Press releases
Atkins-designed Miami Culinary Institute achieves LEED Gold certification, recognized for excellence in sustainable design - June 28, 2012
Miami, FL — The Miami Culinary Institute building, designed by Atkins, was recently named a finalist in Hospitality Design magazine’s eighth annual Hospitality Design Awards competition in the green/sustainable design category. This international competition recognizes achievements of superior design and architecture for hospitality-related spaces around the globe.
“We’re really pleased by the recognition this building and the Miami Culinary Institute are receiving for their conscientious approach to educating tomorrow’s food industry professionals,” says Atkins’ senior group manager of architecture, Larry Levis, AIA, NCARB, who led the project team. Atkins accepted the honor at a ceremony held June 6 at the Grand Hyatt New York in New York City.
A model of sustainability and urban stewardship, Miami Dade College’s eight-story Miami Culinary Institute has achieved LEED Gold certification. Atkins’ environmentally conscious approach to the building’s design included unique features such as rainwater harvesting, greywater harvesting from dishwashers, recycled solid composting for the institute’s vegetable gardens, low-consumption plumbing fixtures, and numerous recycled-content material selections—including high-end finishes.
The 36,000-square-foot building incorporates six cooking/teaching labs, a television studio and demonstration lab, and a full-service restaurant on the top floor. Other spaces include a café, classrooms, and administrative offices. In addition to meeting the Institute’s primary mission—to offer a public-option culinary program—the design fully accommodates the organization’s secondary goals: to provide adult education, offer a Michelin-rated rooftop restaurant, and provide opportunities for students to meet celebrity chefs in a demonstration-style “kitchen stadium” TV production studio.
“Our goal for this iconic infill building was to embody a new paradigm of sustainable urban development and architecture. The response from users has been overwhelmingly positive,” says Levis.
As an award finalist, the Miami Culinary Institute was also featured in the May/June issue of Hospitality Design.
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For more information: |
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Carol Hobbs
Communications Director |
Tel: +1 407.806.4139
carol.hobbs@atkinsglobal.com |
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Notes to Editors
Atkins (www.atkinsglobal.com) is one of the world's leading engineering and design consultancies*, employing some 17,700 people across the UK, North America, Middle East, Asia Pacific, and Europe. It has the breadth and depth of expertise to plan, design, and enable some of the world's most technically challenging and time critical infrastructure projects.
*It is the largest engineering consultancy in the UK (New Civil Engineer Consultants File 2011) and the 13th largest international design firm (Engineering News-Record 2011).
Recent projects include:
- Critical program management of storm protection works in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and Southern Louisiana, providing expertise in coastal restoration, engineering, environmental and GIS support to rebuild defenses and protect habitats.
- Architectural and construction phase services for the new Tyndall Air Force Base Fitness Center, meeting LEED Platinum standards without impact to project cost.
- Equal partner in a joint venture that is providing full-service program/project management support for the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, a $7.8-billion project encompassing ecological restoration, water storage, flood control, and recreation.
- Key transit projects – member of joint venture providing general engineering consultant team for the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority and project management oversight contractor for the Federal Transit Administration for major transit projects throughout the US.
- Lead firm on the Ascend, Joint Venture, LLC team, which is designing the $1.2-billion Maynard Holbrook Jackson Jr. International Terminal roadway system at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
- Meeting stringent nutrient removal requirements for wastewater treatment plants in the Chesapeake Bay area through design of upgrades to Howard County, Maryland’s Little Patuxent Water Reclamation Plant and the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission’s Seneca Wastewater Treatment Plant, and design and construction of enhanced nutrient removal facilities at Anne Arundel County’s Patuxent Water Reclamation Plant.
- Multi-year architecture-engineering construction management services for the US National Park Service, including projects such as rehabilitation of the Furnace Creek Visitor Center and Administrative Complex at California’s Death Valley to meet the US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold certification standards.
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