Media & News

Bakersfield, CA – The Bakersfield architecture firm of Renfro & Elliott is pleased to announce that it has merged with Cuningham Group Architecture, P.A. The merger of the two companies will position the newly-formed Renfro and Cuningham, Inc. as a powerful leader in the design of educational facilities. Throughout its 37-year history, Cuningham Group has worked on a wide variety of project types with a particular focus on distinguished learning environments.

Renfro & Elliott was founded in 1978 and prior to the merger with Cuningham Group, the firm designed numerous projects totaling millions of square feet, including educational, commercial, institutional and highly complex healthcare facilities. Over the past 10 years, the firm has received a number of awards recognizing its commitment to technical and aesthetic excellence, as well as its contributions to the profession of architecture. Most recently, Renfro & Elliott, as part of a strategic partnership, completed plans for Frontier High School in Bakersfield – currently under construction – and Delano High School in Delano, California as well as Tehachapi High School in Tehachapi, California which opened in the fall of 2003.

“Our merger with Cuningham Group gives us a statewide platform for our expertise in school design and enables us to draw on the resources of a highly regarded national company,” said Nancy Renfro, President of Renfro & Cuningham, Inc. “At the same time, our commitment to Bakersfield, Kern County as well as the entire Southern San Joaquin, remains as strong as ever.”

John Quiter, Principal of Renfro & Cuningham, Inc. and President of Cuningham Group Architecture, P.A., agrees. “This merger is a win-win for both companies. It increases the profile of Cuningham Group throughout California, and enables Renfro & Cuningham to utilize Cuningham Group’s talents to benefit the local community.”

Faces, Places, Shops, and Trends to Keep You in the Know

Cuningham Group is the designer of one of six interactive art installations that will be featured at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum’s “Wild About Birds” exhibit from May 1 through October 9.

Cuningham Group was recognized as architect for Oak Hill Executive Center (Mahtomedi, Minnesota), winner of a Best in Real Estate Award from The Business Journal, and the lead architect for finalist project 1301 University (Minneapolis, Minnesota).

MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. – Cuningham Group Architecture, P.A. announced that two of its projects were awarded honors in the Second Annual FAB! Awards.

Sponsored by the Northland Chapter of the International Interior Design Association, the FAB! (Fresh, Artistic, Brilliant) Awards recognize excellence in interior design.

Winner in the category of Hospitality, Z The Club brings the glitz and glamour of a Las Vegas nightclub to a floating casino on the Biloxi, Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Eisenhower Elementary School in Hopkins, winner in the Healthcare/Institutional category, transforms a little-used auxiliary gym into an engaging, cheerful space that houses multi-functions for elementary students, staff and the community.

Winners were announced at the FAB! Awards ceremony on April 29, 2005 and will be submitted to the 33rd Annual Interior Design Competition in 2006.

MINNEAPOLIS, MINN – Cuningham Group Architecture, P.A. announced that one of its projects is a winner – and another a finalist – for The Business Journal Best in Real Estate 2004.

The Business Journal Best in Real Estate honors top Twin Cities metropolitan area real estate projects and transactions from 2004.

Winner in the category of New Office Development/Multitenant is the Oak Hill Executive Center. Located in Mahtomedi, it includes a series of six upscale, Prairie-style buildings ideal for small to mid-size business owners interested in controlling their own space and climate.

Student housing development 1301 University in Minneapolis placed as a finalist in the category of New Multifamily Residential Development. Located in a prime spot across from the University of Minnesota campus, it serves rising student demands for high-quality housing.

Winners were announced at the Best in Real Estate awards dinner on Thursday, April 28, 2005.

_Online announcement of Cuningham Group’s 2005 merger with a Bakersfield-based architectural firm to form Renfro Elliott & Cuningham, Inc. This merger enables Cuningham Group to increase its profile throughout California while emphasizing the firm’s commitment to having a local presence in the state’s expanding Central Valley. _

Local report on the merger of longtime Bakersfield architectural firm Renfro & Elliot with national design firm Cuningham Group Architecture, P.A.

