Winter 2022
During 2022, TKB welcomed six total additions to the architectural and interior design staff and said a fond good-bye to TKB Senior Interior Designer Paula McKendry, who retired in May after 22 years with the firm.
A headline project for the year was TKB’s design for the Illinois Capitol Development Board’s multi-phase renovation of the Illinois State Armory. Construction will include literally raising the roof on the vintage building to modify it from its original purpose to create more than 200,000 SF of office space. TKB closed out the year with the first, stabilization phase of the project awarded to Williams Brothers Construction. Stabilization work at the historic building will begin during the new year. Meanwhile, the TKB team continues to develop plans to preserve and highlight the 1930’s historic features for the 800 State employees who will call the Armory home when renovations are complete.
In other work, the TKB team began the Capitol Development Board and the Illinois Department of Transportation’s Bridging Documents for a new building to consolidate office and labs for IDOT’s Construct Materials Lab in Springfield, Illinois. The TKB team has worked diligently to program and document facility needs. In addition to administrative offices, the focus is on laboratory processes requiring specialized testing environments. Flow of materials, workflow and spatial adjacencies were overlaid to create conceptual diagrams, address individual laboratory technical needs, and develop scope specifications for the future Design-Build team.
For the Chicago Public School District, the TKB team continued its long-time retainer work at six local schools, including four Pre-K classroom renovations and two re-roofing projects.
TKB also provided continued design services for the GSA across the six-state Region 5, including a feasibility study incorporating long term planning and analysis of space use to support changes in employee work patterns for the federal Railroad Retirement Board headquartered in Chicago. The study results, combined with real estate and cost information provided by the GSA, will be sent to Congress as a portion of Railroad Retirement Board’s funding request to consolidate space use.
Building on its healthcare experience, TKB advised Harvard, Illinois’ Community Health Partnership in the expansion of an existing not-for-profit clinic. The project was the beneficiary of multiple grants, one of which funded the creation of an isolation room with separate entry and mechanical isolation to treat patients with highly communicable illnesses.
At the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, TKB continued to close out projects from its initial four-year retainer contract with the University. Projects included renovations in the Psychology Laboratory building and a Feasibility Study for the Ethnic, Women and Gender Studies departments at the University. The new year will begin the second retainer contract with UIUC; the first task orders under the new contract will be the renovation of the Andean Gallery and a Feasibility Study for Student Success Inclusion and Belonging, documenting future needs for three new buildings, and considering the entire University neighborhood where these buildings will be sited.
In the corporate world, TKB maintains its excellence in office design strategies, and is advising two clients of more than twenty years standing on their facility approaches to new employee work patterns. Analysis from the public sector and knowledge from the corporate world inform each other in TKB’s knowledge base and analysis.
The TKB team continues to grow, with strong project skills and increased diversity to more than 50% minority staff while maintaining over 50% female staff. Tilton, Kelly + Bell approaches 2023 with enthusiasm and engagement in the changing world.
