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Architecture International (AI) was founded in 1994, is a U.S. based architecte design firm providing Architecture, planning and Interior Design services to clients in the United States and throughout the world. The founding principals, John P. Sheehy, FAIA, RIBA, William J. Higgins, FIAI, and Sherry Caplan, IIDA, Associate AIA, previously were Principals of The Architects Collaborative (TAC), a firm founded by Walter Gropius based on the Bauhaus tradition of modernism and multi-disciplinary collaboration.

The Principals of Architecture International have established a worldwide reputation of excellence for the design of urban mixed-use projects and multifamily residential design for premier clients. These well-known, highly respected projects are recognized for design excellence, positive market place and community acceptance, and financial success. The firm has been involved in housing, retail, commercial, tourism, education and government. The Principals have been leaders in energy conscious design and sustainability for over 25 years, recently designing California’s first LEED certified hotel.

Architects
Principals of Architecture International have established a worldwide reputation of excellence for the design of urban mixed-use projects and multifamily residential design for premier clients. These well-known, highly respected projects are recognized for design excellence, positive market place and community acceptance, and financial success. The firm has been involved in housing, retail, commercial, tourism, education and government. The Principals have been leaders in energy conscious design and sustainability for over 25 years, recently designing California’s first LEED certified hotel.

Design Approach
From the beginning of our firm, we have held three philosophical views about architecture: Architecture is not its own justification, Architecture should be contextual in both time and place; Architecture should be made through collaboration.

Our ideal project is one in which a client is willing to become an active participant in the design process. Since we are involved with the design process all of the time and many of our clients are not, we recognize that it is our obligation to develop techniques to make our clients’ participation effective and we have done that.In 1994, to the choice of our firm name of Architecture International. We do believe that making good architecture requires the efforts of many people working together in a particular way which we call “collaboration.”

For us, collaboration means more than just bringing together talented people and having each do an assigned task well; the essence of collaboration is to arrive at the point at which each person understands and has helped shape the goals of the team as a whole; in that way the team can produce work whose excellence goes beyond what any one person could do individually. Making collaboration work requires strong leadership within the team, and one of the reasons we have such 3 principals at Architecture international is that each of our project teams is headed by one of these principals, who has the final responsibility for design decisions and for involving the client in the process. Because of the close working relationship between principal, design team, and client, matching the right people is important to us.

The Principals of Architecture International have been leaders in energy conscious design and sustainability for over 25 years. They have used this knowledge to educate clients and the profession about energy efficient design through the following work:

The over 2 million square foot GSIS Headquarters in Manila has been internationally recognized for its innovation and achievements, especially in the area of passive energy strategies. The GSIS Headquarters was designed to maximize natural light and breeze penetration, while minimizing heat gain on the perimeter of the building. The building form blends landscape and structure in a stepped configuration reminiscent of the famed Banaue Rice Terraces of the Philippines. Located on reclaimed land along the Manila waterfront, the 1,350,000 square-foot GSIS building was designed to house 4,000 employees and receive 3,000 visitors daily.

In the capacity of Energy, Environment, and Technology consultants to the Filipino Government, we assisted the GSIS and the local architect in formulating design strategies for energy conservation in a demanding tropical climate, thus reducing energy consumption for this one million sq. ft. government building by 70 quadrillion BTUs per year, thereby saving natural resources, reducing operational costs, and decreasing the likelihood of frequent brownouts. The GSIS building sets an example in energy-and-environmentally conscious design for the Philippines and was the recipient of three international energy awards.

The Owens-Corning Awards Jury commented “The architects have been very innovative with their lighting in an effort to keep the cooling loads as low as possible……the designers annual energy target is one of the lowest.”

GSIS Awards
Philippine Department of Energy Conservation Award White House Citation for Contribution to Energy Efficient Environment Owens-Corning Fiberglass Corporation Energy Conservation Award American Solar Energy Society Passive Solar Design Award

Projects
Noble Research Center at Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK: The design of this Center for Agriculture and renewable Natural Resources uses natural ventilation, passive heating, day lighting, thermal storage, waste heat recovery and photovoltaic cells to achieve the very low annual energy budget of 35,000 BTUs/sf/year.

Tennessee Valley Authority Headquarters, Chattanooga, TN: Designed energy efficient systems for this nationally significant green building, one of the first large scale U.S. buildings to employ day lighting as a passive energy design concept.

Notable Architecture International buildings
801 Tower, Los Angeles, CA The thermal storage