KOMA

Premier architects, structural engineers and interior designers

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2023: Our Elves on the Shelves

Can you GUESS what object RHYMES with each of the elf names below?

Rollover or tap (on mobile) to reveal the answer:

and the Leaning Tower of Pisa
with a Dandelion
Soaking in Swiss Miss
Floating in Mint Tea
Driving a Van
and His Best Friend Teddy

How are you doing so far??

Out on a Limb
Floating in Heaven
Sings a Christmas Song
Traveling to Bora Bora
Sailing Her Catamaran
and His Dog Marmaduke

…some of these are tricky!

Riding a Shark
Popping Out of a Hat
Riding in a Wagon
with a Glass of Zinfandel
Riding a Bike
Admiring Her Grammy

…you’re almost to the finish line!

Playing the Pawn
in a Sleeve
Hiding Behind a Mask
Sitting Next to a Prince?

How about YOU?

Sandy eating candy? Pete on the street?

Have a wonderful holiday season!

Designing a Complex Veterinary Hospital

The KOMA team worked with Animal Emergency & Referral Center of Minnesota (AERC) to design the largest privately-owned specialty center in the Midwest.

Expanding in stages

KOMA has a long-standing relationship with AERC and has helped them expand their practice multiple times to support their rapid growth.

2010 – The Blue Building
The original clinic resided in a relatively small strip-mall space and included only one type of specialty service. Demand for veterinary care grew and the space was eventually outgrown. As a result, a new 11,000 square foot facility was built, now referred to as the “Blue Building.”

2017 – The Blue Building Expansion
KOMA worked with AERC to design a 2-story expansion to the original building, resulting in 25,550 square feet and accommodating 10 specialty departments. Even with the larger facility, the AERC clientele continued to request more and more services and space quickly became an issue again. It became apparent AERC would need to build a brand new specialty center.

2020-2023 – The Red Building
In 2019, AERC began planning for a second Oakdale facility to support their business growth. After evaluating several nearby locations, they chose one right across the street, allowing for the convenience of having both facilities within walking distance. The design of AERC’s newest building includes 46,500 square feet dedicated to emergency veterinary care and a wide range of specialty medical services. To clearly differentiate the new facility from the existing blue clinic (urgent care), KOMA utilized red signage and color tones on the exterior to signify that this location functions as an emergency hospital.

Designing for a variety of specialty services

Design for the new AERC emergency and specialty center needed to address the flow and function of eleven specialty care departments. Each department needed to operate as its own self-contained unit, but also integrate with one another as needed.

The AERC Hospital design included:

The integrative building layout required:

  • A well-designed flow that could accommodate staff, pets, and their owners
  • Strategic planning to put services that often collaborate near one another
  • Physical space for unique diagnostic tools and therapeutic procedures, including advanced imaging

A focus on comfortable care

Having a sick or injured pet is stressful. Throughout the project, the AERC and KOMA team made thoughtful architectural and design choices to create a welcoming and comfortable environment for animals and humans alike.

Using AERC’s “trauma informed care” values, the design team paid special attention to:

  • Creating a clean, professional clinic aesthetic
  • Using calming colors, warm wood tones, and subtle large format floor tile for visual flow and to reduce distraction
  • Acoustical treatments and spatial separation for sound comfort
  • Comfort rooms for clients who may be dealing with the loss of a pet
  • Staff wellness rooms and in-house mental health support

The AERC staff members are able to deliver emergency services in a fast-paced environment, but also find areas of solace where they can recharge. Pet owners appreciate the quiet comfort rooms and spacious waiting areas. Blending health care and support results in optimal outcomes.

Leading the way in veterinary care

After more than 10 years of partnership, AERC and KOMA have succeeded in developing an advanced medical facility that is at the forefront of veterinary emergency and specialty medicine.

View the full AERC Project Gallery

Other KOMA Veterinary Clinic Projects:

Education + Architecture

HOPE Community Academy Expansion Project

The KOMA team has broad experience in education-related architecture and has led various remodeling and development projects at schools across the Twin Cities.

When designing a learning environment, the KOMA team has identified two critical factors: (1) creating spaces that support current education models and (2) maximizing safety and security.

1. Creating spaces that support current education models

New methods of teaching and learning have changed the way school buildings are designed. Traditional “classrooms” have evolved into “learning spaces” that promote engagement, creativity, and collaboration. As a result, it is critical to design flexible environments that can support varied learning styles.

KOMA considerations:

When working on a school building project, KOMA architects focus on creating multi-purpose, equitable environments that can be used interchangeably across school subject matters.

