Whistler Wins Merit Award at AIA Atlanta Residential & Hospitality Design Awards
Whistler won a Merit Award in the Multifamily/Mixed-Use—Over 50 Units category during AIA Atlanta’s 2023 Residential & Hospitality Design Awards! The ceremony took place during Build Something Great at Atlanta’s Buckhead Theatre, where NBAers Mohamed Mohsen and April Tann were in attendance and brought home the prestigious award.
Congratulations to LV Collective, JE Dunn Construction and the rest of the project team for this recognition! Read more about the development below, and view the full list of winners here: 2023 Residential & Hospitality Design Awards Winners Revealed - AIA Atlanta
This thoughtfully considered tower improves a 0.5-acre urban infill site in Midtown, Atlanta. The design team considered the pedestrians’ perception, creating a building that could be enjoyed up close and far away. How can design evolve a large, efficient, towering structure into an inviting pedestrian-friendly street front? The design solutions were simple and elegant, providing social, economic and environmental benefits. The key strategies were:
Whistler sits within the SPI-16 zoning district, which encourages minimizing the amount of vehicular parking and increasing the use of alternative modes of transportation and mobility. The team embraced the urban environment and continued reliance on walking, biking, scooters, and public transportation by providing the minimum amount of parking, just 25 spaces in one underground level.
Pedestrian connection to the street level was carefully considered for residents and non-residents. The team incorporated a beautifully designed, warm, and inviting café into the ground level lobby with indoor/outdoor connection along Spring Street. The café, designed to be a cohesive part of the interior aesthetic, was much needed in the urban area, and creates value for both residents and the broader Tech Square community.
Glass and vertical mullions along the street level draw attention upwards to emphasize the building base. The idea is at night, with amenities stacked on the first couple of levels, the space glows like a jewel box from the inside out, helping to activate the sidewalk and create connection with pedestrians.
Mail and package are seamlessly integrated into the ground floor lobby, encouraging interaction among residents and patrons of the Daydreamer café, truly creating a sense of community and sense of place.
The 284,839-square-foot property’s dynamic design of mid-grey tones starts with a stacked charcoal-brick base of amenities to activate the street and draws the eye up with slender grey and white mini towers and rhythmically shifting balconies slightly offset from each other to create a dynamic façade instead of a static block. The skin used further up on the building’s exterior was a cost-effective, energy-saving prefabricated acrylic STO panel provided locally by Southern Wall Systems (SWS). Once the concrete frame was up, before the building was even topped out, SWS started to install the panels, saving time, money and reducing installation hazards over traditional stucco application. Whistler’s views are democratized, with two additional floors of amenities crowing the top of the building offering unmatched scenes of the city and campus.
Entering the warm and welcoming double-height lobby, residents have access to the on-site Daydreamer café with shaded outdoor seating to help with street presence and engage pedestrians. Walking up the stairs, ample private and group study spaces, podcast room, and dog spa can be found on the mezzanine level. Taking the elevator past the remaining residential floors, level 24 features penthouse units, sky lounge, saunas, and a rooftop deck with grilling stations, infinity edge pool, and hot tub overlooking the city. Accessible to all residents, an expansive fitness center encompasses the 25th floor and offers state-of-the-art equipment, yoga studio, spin studio and a unique fitness on-demand room with two interactive mirrors.
Ready for Georgia Tech’s Fall 2023 semester, Whistler is the popular new kid on the block that accomplishes the city’s initiative to create a more pedestrian-friendly environment within Midtown, while providing students an inviting, connected community they can call home.
Whistler Project Team: LV Collective (Developer), Niles Bolton Associates (Architect), JE Dunn Construction (Contractor), ENGR3 Consulting Engineers (Mechanical & Plumbing Engineer), Power Design (Electrical), SkyDancing Consultant Associates, Inc. (Structural Engineer), Variant Collaborative (Interior Designer), Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc. (Civil Engineer), Ironwood Design Group, LLC (Landscape Architect), Chase Daniel (Photographer)