Projects
Land and Master Planning
Urban Design
Architecture
Land and
Master Planning
Prairie Prefab
Prairie Prefab is a 60 acre rural estate housing
development in north central Indiana. The project includes
site work as well as the design and building of 15 high end
highly sustainable custom modular estate homes designed to
be nestled into the prairie and wooded landscape. The
overall project strategy has its conceptual foundations in
the work Frank Lloyd Wright and his
Usonian
homes project.
MGI is providing a full range of
services from site planning, entitlement processing,
architectural design, modular design, and ultimately
building and construction management services.
Prairie Prefab is a
design-build-develop project for Prairies Edge LLC.
Urban
Design
Shotgun House Project
The Shotgun
House Project is a post-Katrina urban infill project
for New Orleans, LA. After the devastating storm and
flooding in New Orleans, Prairies Edge LLC asked MGI to
develop a modular re-housing strategy for the older and
higher ground lands within the City of New Orleans. After a
full analysis of the area, potential community recovery
efforts and available properties, MGI developed The Shotgun
House Project program for urban infill of a NOLA traditional
housing type.
The Shotgun House Project is a
joint design-build-development project with MGI and Prairies
Edge LLC.
Modular Urban
Infill
Prototypes
Following on the in-depth work
of The Shotgun House Project as urban infill for NOLA, MGI
has embarked on developing modular urban infill prototypes
for this and other cities as well. Most urban areas have vacant or
underutilized areas that could use new project options. One
of the advantages of working with off-site modular methods
of construction is the huge reduction in time spent on-site
during construction. In urban areas, site-built construction
projects have significant impacts on the communities they
are being built in. Modular solves that and many other problems
associated with quality building project delivery.
MGI is currently in development
of both single family and multi-family urban housing
prototypes for Midwestern cities.
Community Plans and Design
Guidelines
Communities often have an
existing spirit that is evidenced in the way they have grown
up and matured. The evidence can be subtle and can easily be
overlooked by those that enter a community with
preconceptions of what an individual building should be.
This lack of sensitivity to a community can have huge
affects that are felt well beyond the project's property
lines and well into the future. For this reason, more and
more communities look to having their neighborhoods analyzed
and codified at both the community plan and architectural
levels so that new and future development can easily finds
its way to finding harmony within these particular
communities. James B. Guthrie, AIA has helped the following
communities by preparing their community plans and design
guidelines:
Established and Historic
Cities in California:
Carlsbad, CA
Fallbrook, CA
Lakeside, CA
Ramona, CA
Historic Neighborhoods in
the City of San Diego:
Golden
Hill/North Park
Normal Heights
New Neighborhoods in the
City of San Diego:
Carmel Valley
(Neighborhood 8A)
Carmel Valley
(Neighborhood 10)
Del Mar
Highlands
James B. Guthrie, AIA was the
project architect for the guideline projects noted above.
Architecture
Disaster Recovery Centers
One of the business lessons of
the post-911and post-Katrina world is that the only hope a
business has of maintaining continuity through and past a
disaster is by planning ahead and preparing for the worst.
Working with an office leasing company, MGI designed a full
suite of disaster recovery centers. These facilities can be
utilized as hot or cold sites, and can be used at fixed
locations or mobile/relocatable locations. Because they are
modular and mobile, they can be reconfigured based on
particular corporate needs. They are complete offices in
that they are fully prepared buildings. They are
pre-plumbed, pre-wired for power and IT/high speed
networking, and they are even fully furnished and equipped.
Should disaster strike, they are designed to be occupied and
fully operational with the flip of a switch.
MGI provided design and
engineering services to Jobsite Leasing Company for this
project.
Modular Production
and
Sustainability Consulting
MGI works closely with our
sister manufacturing company in Indiana. The plant has been
extremely aggressive in finding ways to promote energy
conservation and sustainability in its day to day operations
for the past several years. MGI has provided general
guidance on implementation strategies at the plant. More
recently, the plant decided to explore implementing green
building practices in its product line of mobile and modular
structures. These efforts have been invaluable at informing
the design to build process in terms of strategies to employee
that actually attain green goals in a cost effective manner.
To date several projects have been
completed including The Cube, a highly sustainable modular building
prototype, and the HPMO™, or High Performance Mobile
Office™.
MGI provided design,
sustainability analysis, production recommendations and
engineering services to Jobsite Trailer Corporation for
these projects.
Urban
Infrastructure
Del Mar Heights Pedestrian Bridge
MGI understands that
architecture exists within a larger community. This concept
translates into the design integration of structures and
forms that may not be seen as traditional architecture, but
do provide a comprehensive function within the community.
The Del Mar Heights Pedestrian
Bridge is just such a work. This bridge is first engaged as
a large neighborhood gateway or monument. It is also
designed to tie the aesthetic scale and texture of a
residential neighborhood with a neighborhood commercial
shopping district. This bridge has a very practical aspect
as it allows pedestrians to safely navigate a high traffic
arterial street and to readily access daily shopping and other
community services.
The bridge was designed and
built for the special neighborhood of Del Mar Heights, a
coastal community of San Diego County, California.
James B. Guthrie, AIA was the
project architect for the Del Mar Heights pedestrian bridge.
Senior
Housing and
Senior
Care
Emeritus Senior Center
As the general population ages
in every community, the need for assisted living and
assisted care grows. The Emeritus Senior Center in
Oceanside, California provides high quality transitional
living for seniors with a wide range of care needs from
basic retirement to full assisted support to full seniors
dealing with Alzheimer's.
The Emeritus Senior Center is a
comprehensive facility for seniors and includes 112 one and two
bedroom apartments, shared community and dining areas, a
commercial kitchen, fitness center, beauty salon, central
laundry, and outdoor activity areas. The facility is
designed to assure free movement for ambulatory residents,
and sensitive security measures for Alzheimer's residents.