Foldable walls, flexible seating, and indoor-outdoor spaces give teachers and students the ability to move around and reconfigure their environments for maximized learning. A focus on student wellness also means incorporating natural light, creating comfortable spaces, and designing with the unique needs of the school community in mind.

Planning for a robust technology infrastructure is also an essential component of school building design in order to support operational and instructional work. Learning environments must be designed to undergird current technology but also be able to adapt to new technology that is constantly emerging.

Hand-in-Hand Christian Montessori: Overhead glass doors create a visual and physical connection between classroom and circulation spaces and allow for varied uses during instructional times
Park High School Media Center: Multi-purpose spaces with flexible seating and natural light promote collaboration
HOPE Community Academy: Cultural details are integrated into the design to expand learning beyond the classroom

2. Maximizing safety and security

Protecting the safety and welfare of students and teachers is top-of-mind for everyone involved in an education-related architectural project.

KOMA considerations:

One major component that KOMA architects analyze when working to make school buildings safer is to design a secure, single-point-of-entry for visitors. This may include the combination of a vestibule, main office space, technology, and emergency response systems. Conversely, multiple points of egress are incorporated for safe exit from the building.

Nested throughout the school building layout are layers of additional security. These perimeters help to shape the space so it is secure but also inviting.

Increased weather-related events have brought about a new code requirement for storm shelters to be included in school buildings in Minnesota. These safe spaces need to be designed to structurally withstand a tornado for up to two hours, as well as provide restroom facilities, emergency power, and maintain air quality.

Lino Lakes Elementary: A welcoming entrance greets guests securely
HOPE Community Academy: The multi-purpose gym space is also storm shelter compliant

Storm Shelter Requirements for Minnesota K-12 Schools

Understand the current building codes and the requirements needed to provide safety and comfort during emergencies.

DOWNLOAD OUR WHITE PAPER »

Striking the right balance

The biggest challenge? Dynamic learning environments that are collaborative and flexible are often in contrast to traditional design methods of safety and security. KOMA architects are constantly innovating to try to achieve both and help students and teachers thrive.

KOMA Education Portfolio:

2022: KOMA Naughty & Nice Christmas Greetings!

Whether you were naughty or nice this year,  we’re wishing you a Merry Christmas!

Roll over (or tap on mobile) to witness our petty crimes!

Designing the KOMA office

In 2020, a changing workforce and a startling pandemic abruptly transformed the world of commercial office design. At the same time, KOMA had outgrown our old office building and the design of an entirely new space was well underway.

A project with a blank slate can be exciting and challenging. We relied on our trusted process:

  • Gathered input from all staff members
  • Sketched, rendered, and revised many different options
  • Analyzed trends for flexible work environments
  • Made adjustments as needed along the way

Throughout the process, we discovered innovative ways to meet the needs of the current business climate and challenge well-worn norms. The journey strengthened our own expertise and has allowed us to better support our client base as they plan for the future.

Key Priorities of the KOMA Office Design:

Wellness

Prioritizing employee health and wellness was an emerging trend before the pandemic, and now is more important than ever.

When working on a new project, we try to focus on the occupants more than the building. How will people use the space? Can our office environment promote healthy behaviors? Will staff find opportunities to connect, recharge, and be productive?

A few wellness trends we’ve incorporated at KOMA:

  • A spacious break room with plenty of room to prepare healthy food and socialize. We added a large center island that is often a gathering space for staff throughout the day!
  • Multiple ancillary workspaces where people can step away from their desk and find privacy or a change of scenery.
  • By maximizing the area along a large bank of windows, every workspace has access to natural light.
  • Height adjustable work surfaces give people the option to sit or stand while working.
  • A wellness room provides a quiet space for privacy or to recharge.
  • And of course, we had to find space for our beloved foosball table!
The large break room area is a well-used gathering space.
Ancillary workspaces and flexible technology support varied modes of work.
A wellness room provides privacy and peacefulness.

Other wellness trends we’re incorporating into client projects:

  • Consider the stairwell. Stairs can be an opportunity for a little exercise and time away from a desk. Enclosed stairways are often required; however, we encourage the design of additional open and inviting stairs.
  • Include different chair styles at different work areas—lounge chairs, bar stools, desk height—for comfort and variety.
  • Whenever possible, design outdoor spaces for employee use.
  • Source products that are environmentally friendly and support long-term health.

Layout

Is the office layout flexible? Energizing? Inspiring? These components are critical when considering the floor plan for workplaces.

