Note: This is the first of an ongoing series of articles spotlighting projects of Mayer Door clients. If you have a project you’d like to see featured, please let us know. 

OXFORD, Ala. -- When the City of Oxford, Ala., awarded Goodwyn Mills Cawood the job of turning the former Bynum School into near Anniston Army Depot into a community center, the design firm faced several challenges.

For one thing, the design of the Bynum Community Center needed to be consistent with the design of other city buildings, according to Trent Catron, project manager in the firm’s Birmingham office. Since the City of Oxford is a longtime client of the firm, a consistent “look and feel” had been established through previous projects.

Classrooms and the library from the old school were converted into meeting rooms, and the firm designed a new concession/storage area and new gymnasium. J.F. Morgan served as the contractor.

When it came to the 16 exterior doors, Goodwyn Mills Cawood went with a proven winner: Special-Lite’s SL-17 FRP door.

We've all had our share of things to be miserable about during the recession of the last few years, and I've especially felt the pain of my architect friends. 

But Engineeering News-Record pointed out a speck of blue on the horizon last week when they published their Top 500 Design Firms rankings. Taken as a group, the Top 500 saw an increase of 6.6 percent in 2011. It's the first time in three years that total revenues for the Top 500 grew for the year. 

It was Friday, April the 13th, but Kenny Pugh, Donny Pugh, Mac Hefner and Gene Kelly felt lucky to be enjoying the fellowship and fine weather at the 2012 CSI golf outing held at Arrowhead Country Club in Montgomery. The annual tournament benefits the architectural scholarship program of the Montgomery Chapter of the Construction Specifications Institute.

From the ICC eNews newsletter: The Code Council extends its support to communities recently affected by the series of severe weather in Texas. Jurisdictions in need of assistance can access the Disaster Response Network, a database of volunteers available to assist with building damage assessment, inspections and other code-related functions.

Building Safety Month is a public awareness campaign offered each year during May to help individuals, families and businesses understand what it takes to create and sustain safe and sustainable structures. The campaign reinforces the need for adoption of modern, model building codes, a strong and efficient system of code enforcement and a well-trained, professional workforce to maintain the system. Show your support for this important campaign by clicking the "I Support" link below.

I Support Building Safety Month!

Visit the International Code Council Foundation to learn how to participate in Building Safety Month.

Generating estimates and orders for Special-Lite products just got a lot easier. Special-Lite has created interactive PDF forms that do a lot of the work you had to do manually in the past.

March 2, 2012. Laura Smith (center) was the moderator at the 2012 "Ask An Architect" meeting for Birmingham AIA members and sponsors.

This week the Mississippi CSI Chapter hosted its annual construction products show at the Clyde Muse Center on the campus of Hinds Community College in Pearl, MS. The event was very well attended by architects, contractors and building material suppliers. The Clyde Muse Center was the perfect venue for the event, and the CSI chapter has already committed to holding the show there next year.

Mississippi CSI members, you put on a great show, and we're looking forward to participating in your show next year!

Universal Building Code

1008.1.9 Door operations.

"Except as specifically permitted by this section egress doors shall be readily openable from the egress side without the use of a key or special knowledge or effort."