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McKibbon Hotel Group Supports Clemson Architecture Students

MHG-Tower, LLC, a development group including McKibbon Hotel Group and Glenn Wilcox, owner of Asheville’s BB&T building, has partnered with Clemson University’s School of Architecture to support a student design studio and honor its participants. Each year Clemson’s architecture faculty seeks reality-based projects for their students. In early fall 2014, Associate Professor of Architecture Douglas Hecker reached out to McKibbon Hotel Group and the Wilcox family to engage with a prominent subject in Asheville.

Clemson graduate and undergraduate architecture students participated in a semester-long project competing for best design, using Asheville’s BB&T building as basis for the academic exercise. A panel of jurors comprised of faculty and professional architects reviewed the student projects and selected a winner and two runners-up.

McKibbon Hotel Group design award The $1000 award for best design was presented to Brad Mann, a third year graduate student in architecture by Erik Rowen, Vice President of Development for McKibbon Hotel Group. Two runner-up awards of $250 were given to the Courtney Proctor and the team of Sheida Moin and Carey Nelson.

“We were thrilled that Clemson’s architecture program took an interest in our project, and we were excited to see how the next generation of designers approached giving our building a second chance at life,” said Rowen. “These students represent the future of architectural design, and they were faced with the challenges in design than the architects had 50 years ago when the BB&T building was originally conceived.”

For Glenn W. Wilcox, Sr, supporting the students’ work was an honor. “The greatest thing we can do is whisper encouragement to students. I am very impressed with all the creativity each student brought to the project. This is an exciting project for the students as well as for the entire City of Asheville,” Wilcox said.

Clemson Associate Professor Douglas Hecker was grateful for the opportunity for the students to hone their skills with such a distinctly modernist part of Asheville. “It’s ideal for our students to gain exposure to a range of buildings, especially one situated in an international destination city that rings close to home,” he said.

“With the support of MHG-Tower and McKibbon Hotels, we were able to give students the opportunity to engage in a community, an important space and to experience accommodating the needs of a potential real client.”
At the heart of McKibbon Hotel Group’s values lies a sincere top-down commitment to community for each of its properties. The company has a portfolio of over 80 outstanding hotels in 13 states. An award-winning hotel developer and manager, McKibbon has been focused on hospitality for over 80 years.

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