Milken Center Wins Craftsmanship Award

Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream (MCAAD) Wins 2025 Craftsmanship Award

Sentech is pleased to congratulate Innovo Construction and the entire project team on the 2025 Craftsmanship Award in the Specialty Features category for the extensive and complex work on the Washington, D.C. Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream (MCAAD). Congrats Team!

Project Name: Milken Museum for Advancing the American dream (MCAAD), Washington, DC
Architect: Shalom Baranes Associates
Glazing Contractor: Innovo Construction
General Contractor: Grunley Construction Company
Structural Glass Engineering, Design & Material Supply: Sentech Architectural Systems 

Just steps from the White House, The Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream (MCAAD) will open its doors in 2025 on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. to visitors around the world. The Institute was designed with the goal of advancing economic and social mobility for all, and celebrating the stories of people who exemplify the ideal of the American Dream. The Milken Family Foundation was founded my Michael and Lowell Milken, and after years of anticipation, The Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream has reached the final stretch of the construction process.

This highly complex renovation project integrates three historic landmark buildings in Washington D.C. All three buildings have undergone significant construction, preservation and modernization efforts to create the synergistic museum space that will house an auditorium, a banquet hall and private offices for The Milken Foundation. The design team, led by architecture firm Shalom Baranes, General Contractor Grunley and Glazing Contractor Innovo, chose Sentech Architectural Systems to design, engineer and supply all material for several highly complex scopes of structural glass applications across the Museum- including the Atrium West Wall, the Atrium Skylight, the 6th Floor addition, the laylight restoration, among other areas.

The Craftsmanship Awards are awarded by the Washington Building Congress (WBC), a membership association comprised of businesses and individuals from all aspects of the commercial construction, real estate, and design community. The organization was founded in 1937 to unify and strengthen our local industry and to represent the collective interests of the entire building community. WBC promotes advancement of the commercial construction industry by focusing on professional development and networking opportunities. The Craftsmanship Awards ae spread across ten trade categories from sitework to finishes. Each entry is evaluated by a team made up of individuals with a wide range of industry experience. The judges represented a broad cross-section of the construction industry, including architects, interior designers, general contractors, subcontractors, construction consultants, and engineers.

The Milken Museum and Innovo Construction was a winner in the Doors & Windows, Speciality Features category, and won a Star Award for Technical Excellence. The highly complex technical nature of the project was noted in the award verbiage. The West façade & Atrium skylights of the Milken Museum are designed to accommodate the differential movement between two buildings allowing them to move ¾” independently as the glass stays stationary. The West façade is a 50-foot glass wall supported by silicone & glass fins. The Atrium skylight is 2,300 SF & supported by silicone & glass fins. The 1503 skylight is 1,900 SF & over 40,000 lbs of glass. The L6 façade is 4,500 SF structural glass wall with 70 exterior glass fins. The L6 façade is designed to accommodate the downward movement of the roof by ¾”.

Congratulations to Innovo and all involved in this stunning and technically complex project!