OZ Architecture Engages Staff and Community with Creativity and Heart

The diversity, functionality and sheer beauty of the work these top architecture and design firms create, are true bodies of living art in which we get to walk, talk, work and live in. Learn more about the people, processes and products coming out from these three top companie: OZ Architecture, Davis Parntership and EVstudio.

WINNER

OZ ARCHITECTURE

OZ Architecture designed projects around the world, ranging from LEED-certified spaces to adaptive reuse projects to creative and thoughtful new builds. So when the 160-employee firm conducted its annual holiday food drive to benefit Community Food Share in Louisville and the affiliated Food Bank of the Rockies, the team created an architecture project. With a goal of contributing 1,000 cans, OZ held an in-office sculptural design competition called CANiTECTURE, and the result was a holiday message, "Cheers!"

"These sculptural efforts are part of a story that about the relationship that OZ has been building with Community Food Shares in Louisville, with which it has done canned food drives since 2012," says Chris Vandall, a senior associate architect who oversees the OZ Gives program. "These pieces have been ways to engage the staff and the community in ways more than jus making the donation."

The firm's offices in RiNo, Boulder and Colorado Springs are converted former industrial buildings. The spaces include conference rooms, wide corridors and design spaces for work, and lounge areas for receiving clients and relaxing between tasks. There is also an outdoor patio, indoor bar bicycle racks and office dos. 

OZ Architecture works on 11 practice areas, including restaurants and hotels, senior living communities, college campuses and modern, innovative workplaces. Recent projects include the Silverthorne Performing Arts Center, several locations of Punch Bowl Social and Roots Elementary School in Denver. 

Other philanthropic work includes contributions to the RiNo Arts District and volunteer efforts for Project Angel Heart and Habitat for Humanity.

FINALISTS

DAVIS PARTNERSHIP

Davis Partnership Architects provides comprehenisve project planning, design and management services to institutional, corporate, governmental and private clients. The staff of 172 architectrs, landscape architects, interior designers and graphic talent offers a full scope fo architectural serivces, as well as master planning, landscape architecture, interior design, lighting design and environmental graphics/signage. The firm has expertise in commercial, mixed-use, health care, higher education, residential and cultural facilities. Davis Partnership Architects is celebrating 50 years of service and has set a staff goal to contribute five hours fo volunteerism and community outreach, targeting 750 hours of total service.

EVSTUDIO

In 11 years, EVstudio has grown to a 41-employee firm with offices in Denver, Evergreen (where it was founded) and Austin, Texas. The architecture and engineering company recently was selected as an architectural resource for the annual Rocky Mountain Real Estate Challenge. The competitors – student groups from University of Colorado and University of Denver real estate development master's programs – were tasked with creating new vision for a Denver site in need of redevelopment. For the 2017 competition, EVstudio's CU team took top honors for a Globeville location called Terminal at 51st.