Merriman Anderson/Architects has received recognition for their work on The Statler with an Honor Award from AIA Dallas at the 2018 Built Design Awards. MAA was the architect of record and interior designer for The Statler, located in Downtown Dallas. AIA Dallas hosts their 2018 Built Design Awards ceremony to honor the architects, clients and consultants who work together to achieve design excellence. This year’s awards ceremony was held at The Carlisle Room on October 4, 2018.

“The Statler is a special project to our firm and team that poured their heart into this project, so it is outstanding to see it receive this recognition,” says Founder and CEO of Merriman Anderson/Architects, Jerry Merriman, AIA. “We would also like to give a special thanks to Mehrdad Moayedi and Centurion American for their vision and insight that went into this project.”

The Statler opened in 1956 as a 1001-room hotel, convention center and gathering place for the “Who’s Who” to stay when visiting Downtown Dallas. The Statler was an integral part of the Dallas culture. The hotel was last occupied in 2001 and was listed as one of the National Park Service’s “Top Ten Most Endangered Buildings” in the country.

In December 2017 its redevelopment was completed and it now features a 159-room Curio Hilton hotel and 219 luxury rental apartments with building amenities including a ballroom, meeting space, six food and beverage venues, rooftop pool deck and lounge, ground floor leasing space and a parking garage. The project energized and reactivated a derelict portion of downtown and provides a connection between the Central Business District, Arts District, Farmers Market and Deep Ellum.

The Statler has also received the 2018 Preservation Dallas Achievement Award and 2017 Topping Out AEC Favorite & Top 10 Award. It was recently inducted as the 300th hotel into Historic Hotels of America®.

Merriman Anderson/Architects is an industry leader in its diverse scope of projects including historic renovations, mixed-use master planned developments, corporate office headquarters and high density housing. Other noteworthy projects include THE DREVER, Grandscape Lifestyle Center, and Bell Helicopter Headquarters.

Molina Healthcare learned about the Ross Avenue Wee Can’s need for some help, and jumped right in. They donated new equipment and almost 30 volunteers to install and spruce up the preschool playground at Wee Can Academy - Ross Avenue. 

The mission of Wee Can Academy is to provide a safe, nurturing and educational environment for children and to partner with and support the families that are a part of the school. Wee Can Academy provides daily programs designed to enrich the lives of infants and toddlers and after school care for grade school children through play, social and academic activities that provide experiences to stimulate the physical, emotional and cognitive growth of each child.

There are currently six Wee Can Academy centers located within Texans Can Academy campuses. Wee Can programs can be found at the Carrollton-Farmers Branch campus, the Ross Avenue campus in East Dallas, the Pleasant Grove campus and the Grant East campus in south Dallas.  Fort Worth and San Antonio campuses also have Wee Can Academy centers within their schools. 

“We would like to thank Molina Healthcare for their wonderful playground renovation at our Wee Can Academy - Ross Avenue location. Our children and our staff will enjoy the new playground and garden for years to come,” said Carol Wentworth, Wee Can Director.

Government-funded Molina Healthcare provides quality, affordable health care to individuals and families covered by government programs such as Medicaid and Medicare. Molina recently had a team of almost 30  volunteers spend two days preparing, installing and beautifying the school’s playground. Members of the Texans Can facilities staff joined in with the Molina’s volunteers to help.

“We are proud of the services we provide, and take pleasure in giving back to the community, said Brittany Edwards, Community Engagement Specialist, Molina Healthcare. “Our employees are always willing to pitch in and help out. The Wee Can Academy - Ross Avenue center serves the same community that we do, and we like to put our support behind organizations like that.” 

Over two days, Molina provided the equipment and tools along with their employees to accomplish the following projects:

• Built a sandbox in the Toddler Play Area
• Installed new soccer and basketball goals along with newly donated balls
• Placed shade awnings over all the pergolas
• Installed rubber mulching on the playground
• Built two music walls
• Planted herbs, mint, and vegetables to the garden area
• Added flowers and succulents to the garden’s planter boxes
• Designed and created a sitting area in the garden
• Created a kitchen play area
• Donated and delivered new tricycles, helmets, wagons and push cars
• Purchased a rain barrel, watering cans along with a new storage bin

For more information about Wee Can Academies, please visit www.weecanacademy.org.

For more Information about Molina Healthcare, please visit www.molinahealthcare.com.

For more information about Texans Can Academies, please visit www.texanscan.org.

To further assist and provide additional resources needed by their students, two Dallas/Fort Worth Texans Can Academy campuses are open to students on Saturdays for additional tutoring, credit and attendance recovery.  They also receive college and career readiness services from the schools’ advisors. Saturday school activities are held on the high school campuses from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. with breakfast and lunch provided for the students.

At Saturday school, students are given the opportunity to receive tutoring for each End-Of-Course (EOC) tested subject. This is ideal for students who may have fallen behind in one or more classes and need extra assistance in a core subjects before testing begins.

“We are excited that Saturday school has taken off at our Texans Can Academy campuses and our students seem to look forward to the one-on-one attention to help them master their class subjects,” said Dr. Jose Luis Torres, Texans Can Academies’ Executive Director of Student Services. “Every student has an opportunity to benefit from one or more of the services now available on Saturdays. And like all teenagers, they love having breakfast before class and lunch when they are done.”

