-floor roof deck, a courtyard garden and 3,000-square-feet of ground-floor retail. The design will form a backdrop to the future Transbay Park at the heart of the district. “We’re extremely proud to serve as architects for Transbay Block 2W, which demonstrates San Francisco’s commitment to stable homes, design excellence and beautiful, equitable, walkable urbanism for San Franciscans of all ages and backgrounds,” said Mithun partner Anne Torney. "We are grateful to the San Francisco Office of Community Investment and Infrastructure for their vision for Transbay and this site, and their guidance and funding to bring this project to life.” Congratulations to the project sponsors, community advocates and Block 2W design team members bringing this vision to reality! California Department of Housing & Community Development (HCD), Office of Community Investment and Infrastructure (#OCII), DCI Engineers, OLMM Consulting Engineers, Luk & Associates, Engineering 350, AR Green Consulting, Plural, Urban Design Consulting Engineers (UDCE), 4EA Building Science, Tucci Lighting, CSDA Design Group, m.thrailkill.architect.llc. The Block 2 East (2E) building contains affordable housing for families and formerly homeless individuals, and will be developed by Mercy Housing California with architecture by Kennerly Architecture & Planning in association with Y.A. studio. A public mews will connect the two sites and support pedestrian connectivity within the neighborhood. Swinerton and Rubecon are constructing both Transbay Block 2W and 2E.

How can we create sensory-inclusive learning environments? In honor of National Speech-Language-Hearing Month, we’re excited to share two upcoming presentations where we'll be discussing design strategies to support deaf and hard of hearing individuals.   DESIGN STRATEGIES FOR DEAF & HARD OF HEARING CREDITS The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Conference on Architecture & Design | Washington, D.C. June 6, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:00 pm Join Mithun partner Brendan Connolly for a case study presentation on how an exposed mass timber structure enhances inclusivity and sustainable performance at the Center for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Youth, including ADA-compliant and barrier-free design. #AIA24 https://lnkd.in/gR7qB9UV LEARNING FROM RECIPROCITY: DEAF-LED SCHOOL DESIGN A4LE Washington Chapter Congress | Spokane, WA June 15, 2024 | 9:45 - 10:45am Join Mithun partner JoAnn Hindmarsh Wilcox, AIA LEED AP together with Shauna Bilyeu of the Center for Hard of Hearing Youth and Washington School for the Deaf, and Alan Halleck of Skanska to learn about links between education space design and student engagement, excitement, learning, focus and wellbeing. This session will also explore the DeafSpace Design Guidelines’ five major touch points between Deaf experiences and the built environment: space and proximity, sensory reach, mobility and proximity, light and color, and acoustics. https://lnkd.in/g6htGhuv

The Canadian Society of Landscape Architects has honored the Sea2City teams of Mithun+One Architecture & Urbanism (ONE) and PWL Partnership Landscape Architects Inc. with a National Award for Communication as well as the Jury’s Award of Excellence, which is given to one project annually that best demonstrates the CSLA's vision — advancing the art, science, and practice of landscape architecture. The teams worked with Indigenous cultural advisors from the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam Indian Band), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish Nation), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh Nation) to co-design a vision for shared land management of a restored shoreline along Vancouver’s False Creek that builds a culture of adaptation through the dynamic relationships between people, land and water. In particular, the jury highlighted the “exceptionally well done interaction with the community. The project successfully weaves Indigenous land connections, ownership and climate adaptation in a broad, forward and future thinking plan. It breaks new ground for the profession and demonstrates landscape architects’ leadership role in adaptation to climate change.”   We are grateful to Charlene Aleck, Tsleil-Waututh knowledge keeper; Cory Douglas of Modern Formline, the project cultural advisor; the City of Vancouver, and our collective teams. Modern Formline, Herrera Environmental Consultants, Moffatt & Nichol, MVRDV, Deltares, Westmar Advisors Inc., MODUS https://lnkd.in/gvEEbxJY

Congratulations to Casey Huang, AIA, LEED AP, recognized among the Top 50 Women Leaders of Washington for 2024! A partner and award-winning designer of multifamily housing and civic projects at Mithun, Casey also serves on the board of Seattle Chinatown International District Preservation and Development Authority (SCIDpda), where she has provided leadership on promoting affordable housing development in the Seattle Chinatown International District. We are thrilled by this news, honoring Casey’s decades of work to create positive change in the community! https://lnkd.in/g-Aani_c

Attending #LivingFuture in Atlanta this week? Join us for a panel presentation about a remarkable project, The Industrial Commons Innovation Campus, which will transform a 27-acre brownfield site into a model mixed-use industrial hub that embodies circularity, biophilia and resiliency. The project is targeting full “Living” LBC certification. The Just Communities Protocol, by the Partnership for Southern Equity, is the framework for community co-creation of goals and metrics. Mithun associate principal Jason Wilkinson will co-present this session with The Industrial Commons Co-Executive Director Molly Hemstreet and Senior Director of Infrastructure Erin Kizer, as well as Partnership for Southern Equity Just Growth Portfolio Director Suzanne Burnes. We hope you’ll join us! https://lnkd.in/g6Qds5dJ Curious about The Industrial Commons’ (TIC) work to strengthen textile and furniture manufacturing in the South and erase inequities of generational poverty by incubating worker-owned enterprises? TIC collaborates with local and national partners, including SmartWool, to foster dignified work repurposing waste materials into new products. https://lnkd.in/gG4taTim #LF24 #RegenerativeDesign #DesignforPositiveChange