News

The Summit Design Wins Award

Posted on January 28, 2011

The design firm for Rockwood's proposed expansion recently won a design award for the project. Here is the narrative published about the award from the publication "DESIGN/Environments for Aging" which chose projects for publication using a 16-member jury of architects, researchers, designers and regulators, all with backgrounds in senior living environments:

The design firm completed a master plan for the 90-acre park-like campus that resulted in plans for a new 8-story tower addition (The Summit) with larger units. This expansion embraces the community’s principles of holistic wellness and Biophilia, which promotes the instinctive bond between humans and other living systems via a strong integration of indoor/outdoor environments.

The new 8-story tower features 93 independent living apartments, community space and underground parking. New amenity spaces include a grand ballroom, chapel, arts center, business center and library. The existing 8-story tower renovation will include alternative dining venues, new wellness center with aerobics studio, fitness equipment, indoor swimming pool, beauty salon and spa.

A Green Team of architects, residents and staff defined and achieved sustainable design and operational approaches in response to the owner’s goals. The projected energy saving efficiencies are impressive - the community will double in size after the new tower is constructed, but will use the same amount of energy resources currently used by the campus. The project is LEED registered and is targeted for LEED Silver certification.