“Williams Blackstock Architects was awarded a regional honor for its architectural work on the Innovation Depot in downtown Birmingham.
The Gulf States chapter of the American Institute of Architects gave the Birmingham-based architect an Honor Citation for its work in renovating the former Sears building into a state-of-the-art business incubator.”
Inovation Depot
- Honor Award
The renovation of Innovation Depot was a challenging project aimed at bringing new life to an abandoned Sears department store. The design concept opened up the existing windowless building by replacing the graffiti-covered masonry walls with a sleek, glass façade – pulling ample natural light throughout the entire space. The large floor plate, more than one football field in length, serves as a “main street” corridor leading to office and shared administration space and is punctuated with a monumental stair and steel-framed elevator shaft in a central, two-story atrium. Existing concrete ceilings, columns and building systems were left exposed to symbolically mirror the innovation and creation process that occurs within the incubating businesses in the building.