SWBR Architects recognized with Excelsior Award from New York State AIA for DePaul Halstead Square

The New York State American Institute of Architects (AIA) recently presented SWBR Architects, a Rochester-based firm, with the 2014 Excelsior Award for its work on DePaul Halstead Square, located at 770 W Main St. The Excelsior Award honors the best examples of public architecture, focusing on neighborhood transformation, urban revitalization, site planning, exterior and interior design, and sustainability. A 2.4-acre project, the design of DePaul Halstead Square addresses three distinct contexts: the commercial streetscape of Main St., the residential character of Brown St., and the historic campus of the former Sts. Peter & Paul parish. The project consists of a new 55,000 s/f, 75-unit single-room occupancy building for mental-health residents, a new 24-unit affordable apartment building and a 14-unit Treatment Apartment Building (TAP) on one central site. The central design theme for the project was to break from traditional mental-health care housing models and transform a former blighted area in the City of Rochester into a transformative and vibrant housing campus, enabling the owner to safely and effectively provide quality health care and treatment services to mental-health consumers.