1400 W 13th St is a substantial building on the corner of 13th St and Hickory in the heart of the West Bottoms. This building, formerly the Nook and Cranny Antique shop, has a long history. Built in 1892, it originally manufactured buggy carriages and did so up until the...
DRAW has been investigating the benefit of interior storm windows for the past few months. This research is based on the work being done for the new DRAW office building at 1400 W 13th St. This blog will use actual numbers and calculations from PlanIT Impact to show the energy...
At DRAW, when we think about sustainability, we strive to achieve a balance between optimizing building energy efficiency and maintaining a low carbon footprint. Recently, it can be observed that sustainable architecture practice is focusing on high-performance buildings that pack a lot of insulation in their wall and roof assemblies. Although...
"Boldly going where everyone else already goes" is the slogan of the disability activist group ADAPT. They began their work in 1990 by working to make buses wheelchair compliant, and they continue their vital work of protecting those with disabilities to this day. Their seemingly outlandish motto illustrates what it...
DRAW architectural designers participated in and submitted a proposal for the Berlin Affordable Housing Challenge competition hosted by Bee Breeders in mid-December. The panel was made of architects, planners, activists, and policymakers from Berlin, Denmark, the US, and Canada. Due to Berlin’s urban composition, affordable housing within...
This April 2022, the month when we celebrate the earth and focus on the environment, DRAW wants to celebrate these amazing women in design history for their work and connection to the earth. Happy Earth Month! Pablo Picasso (on the left) at the World Congress of Intellectuals in Defense of Peace Minnette...
DRAW’s mission of POSITIVE IMPACT DESIGN supports sustainability, net positivity, and carbon neutrality. To this end, we implement a holistic process that involves multiple iterations and reviewing the design at multiple stages using various tools to measure its resource impact. It is critical that we quantify and analyze the effects...
Last week the White House announced that the CDC decided not to extend the national eviction moratorium two days before its expiration. The moratorium was ineffective, to begin with – our own local Jackson County judge continued and continues to issue evictions throughout the pandemic. But this article by The New...
Retrofit is one of the most sustainable approaches that architects can take towards creating new housing. Unlike new build construction, retrofitting utilizes existing structures and integrates modern, energy-efficient technologies. The existing homes to choose from are plentiful; across the United States, an expansive stock exists of 19th and 20th-century residential...
I want all architects and landscape architects to know the importance of their role and responsibility to bring about Design Justice. Design Justice, as defined by architect Bryan C. Lee, is “Design as a pursuit for racial, social, and cultural justice through the process and outcomes of design. It’s not...
When Positive Impact Design is rooted in values of empathy and activism, it allows itself to be actualized at any variety of given scales and forms. Color is one such way that it can be applied. While seemingly a rather simple attribute, color in a singular sense contains a rich...
The team was hired by the city to design a fire station that better served the city’s northeast neighborhoods while emphasizing firefighter health and wellness. In researching the programmatic circumstances, needs, and behavioral patterns of fire stations, it became evident that this building typology required distinct solutions. The latest research shows...
Developers, city planners, and architects are more and more devising novel prototypes to address progressively more complex and interrelated issues. The built environment accounts for nearly a third of global energy use and annual energy-related carbon dioxide emissions, and high-density urban environments face specific challenges that encapsulate
Once an exclusive and costly process, three-dimensional printing has since become commonplace. Beyond providing significant savings to companies, it has revolutionized technology and the process of making. Although we are well within the first stages of the development of 3D printers and its technology, we are daily being introduced to...
In an age of increased individual entrepreneurial spirit, makerspaces have emerged as the foremost laboratories to pursue these endeavors. They can be found around the world, operated by both private and public entities. But despite their growing prevalence, these spaces are still relatively unknown or unfamiliar to not just architects,...
Global warming, brought on by climate change, is an impending threat to the inhabitants of our planet. In the last decade, glacier loss rates have tripled, and we continue to lose more ice mass at an alarming rate. The melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets is bleeding more...
In the fall of 2018, DRAW was tasked by the Crossroads Community Association with compiling an assessment of the Crossroad neighborhood’s existing building stock as relating to the recommended City building height standards. Bounded by Truman Road, the railroad tracks, and highways I-35 and I-71, the Crossroads is a robust...
Operating since 1979, Harvesters works diligently to address food insecurity in the Missouri/Kansas region. It is also a regional disaster-relief staging site for Feeding America, providing sustenance after disasters such as the Midwest flooding and Hurricane Harvey. The role it plays in our community is critical; 13.3 percent of the...
In July DRAW attended the First Suburbs Coalition Regional Housing Summit, an event gathering urban planners, elected officials, policymakers, and designers to discuss the current trends and data surrounding the affordable housing crisis. By positioning affordable and workforce housing within the context of economic development, the Summit’s presentations and discourse...