Attendance and credit recovery classes are also available for students who have had to miss school and have more absences than accepted to pass their required classes. Students who need to make up time to meet attendance requirements may do so during Saturday classes. Some students have missed classes due to illnesses, transportation problems or have needed to begin work during school hours for financial reasons. Credit recovery is also offered to students already in the credit recovery program who need to catch up or get a head start on assignments.

College and career readiness services are provided, primarily to seniors, in order to help them with applications for college, applying for scholarships or jobs, developing resumes, career counseling and more.   

Students who can benefit from an additional day of school with close teacher interaction to catch up with their classes are encouraged to enroll at a Texans Can Academy campus.

The campuses currently offering Saturday classes are Texans Can Academy – Oak Cliff, Texans Can Academy - Fort Worth Westcreek and Texans Can Academy - Houston Hobby. Beginning in October, Texans Can Academy - Dallas Ross Avenue, Texans Can Academy - Garland, and Texans Can Academy - Austin will also be open on Saturdays for additional support for their enrolled students.  

For more information visit, www.texanscan.org.

Merriman Anderson/Architects (MAA) is proud to announce that the historic Dallas High School has achieved LEED Gold Certification.

The 102,000-square foot, four-story building was built in 1907 and sat empty for nearly two decades before being purchased by Matthews Southwest and redeveloped into 78,000-square feet of historically converted office space, along with 10,000-square feet of restaurant, retail and outdoor patio space. MAA is the design architect, historic architect and architect of record for the building shell and interior restoration, including the LEED certification process.

In order to receive LEED Gold certification, MAA implemented many sustainable site and material strategies, as well as envelope improvements to optimize energy efficiency. “To increase the energy performance of the building, the envelope was improved per historic preservation standards, which was the biggest challenge,” said Aimee Sanborn, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Principal and Team Leader at Merriman Anderson/Architects. “However, with the envelope and lighting improvements, combined energy savings improved by more than 21.9%.”

A few sustainable site strategies included the abatement of contaminants in the existing building; installation of native vegetation with drip irrigation and priority parking for fuel-efficient vehicles as well as on-site electric charging stations. Highly reflective TPO roofing membrane, an efficient HVAC system, and LED lighting were all established within the building to improve energy efficiency. With the installation of low flow fixtures, the potable water use within the building was reduced by more than 49.31%.

More than 99.64% of the existing core and shell were reused, and products were installed that possessed recycled content reducing the amount of construction waste. To improve the environmental health throughout the building, MAA installed low-emitting materials.

Dallas High School recently won a 2018 Preservation Dallas Achievement Award, which honors Dallas’ outstanding residential and commercial historic preservation projects and the individuals who are committed to making Dallas a better place to live by protecting its architectural heritage.

The MAA stamp can be seen on a wide range of project types throughout the United States and internationally. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with additional offices in Austin, Texas and Charlotte, North Carolina, the firm offers customized project solutions to a varied portfolio of clients. With projects such as The Statler, Dallas High School, The Centrum, Bell Helicopter’s Global Headquarters, THE DREVER, and Grandscape Lifestyle Center, Merriman Anderson/Architects is an industry leader in Dallas and across the country.

Merriman Anderson/Architects (MAA) is proud to announce that the historic Dallas High School has achieved LEED Gold Certification.

The 102,000-square foot, four-story building was built in 1907 and sat empty for nearly two decades before being purchased by Matthews Southwest and redeveloped into 78,000-square feet of historically converted office space, along with 10,000-square feet of restaurant, retail and outdoor patio space. MAA is the design architect, historic architect and architect of record for the building shell and interior restoration, including the LEED certification process.

In order to receive LEED Gold certification, MAA implemented many sustainable site and material strategies, as well as envelope improvements to optimize energy efficiency. “To increase the energy performance of the building, the envelope was improved per historic preservation standards, which was the biggest challenge,” said Aimee Sanborn, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Principal and Team Leader at Merriman Anderson/Architects. “However, with the envelope and lighting improvements, combined energy savings improved by more than 21.9%.”

A few sustainable site strategies included the abatement of contaminants in the existing building; installation of native vegetation with drip irrigation and priority parking for fuel-efficient vehicles as well as on-site electric charging stations. Highly reflective TPO roofing membrane, an efficient HVAC system, and LED lighting were all established within the building to improve energy efficiency. With the installation of low flow fixtures, the potable water use within the building was reduced by more than 49.31%.

More than 99.64% of the existing core and shell were reused, and products were installed that possessed recycled content reducing the amount of construction waste. To improve the environmental health throughout the building, MAA installed low-emitting materials.

Dallas High School recently won a 2018 Preservation Dallas Achievement Award, which honors Dallas’ outstanding residential and commercial historic preservation projects and the individuals who are committed to making Dallas a better place to live by protecting its architectural heritage.

The MAA stamp can be seen on a wide range of project types throughout the United States and internationally. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with additional offices in Austin, Texas and Charlotte, North Carolina, the firm offers customized project solutions to a varied portfolio of clients. With projects such as The Statler, Dallas High School, The Centrum, Bell Helicopter’s Global Headquarters, THE DREVER, and Grandscape Lifestyle Center, Merriman Anderson/Architects is an industry leader in Dallas and across the country.