At the new KOMA office we:

  • Retired the traditional reception area in favor of a more versatile entrance. Many companies no longer have a dedicated receptionist and there is nothing worse for a visitor than being greeted by a big empty desk!
  • Integrated an open floor plan that includes workspaces for the leadership team. There are no siloed offices — we are a true team.
  • Designed common spaces with virtual meetings in mind (including branded backgrounds!).
  • Worked our brand elements into the design, including a large circular ceiling feature that is a nod to our logo.
A welcoming entrance greets guests.
Our floor plan allows for flexibility and future growth.

Productivity

In addition to amenities, of course we have to make sure we’re creating an environment for maximum productivity.

How we integrated production:

  • Mobile technology – Mobile carts allow different groups of people to utilize display screens during smaller breakout meetings.
  • The center of the office is a library filled with samples and design resources. Employees use this area as a place for research and innovation.
  • Staff members are encouraged to host meetings at our office. The space serves as a showroom and we intentionally incorporated a variety of products from multiple vendors to help our clients get inspired!

Thank you to the entire KOMA team who led us from ideation to completion of our fantastic new office!

Check out some other office interiors projects KOMA has worked on:

Starkey Hearing Technologies
Thermo King
Mall of America
Great Clips, Inc.
Rahr Malting
Kinghorn Construction

Contact us if you have questions about how to enhance your commercial office space.

KOMAink Earth Day Edition: Ramsey/Washington Recycling & Energy Center

KOMA architects, engineers, and designers take every opportunity to incorporate eco-friendly choices in our projects. With an increasing number of sustainable materials and products to choose from, we work with clients to develop green building initiatives that will endure for generations to come.

Sustainable Project Spotlight:

Ramsey/Washington Recycling & Energy Center

The Client

The Ramsey/Washington Recycling & Energy Center (R&E Center) processes over 450,000 tons of trash per year to maximize the recovery of recyclable resources and divert as much as possible from landfills.  The counties work jointly in their commitment to meet the state’s 75% recycling goal and have invested in major improvements to further manage waste streams.    

The R&E Center is the only facility of its kind in the state and it diverts over 90% of waste in the two counties from landfills every year.

R&E Center environmental highlights from 2019:

  • Fuel produced at the R&E Center produced enough electricity to power 40,000 homes for a year
  • Over 14,000 tons of metal were recovered from the trash for recycling
  • 108,132 fewer tons of carbon dioxide were produced than if the trash had been landfilled – equivalent to taking over 23,361 cars off the road 

KOMA’s Assignment

The R&E Center has partnered with KOMA over the past several years on projects to add efficiencies and prepare their facility for future technological improvements. Despite the challenges with the facility’s age and unique structure, these projects created an opportunity to extend its useful life and implement sustainable design strategies that align with the client’s goals.

The first project consisted of a two-story addition to provide enclosed space for load-out functions and expanded office and educational spaces. The design followed the State of Minnesota B3 Guidelines which is used to meet sustainability goals for site, water, energy, indoor environment, materials and waste.

The second project consisted of a full renovation to the existing office and locker room areas.  Improvements include doubling the thermal performance of the exterior building envelope, HVAC replacement with high-efficiency equipment, new LED lighting, and environmentally responsible interior finishes.

The third project consisted of a 26,000sf addition to expand the R&E Center’s ability to sort and collect food scraps (organics) waste. New processing equipment was integrated into the design and uses optical sorting and robotics to “pull” DCB’s (durable compostable bags) from the waste stream.  Also within the facility’s existing processing areas, an additional processing line was designed to increase the collection of metals, plastics, and paper.  Other general improvements include enhanced odor and litter control with use of new mechanical systems and a load-out addition.   

KOMA’s contribution will help R&E Center continue to innovate and improve the environmental health of our communities.

Sustainable Selections

Below are a few of the eco-friendly products that were included in the R&E Center projects:

PAINT

Sherwin Williams Zero VOC complies with LEED v4 Emissions Testing and is GREENGUARD Gold Certified.

FLOORING

Interface carpet tiles are carbon neutral and made from recycled materials. 

COUNTERTOPS

Vetrazzo countertops are made from pre- and post-consumer recycled glass from local curbside recycling programs.

HVAC

Replaced a non-functioning VVT system with a new VAV system which is more energy efficient and provides individual heating/cooling control to zones.

PANELING

Paperstone is made from FSC® certified Recycled and FSC® certified Mix post-consumer recycled paper.

ACCENT LIGHTING

LightArt 3form Coil Pendants are made from 65% recycled resin and use LED lamps.