New construction, rehab projects win city architecture awards
Kalispell Regional Healthcare’s Montana Children’s Hospital. (Photos courtesy of Kalispell Planning Department).
Kalispell Regional Medical Center’s Digestive Health Institute..
Immanuel Lutheran Communities; The Villas at Buffalo Hill.
Distillery Square on SIxth Avenue West.
Great Northern Dental on Whitefish Stage Road.
The Kalispell Architectural Review Committee will recognize some of the highlights of the city’s recent growth by presenting architectural awards at the Kalispell City Council meeting Monday. The awards acknowledge quality new buildings constructed throughout 2017 and 2018.
This year’s winners are Immanuel Lutheran Communities’ Villas at Buffalo Hill, Kalispell Regional Medical Center’s Digestive Health Institute and Children’s Center, Great Northern Dental off Whitefish Stage Road and Distillery Square on Sixth Avenue West.
“The committee feels that there have been a lot of examples of good, quality development within the city over the past few years and wanted to recognize a few of the exceptional ones for their efforts,” a press release stated.
According to the city’s website, the purpose of the committee is to “encourage originality, flexibility and innovation in site planning and development, including the architecture, landscaping and graphic design of said development” and to “discourage monotonous, drab, unsightly, dreary and inharmonious development.”
The committee currently consists of seven volunteer members. They work with the Kalispell Planning Office every summer to review all of the new developments from the previous year.
“Their mission is to review projects and recognize ones that fit in with the surrounding neighborhood and improve it,” Kalispell planner P.J. Sorensen said.
Sorensen explained the committee, which formed about six years ago, no longer divides the awards into specific categories, but rather recognizes two to four outstanding architectural projects every year. “When it started, the goal of the committee was to improve the aesthetics, redevelop areas and improve the community,” Sorensen remembered.
This year, he said each of the award recipients added something special to the local landscape. “There are different things each individual did particularly well,” he said.
For instance, Great Northern Dental’s new dental office was a “smaller, more traditional project.” Sorensen said it was a noteworthy development given the small size of the building. “They did a good type of job in terms of size and the slope they had to deal with and work around,” Sorensen said.
Dr. Ron Jarvis at Great Northern Dental said he was shocked to win the award. “It feels really good to be recognized,” he said.
He moved his dental practice out of the Two Medicine Building on Heritage Way in June after nine months of construction on the new building. He said he and his team wanted a “friendly, unique look that looked like it belonged here.”
“We recognized it’s different from what you expect from a dental-looking office,” he acknowledged. This nontraditional appearance was part of the goal for the new office, which also features “fantastic natural lighting and views into Glacier National Park.”
Jarvis added he is pleased the new office, designed by architect Mark Johnson, “helps to improve Kalispell.”
On the other end of the spectrum, KRMC’s two buildings were a large undertaking highlighted for their contemporary look. Sorensen heralded this “new, modern type of project” for the glass architecture and the “interplay between the two buildings.” Swank Enterprises was the contractor for both buildings.
The Digestive Health Institute was designed by KRH Design and Construction and Marcello Pierrottet, while the Children’s Center was designed by HKS Inc.
Immanuel Lutheran’s The Villas, contracted by Swank Enterprises and designed by MMW Architects, was a residential project Sorensen said “went above and beyond.” He noted the buildings are “in a highly visible place up on the hill” that managed to branch out from a more “institutional look.”
In addition to all the new construction, the committee also recognized the Distillery Square redesign as a rehabilitation project. Sorensen reported the row building, “was an old bakery they rehabbed into something that showed really well.”
After architect Mark Johnson’s work on the building, Sorensen said it is now “unrecognizable.”
He added these kind of rehabilitation projects are “what we want to see people doing. We want them to turn these into a positive for the city.”
The awards will be handed out at the council meeting Monday at 7 p.m. in the City Council Chambers, 201 First Ave. E.
Reporter Bret Anne Serbin may be reached at bserbin@dailyinterlake.com or 758-4459.