Amenta Emma received Merit awards in both categories of the 2021 AIA CT Business Architecture awards.
Projects Designed for Businesses Employing Less than 50
As part of Connecticut Innovation’s strategic 5-year plan to put Connecticut on the map as a technology and life sciences hub, the quasi-public venture capital firm relocated its headquarters to New Haven and requested an edgy new space to match their mission. The 10,000-square-foot headquarters encompasses offices, meeting rooms, collaborative areas and open work areas. Exposed structure, HVAC, brickwork, metal panel ornamentation, and concrete floor staining are contextual with original architecture and provide an urban industrial aesthetic that makes a statement about the types of startups the company wants to attract.
Jury Comments: This space is beautifully designed, has a great flow and stunning finishes. The client clearly had great improvements to their current space.
Projects Designed for Businesses Employing 50 or More
The Connecticut State Office Building is located in downtown Hartford’s historic district on the National Register of Historic Places. The 1931 office building houses the State of Connecticut’s attorney general, secretary of state, treasurer, and their staff. Once referred to as a “rabbit warren, with offices within offices, within offices”, this adaptive reuse project exceeds sustainability and accessibility standards and is a vibrant, modern, 21st-century workplace built to carry the building’s 20th century grandeur into the 22nd.
Jury Comments: Beautifully restored and reimagined. The design is effective is clean, inspiring, and yet very appropriate for the client.