Como Town will have interactive rides and other amenities.

As the project’s designer, Cuningham Group is helping turn Saint Paul’s tired Como Zoo amusement park area into a modern attraction for the Zoo’s tiniest visitors. The new Como Town amusement park will reenergize this popular local family destination.

Supporters review final plans for site

Cuningham Group is part of a team of architects and designers collaborating on the master plan for the future home of Trollwood Performing Arts School. This article describes the current plan for relocating this popular school and community icon to Moorhead, Minnesota and how the plan is already generating praise and excitement for the project.

Remake of vintage amusement park will feature the latest attractions for the younger set.

As the project’s designer, Cuningham Group is helping turn Saint Paul’s tired Como Zoo amusement park area into a modern attraction for the Zoo’s tiniest visitors. The environment being created complements the Zoo’s mission of engaging children in a family-centered environment.

MINNEAPOLIS, MINN – International firm Cuningham Group Architecture, P.A. has been ranked number 331 in Engineering News Record’s “Top 500 Design Firms”

Engineering News Record ranked companies according to revenue for design services performed in 2004. The list covers U.S.-based architectural, engineering and environmental design firms. This is the first year Cuningham Group has participated in this survey.

The list was published in the April 18, 2005 issue of Engineering News Record.

Rosemount, unlike some suburbs, has an actual downtown, but it’s badly in need of an update. Help is coming, the city says.

Cuningham Group is a member of the redevelopment team that will lead the City of Rosemount, Minnesota’s downtown transformation and help create a denser, more pedestrian-friendly environment for housing, retail and restaurants.

Cuningham Group makes its first ever appearance at number 331 on this list of the design industry’s leading firms.

MINNEAPOLIS, MINN – As a result of winning last year’s Totally Terrific Treehouses competition at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Cuningham Group was invited to participate in this year’s Wild About Birds exhibition. This one-of-a-kind exhibition pays special tribute to our feathered friends. Through exhibits, family activities, and special events, visitors to the Arboretum can learn how to identify birds and understand how migratory birds link life in Minnesota with life in faraway regions. Cuningham Group created one of six interactive art installations created by local artists, architectural firms and community groups.

Several members of Cuningham Group’s staff designed an interactive water bird exhibit, which they appropriately labeled, “The Bird Bath.” Visitors are invited to “swim” in the Bird Bath to look for printed banners with information about each bird (named Hairy the Heron, Swanky the Swan, Waddles the Wood Duck, and Loony the Loon), how to create and protect habitats for water birds, and how to invite birds into their own neighborhoods.

Cuningham Group worked with Themescapes to construct the metal sculpture and Banner Creations, Inc. to sew and fabricate the banners.

The Wild About Birds exhibition will be on display at the Arboretum from May 1 through October 9, 2005.

The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, a premier public garden, is part of the College of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences at the University of Minnesota and developed as a community and national resource for horticultural and environmental information, research, and public education.

A literate tree house captures the imagination of the young and old

Architecture Minnesota’s annual Honor Awards issue includes Cuningham Group’s “Poetry of Trees” – winner of the 2004 Divine Detail Award from the American Association of Architects Minnesota Chapter.

Describes the sustainable approach Cuningham Group used to change an old gymnasium into a lively cafeteria that is bringing funds into this Minnesota district.

MINNEAPOLIS, MINN – The Minnesota chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) awarded Cuningham Group’s “The Poetry of Trees” project with the 2004 Divine Detail Award. The Divine Detail Awards were established to recognize elements of building design where the expression of materials, technologies and craft bond with the process of invention and construction. Projects in this category illustrate the governing design concept of the building, recognizing the importance of the detail to the realization of the whole.

