VCU STEM Building wins Golden Hammer Award

We are pleased to announce that Virginia Commonwealth University won a 2023 Golden Hammer Award in the category of “Best New Construction, Civic.” Ballinger led design and engineering for the new 168,000 SF building, in collaboration with Richmond firm Quinn Evans. The Golden Hammer Awards, a partnership between Historic Richmond and Storefront for Community Design, have recognized professionals and community members improving neighborhoods in Greater Richmond through restoration, adaptive reuse, new construction, placemaking, and historic preservation since 2000.

The context of Richmond’s West Franklin Street Historic District was a driver of the design for the STEM Building. Sited among antebellum mansions, the building is clad in brick, granite and cast stone with an articulated massing to blend with the historic urban fabric. A stately front garden and through-block walkway reinforce the network of paths and passages that characterize VCU’s campus.