2024 NextGen Awards: Celia Gannaway

Congratulations to our own Celia Gannaway who was named as a recipient for the Birmingham Business Journal 2024 NextGen: Real Estate & Construction Awards! This special issue will feature up-and-coming professionals in the real estate and construction fields who are emerging leaders in Birmingham.

2024 Top 40 Under 40 - Amanda Fowler

Congratulations to Amanda Fowler for being named a Top 40 Under 40 by the Birmingham Business Journal! Amanda is an exemplary leader in our firm and in our community. As CFO, her impact has been transformative, steering the company to unprecedented growth and success while playing a crucial role in the well-being of our community.

Starting as CFO/Controller in 2016, she became an equity partner in 2021 based on her record of guiding and driving the financial success of the firm over the last eight years. Amanda is not only a dynamic leader, but also supports the broad operations and health of the firm from a financial perspective.

Joel Blackstock CEO Awards Finalist

Joel has a sincere passion and a vested interest in projects that advance and build community, which is reflected in design that is sensitive to the site context and has a transformational impact on the surroundings.  He also recognizes the ability to build community in the interior design of each project, bringing people together in inspiring spaces that enrich the lives of everyone who experiences the space.         

Through his 43 years of practice, he has become known as a visionary, an excellent listener to his client’s needs, and a dynamic creator of space through design. Due to his creative, flexible, and innovative approach to project management, Joel has earned a reputation for being a relentless problem solver. He tirelessly pursues the optimal design solution that will create lasting value, making communities and the world a better place.

About to celebrate the firm’s 30th anniversary, Williams Blackstock Architects has completed a variety of projects around the city, throughout the state, and the nation. Joel has been instrumental in expanding the firm’s presence nationally, having served a variety of clients in over 20 states. Growing steadily from four employees to 54, the firm has been blessed with the opportunity to work for incredible clients and to design high-profile projects that have positively impacted the city and campuses across the region.

2023 AIA Alabama Awards

Our team had the honor of accepting three design awards this weekend at the 2023 AIA Alabama Conference on Architecture. The design for the Equal Justice Initiative Legacy Pavilion won an Honor Award, Bailey Harris Construction won an Honorable Mention, and our Firm Front Lobby & Table won a Devine Detail Award. A huge congratulations to the entire team who worked on these projects! We are thrilled to receive such a significant recognition.

Equal Justice Initiative Legacy Pavilion

Honor Award

We are proud to announce that the design for The Equal Justice Initiative Legacy Pavilion has won an AIA Alabama Honor Award. The pavilion was designed as a welcome center for the Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, which are part of EJI’s work to advance truth and justice in America and to more honestly confront the legacy of slavery, lynching, and segregation.

Bailey-Harris Construction

HONORABLE MENTION

The new headquarters for Bailey-Harris Construction reflects their growth over the past four decades. Overall, the new headquarters embodies the company's values of excellence, innovation, and superior quality in all aspects of their work.

Williams Blackstock Architects Front Lobby and Table

Merit Award - Design Detail

The reception lobby features a sleek and minimalistic table, with a skillful interplay of charcoal soapstone and a single piece of folded blackened steel. The cantilevered effect of the heavy material is intentionally created to provoke a sense of wonder and challenge the limits of what is possible. Dynamic veining in the natural stone creates a beautiful accent to the wood and steel backdrop.

2023 AIA Birmingham Awards

Last night we had a wonderful time at the AIA Birmingham Awards Ceremony! We are proud to announce that the design for The Equal Justice Initiative Legacy Pavilion has won an AIA Birmingham Honor Award. And our front lobby and table design has won a Merit Award in the Design Detail category. We're incredibly proud of our team and humbled by these accolades.

Equal Justice Initiative Legacy Pavilion

Honor Award

We are proud to announce that the design for The Equal Justice Initiative Legacy Pavilion has won an AIA Birmingham Honor Award. The pavilion serves as a welcome center for the Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, which are part of EJI’s work to advance truth and justice in America and to more honestly confront the legacy of slavery, lynching, and segregation.

The design featured light and transparency with a perforated steel screen façade serving as a dynamic, living sculpture connecting the park, porch, and lobby. As reflected light changed throughout the day and night, sunlight was filtered through the images and onto the visitors as they entered.

The perforated stainless steel front screen honored seven key civil rights figures, helping visitors understand the unique role Montgomery played in fueling a civil rights movement that continues to reverberate around the world.

Williams Blackstock Architects Front Lobby and Table

Merit Award - Design Detail

The reception lobby features a sleek and minimalistic table, with a skillful interplay of charcoal soapstone and a single piece of folded blackened steel. The cantilevered effect of the heavy material is intentionally created to provoke a sense of wonder and challenge the limits of what is possible. Dynamic veining in the natural stone creates a beautiful accent to the wood and steel backdrop.

The sleek high-tech design of the reception area creates a strong juxtaposition to the rustic brick, exposed board-formed concrete structure, and polished concrete floors. The design concept creates an impactful welcome area that respects and celebrates the historic warehouse, juxtaposed with modern innovation, technology, and design.

