Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN — The city’s design review committee approved a request for exterior improvements to the downtown America Makes building.

America Makes — the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute — plans to remove an overhead coiling door at the rear of its building at 236 W. Boardman St. and replace it with concrete masonry.

That is going along with interior remodeling at the additive manufacturing and 3-D printing facility.

America Makes wants to use the back of the building for training and presentation programs, said David P. Harris, principal architect for DPH Architecture LLC, the Canfield company that designed the project.

The committee, which oversees exterior improvements downtown and surrounding areas, approved the request Tuesday as part of a package that included replacing the front door, which is 3 feet wide, with a double door that will make the entrance way twice as large.

“We had to replace the front door because of its condition,” Harris said.

America Makes was founded in 2012 as one of the first member institutes of the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation. It is managed and operated by the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining. America Makes focuses on developing 3-D printing.

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