Design dreams.

• Position: BUILDING NC

From office high-rises to a brewery overlooking the French Broad River, the state's most compelling new buildings run the gamut. The third annual Building North Carolina awards, selected from projects completed between July 1,2015, and June 30,2016, showcase commercial structures based on their design, innovation and community impact.

OVERALL DESIGN

Allan and Laura Wilson Humanities and Fine Arts Center

WILMINGTON

GENERAL CONTRACTOR: Edifice, Charlotte

ARCHITECT: LS3P, Charleston, SC.

COST: $45 million

SIZE: 150,000 square feet

Wilmington's newest arts venue is not only New Hanover County's largest theater, it's a giant classroom for students at Cape Fear Community College. In addition to a 1,500-seat auditorium, the theater houses the college's music, drama and art classrooms and faculty offices, rooms that previously had been scattered across the downtown campus. The center also has a smaller 108-seat theater and sculpture, dance and music studios, many with views of the Cape Fear River, plus a darkroom and courtyard for performances, exhibits or receptions. The center, named for members of the family behind the former Wilsons supermarket chain, surpasses UNC Wilmington's Kenan Auditorium (1,000seats), Minnie Evans Arts Center (955) and historic Thalian Hall (646).

MEDICAL PROJECT

Veterans Administration Health Care Centers

CHARLOTTE, FAY ETTEVILLE AND KERNERSVILLE

CHARLOTTE

GENERAL CONTRACTOR: JE Dunn Construction Co., Kansas City, Mo.

ARCHITECT: RPA Design, Charlotte

COST: $104 million

SIZE: 430,000 square feet

FAYETTEVILLE

GENERAL CONTRACTORS: Samet Corp., Greensboro, and The Douglas Co., Holland, Ohio

ARCHITECT: Perkins + Will, Chicago

COST: $120 million

SIZE: 360,000 square feet

KERNERSVILLE

GENERAL CONTRACTOR: Lendlease Corp., Sydney, Australia

ARCHITECT: Perkins Eastman, New York

COST: $150 million

SIZE: 400,000 square feet

A building blitz by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has brought 1 million square feet of new health care space to North Carolina, including three new "clinics" in Charlotte, Fayetteville and Kernersville. The clinics offer operating rooms, imaging spaces and services ranging from cardiology to eye exams. While they look like hospitals from the outside, they do not offer inpatient beds. For many veterans, a visit to one of the centers avoids a longer trip to VA hospitals in Asheville, Durham, Fayetteville or Salisbury. North Carolina has more than 736,000 veterans, eighth most in the U.S. and 7% of the state's population.

MEDICAL PROJECT

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Cherokee Indian Hospital

CHEROKEE

GENERAL CONTRACTOR: Robins & Morton, Birmingham, Ala.

ARCHITECT: Design Strategies, Greenville, S.C.

COST: $82 million

SIZE: 150,000 square feet

Twice the size of the existing hospital, the new one is purposefully long and lean to allow for more light in patient rooms.

Tracey F. Smith Hall of Nursing & Health Sciences, Campbell University

BUIES CREEK

GENERAL CONTRACTOR: T.A. Loving Co., Goldsboro

ARCHITECT: Little Diversified Architectural

Consulting, Charlotte

COST: $22 million

SIZE: 72,000 square feet

The four-story nursing school neighbors Campbell's School of Osteopathic Medicine on the university's health-sciences campus. Vanous university programs train doctors, nurses...