WSV welcomes Kimberly Newton McMurray, Architect and Planner

After three decades of working in Phoenix, Birmingham and Atlanta, Kimberly Newton McMurray returns her career home to Tuscaloosa, joining the office of WSV Architects as an Architect and Planner.

Ms. McMurray, a native of Tuscaloosa, brings to WSV Architects 26 years of leadership experience in master planning, strategic facility development, medical planning and project management of multi-million dollar projects with a concentration in healthcare and academic medical centers. A registered Architect in Alabama and Georgia with National Council of Architectural Registration Board certification (NCARB), Ms. McMurray holds professional credentials from the Center for Health Design and Evidence-Based Design Accreditation & Certification (EDAC) and LEAN Healthcare Certification. She is a graduate of Arizona State University College of Architecture and holds a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.  

Ms. McMurray is a current Board Member for the Institute of Patient Centered Design; current studio advisor at Converse College School of Design; current AIA Alabama Disaster Task Force Member and AIA Disaster Coordinator for the Tuscaloosa region; a past AIA Birmingham Chapter President, Executive Committee and State Councilor; and 2008-2010 Member of the Advisory Board for Arizona State University College of Design Health Initiative Program.

Prior to joining WSV Architects, McMurray served as Healthcare Practice Leader with The S/L/A/M Collaborative (Atlanta); as Vice President and Managing Director at Karlsberger Companies (Birmingham); as Senior Healthcare Planner and Senior Associate at Perkins+ Will (Atlanta); and served as Medical Planner and Project Manager for The University of Alabama at Birmingham Health System (Birmingham).

 

WSV to sponsor Tinsley Ellis concert at the Bama Theatre

WSV will be one of seven sponsors of the Tinsley Ellis concert at the Bama Theatre on February, 17, 2011.  Employees and friends of WSV are looking forward to enjoying a fun evening of good music at the Bama.  Tickets are also available to the public, free of charge from any of the sponsors, including WSV.  The event has been organized by the Arts and Humanties Council of Tuscaloosa, and more information can be found at www.tuscarts.org.  The Arts Council’s press release included this description of Tinsley’s music:    Hard-rocking blues-soaked guitarist/vocalist/song-writer Tinsley Ellis sings and plays with the energy and soul of all the great Southern musicians who have come before him.  Ellis attacks his music with rock power and blues feeling, following in the tradition of his Deep South musical heroes Duane Allman, Freddie King, Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes.  His live shows feature extended fretwork filled with melodic and rhythmic experimentation in the spirit of jam bands like his friends Widespread Panic and The Allman Brothers.  Atlanta Magazine declared Ellis “the most significant blues artist to emerge from Atlanta since Blind Willie McTell.” Since first hitting the national scene with his Alligator Records debut, Georgia Blue in 1988, Ellis has toured non-stop and continued to release one critically acclaimed album after another.  His stellar guitar work, always a staple of his live shows and CDs, is matched by his strong songwriting and powerful, soulful vocals.  Tinsley’s hometown paper, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, calls his music, “a potent, amazing trip through electric blues-rock.”

 

Hillel at the University of Alabama nears completion

Brickwork completed at East Elevation - January 20, 2011

WSV is proud to be the architect for the new home for Bama Hillel, the Jewish student organization at the University of Alabama. The new building is located between Tuscaloosa’s Temple Emanu-el and the Bryant Museum.  The red brick building blends with the traditional architecture on campus, but the brick corbel detailing and arched windows entries recall historically Jewish architecture seen around the world.

West Elevation - January 20, 2011

The 4200 SF building includes a student lounge,  a library, and a large multipurpose room that will host up to 120 Hillel students for shabbat dinners, parties, and Holiday events. The room will also have a custom-designed Torah ark for services, and a big screen TV for student gatherings. The building also includes a full kitchen, a beverage and snack center for student use, and a director’s office. Exterior amenities include North and South entry porches, a courtyard and a half-court basketball court. The new building will open to students in March of 2011, and a grand-opening dedication weekend is scheduled for April.

 

Team WSV raises $1800 for the American Heart Association

On Saturday morning, March 6, a team from WSV joined the American Heart Association’s HeartWalk in Tuscaloosa. Our team had 13 official members plus spouses and kids, and came in eighth overall for fund-raising– out of over eighty teams! WSV’s team raised over $1,800. The walk took place on the campus of University of Alabama and was a great way for colleagues and family to spend some time together, thinking about wellness and heart health, and raising money for a terrific cause. Plus, the three-mile course gave our team an opportunity not just to think about fitness- but to actually get some great exercise on a beautiful morning.

 

DCH Cancer Treatment Center designated Project of the Week by World Architecture News.com

The DCH Cancer Treatment Center was recently designated Project of the Week by World Architecture News.com.  See the original post here.

The Cancer Center provides state of the art medical and radiation oncology services, and provides an environment conducive to the healing of the whole patients’ wellbeing through its strong connection to the outdoors, ample use of natural light, dramatic two-storey entry rotunda, second level outdoor garden terrace, and a future patient victory garden to be located at the entry to the facility.

The Cancer Center creates a new image for DCH Health Care System that celebrates its uplifting healing environment for all who enter. The Cancer Center was designed by WSV Architects in collaboration with Houston based FKP Architects. It was built by Harrison Contruction and completed in May 2009.

 

Tuscaloosa Fire Station No. 1 in Operation

Fire Station No. 1 for the City of Tuscaloosa Fire and Rescue Service was dedicated on Friday, June 12, 2009 at a ceremony featuring Mayor Walt Maddox. The new, state-of-the-art facility, which combines the previous Fire Station No. 1 and Fire Station No. 5, is centrally located at the corner of 15^th Street and Greensboro Avenue. It provides quick emergency response times to downtown neighborhoods and businesses.

A drive-thru Porte Cochere provides “out of the weather drop off”, a secure public entrance and connection to a future Administrative Building. The Station incorporates offices, public restrooms, day community room, workout room, 19 bedrooms with accommodations for males and females, state of the art kitchen and dining area, and a separate Battalion Chief’s area.

For durability and ease of cleaning, stained concrete floors are in work and communal spaces, stainless steel countertops are in the kitchen area, and floors and walls are tiled in locker and bathrooms.  The exterior of the Station incorporates materials presently used throughout city structures:  fiberglass columns, masonry, brick, cast stone, and standing seam metal roofing.

 

New Residence Hall at UA on schedule for students to move in, August ’09

 Construction continues this spring on the campus of The University of Alabama. The Ridgecrest South Residential Community is located on the western side of the UA campus, with beautiful views overlooking the Black Warrior River. This project is the fourth residence community that WSV has worked on at UA. The newest complex is adjacent to Ridgecrest North Residential Community, which WSV completed in 2007, and near Lakeside and Riverside Residential Communities, which WSV built in 2006 and 2005, respectively.  Ridgecrest South includes a three-story parking deck and two residential towers, and will house over 900 students. Construction for the residence hall is on schedule and students will move in August of 2009.