2023 IIDE Awards

We are thrilled to announce that our firm has been recognized with not one, but TWO prestigious interior design awards from IIDA Alabama! The first award recognizes Growth Capital Properties with the Best of Corporate - Small Award that showcases a combination of dark and light materials with simple modern forms to create a dramatic work environment. The second award honors Bailey-Harris Construction with the Best of Design Detail Award. Our innovative design of a custom communicating stair constructed from a steel stringer, wood treads, and a cable rail system, contrasts with a concrete wall to create a stunning feature in the lobby. We are incredibly proud of our team for their hard work and dedication to excellence, and we are grateful to our clients for entrusting us with their designs. We look forward to continuing to create exceptional spaces that inspire and delight.

Growth Capital Properties

• Best of Corporate - Small

Growth Capital Partners, a real estate investment firm, relocated its headquarters to the 15th floor of a 1962 International Style Birmingham high rise.  The design of the 11,000 square foot office space combines solid with clear elements and dark with light materials to outline full height exterior windows.  The build out incorporates a mixture of new with existing construction.  Critical to the success of having unobstructed views to the exterior was understanding and applying current building codes which allowed for the removal of rated stair vestibules. The design combines dark and light materials with simple modern forms to create a dramatic work environment that begins in the elevator lobby and continues throughout the space. 

Bailey-Harris Construction

• Best of Design Detail

The design team’s approach was inspired by the building specialties of Bailey Harris Construction and the vision was to showcase the materiality of each service. The interior details subtly reveal the unique textures and elements of each trade. Celebrating the construction process a large steel stair, concrete walls, stone reception area, and warm wood textures create a synergy between design, construction and brand.

2023 Top 40 Under 40 - Brittany Foley

Congratulations to Brittany Foley for being named a Top 40 Under 40 by the Birmingham Business Journal!

She is a key leader within the organization and was recently promoted to an equity partner. As a preservation architect with expertise in urban redevelopments, she promotes sympathetic and creative strategies to repurpose underutilized historic buildings into meaningful community assets in the state. In addition to a range of adaptive reuse projects, she has experience with projects utilizing the Federal Historic Preservation Tax Incentives Program, Opportunity Zones and New Market Tax Credits. She has been instrumental in the adaptive reuse of the Hood McPherson into the new Auburn University Center in Birmingham and the restoration of Fort Morgan National Historic Landmark in Gulf Shores with the Alabama Historical Commission.

2022 AIA Alabama Awards

We had a great evening representing the firm at the 2022 AIA Alabama Awards in Gulf Shores. We're thrilled to announce that we won two Merit Awards for the design of the Telegraph Creative and KMS offices.

Telegraph Creative

• AIA Alabama Merit Award

The design for the new Telegraph office creates an ultra-contemporary studio achieved in a rustic, industrial setting. The vision was to create an informal work environment where employees could work and relax in the same space. Focused on repurposing the existing space in a way that is modern, flexible and open, one of the focal points is the main meeting room. An existing delivery truck ramp was turned into stadium seating and a large projection screen punctuates the space.

Kemp Management Solutions

• AIA Alabama Merit Award

The vision for this corporate headquarters was to maintain the spirit and bones of an old masonry warehouse and was achieved through a series of modern adaptations to special building features such as the existing mezzanine supported from the roof deck above, and reuse of the generous amount of skylights. The design for this family-owned business combines professionalism and seriousness with that of a relaxed, comfortable family atmosphere for employees to gather and creates a professional home away from home. 

Another project received a special recognition at the 2022 AIA Alabama Awards. A few of our employees volunteered their free time to work on The Compassion Project designing and building temporary housing solutions and were honored with a Merit Award. We are proud of their incredible personal achievement and their dedication to serving their community inside as well as outside the office.

The Compassion Project is a pilot partnership of local organizations that serve those who are experiencing homelessness in the Birmingham area. The Faith Chapel Care Center, Food for Our Journey and God’s Loving Hands worked together to provide food, cooling shelters, showers, laundry, health services and fun activities for those in need.

The Estelle wins Merit Award at the MFE

We’re proud to announce that The Estelle won a Merit Award at this year’s MultiFamily Executive Awards in Las Vegas. The Estelle was recognized for setting a new standard for apartment living in Birmingham, Alabama, with a design focused on placemaking and community building.

2022 AIA Birmingham Awards

We had a wonderful evening at the 2022 AIA Birmingham Award ceremony and were thrilled to receive two awards. Williams Blackstock Architects was bestowed with a design award for the Children’s of Alabama Lee Building and Parking Garage which was recognized with a Citation Award and Telegraph Creative which was recognized with a Merit Award.

Telegraph Creative

• Merit Award

The design for the new Telegraph office creates an ultra-contemporary studio achieved in a rustic, industrial setting. Focused on repurposing the existing space in a way that is modern, flexible and open, one of the focal points is the main meeting room. An existing delivery truck ramp was turned into stadium seating and a large projection screen punctuates the space. Rustic reclaimed wood wraps around the mezzanine and the raw concrete floors were kept, sealed and polished to give new life. The vision was to create an informal work environment where employees could work and relax in the same space.

Children’s of Alabama Lee Building

• Citation Award

The new Lee Building and 4th Avenue Parking Deck redefine the northern edge of the Children’s of Alabama campus creating an energetic new face along the Southside Birmingham skyline. Conceived as a central administrative facility to support and serve those who care for our children, this new office building would bear a homecoming of various departments spread isolated throughout the metropolitan region. Connectivity to, from and within the campus is the driving design concept ensuring staff feel engaged and physically connected to the hospital and its mission.