Cuningham Group designed “The Poetry of Trees” as part of a treehouse design competition that attracted more than 30 design entries by some of Minnesota’s most innovative architects, artists, and landscape architects. Cuningham Group’s design was one of twelve selected for building and display in the Arboretum’s gardens. The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum presented this four-month exhibit in 2004 on Totally Terrific Treehouses in an effort to help people remember or discover all the ways trees delight and support.

Several members of Cuningham Group’s staff designed and built the whimsical creation, which they appropriately labeled, “The Poetry of Trees.” The house-like structure, crafted from reclaimed wood salvaged by The Reuse Center, finds inspiration from a great white oak. Similar to a mature tree, its solid base is engaged with the ground. Once inside the structure draws attention upward toward shafts of light. Wrapped in thoughtful poetry, the treehouse connects the viewer more closely to nature.

Jurors for the AIA Honor Awards program commented on how the square structure “suggests growth and emergence from the ground.” Adding, “it’s not a tree house as we normally think of one, but it is expressive of a tree.” The Honor Awards jury particularly liked the child-size scale of the structure. “I’d like to climb inside of it,” said one of the jurors.

As the Divine Detail Award winner, “The Poetry of Trees” will be part of a traveling graphic display that will be present at AIA Minnesota events throughout the year.

Cuningham Group is the architect for this large lakeshore development. Located alongside a popular Twin Cities suburban lake, the project broke ground in the spring of 2005.

Cuningham Group Principal John Pfluger, AIA and Associate Meg Parsons, REFP were presenters at the Buckeye Association of School Administrators (BASA) Conference in Columbus, Ohio on February 28th. The two were in invited to share the story of Cuningham Group-designed Crosswinds Arts & Science Middle School to attendees that included administrators from across the state of Ohio.

Cuningham Group is listed number 6 on the Twin Cities metro area’s list of Top 25 Architectural Firms and number 21 on the Top 25 Landscape Architectural Firms.

This articles profiles the little piece of Vegas glitz Cuningham Group has brought to Gulf Coast gaming in the form of a popular new nightclub.

This article profiles Epic Systems Corporation as one of the greatest high-tech stories in Wisconsin. The medical software giant also happens to be a client of Cuningham Group, and the article speaks to the features that will be a part of the company’s new corporate campus.

MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. – Cuningham Group Architecture, P.A. Associate, Judith Hoskens, REFP is a contributing author to a publication developed cooperatively by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Council of Educational Facility Planners International (CEFPI). Published in September 2004, Schools for Successful Communities: An Element of Smart Growth explains why and how communities should employ smart growth planning principles to build schools that better serve and support students, staff, parents, and the entire community.

Drawing from her own experiences as a Recognized Educational Facility Planner (REFP) for Cuningham Group Architecture, P.A., Judy understands and sees first-hand the elements that lead to better schools and better communities. As the publication asserts and Judy supports, each community should use its education dollars to fulfill academic considerations and to express the values and vision of the community. This includes school district collaboration with city leaders to incorporate smart growth principles in the master facility planning process to benefit the community socially and economically. The publication uses case studies from around the country that show how community-centered schools and the planning process used to design and build these schools have improved education and fostered more livable places.

Schools for Successful Communities: An Element of Smart Growth is available through the Council of Educational Facility Planners International’s (CEFPI) website www.cefpi.com.

This brief profile looks at Wetlands Cafe at Eisenhower Elementary School. Designed by Cuningham Group, the cafeteria offers alternatives to traditional school lunches and creates a funding source for one Minnesota district.

This article profiles the UrbanPlan program offered in select Los Angeles Unified School District high schools in which students learn principals of urban design and planning. Cuningham Group President, John Quiter, and Marketing Director, Rebecca Martinez, co-chair this popular ULI-sponsored program.

While living and shopping have not mixed well in L.A. development, that trend seems to be shifting, and Cuningham Group is a participant in the changes that are happening.

This feature on the Light Rail Transit system in the Twin Cities includes profiles of stations along the new line, including Cuningham Group’s Fort Snelling Station.