The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has selected the 2013 recipients of the Institute Honor Awards, the profession’s highest recognition of works that exemplify excellence in architecture, interior architecture and urban design. Selected from over 700 total submissions, 28 recipients located throughout the world will be honored at the AIA 2013 National Convention and Design Exposition in Denver.
Top honors in architecture were awarded to the following:
Art Stable; Seattle / Olson Kundig Architects
Art Stable is a seven-story mixed-use, urban infill project in the South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle. Built on the site of a former stable, the simple, low-to-no-maintenance design draws upon the warehouse typology of the formerly industrial neighborhood. Both front and rear elevations of the building are active: 8-foot by 7-foot doors—steel clad on the rear façade and glazed on the front façade—are strung on 40-foot tall hinges which open by means of custom-designed hand wheels. Geothermal loops integrated into the building’s structural piles and natural ventilation result in efficient heating and cooling.
The Barnes Foundation; Philadelphia / Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects
The new museum replicates the galleries in the old Paul Cret designed facility but provides visitors with a light-filled, contemplative space. Conceived as “a gallery in a garden and a garden in a gallery,” the new building honors the Merion facility and provides visitors with a personal and contemplative experience. The legendary Barnes art collection is presented in a 12,000-square-foot gallery that replicates the scale, proportion, and configuration of the original Merion spaces. To emphasize the founder’s commitment to education and the visual interplay between art and nature, the galleries now include a classroom on each floor, an internal garden, and vastly improved lighting conditions.
Boat Pavilion for Long Dock Park; Beacon, New York / Architecture Research Office (ARO)
This project for the Scenic Hudson Land Trust is a boat pavilion in a new park on the Hudson River. One of two new structures created for Long Dock Park, the Pavilion is a threshold to the Hudson River. The roof is a plane of corrugated steel that parallels a wide cumaru wood deck where boats launch. Secure storage for up to 64 kayaks or canoes, a changing room and storage area are enclosed by aluminum bar grating panels. Enabling both contemplation and athletic activity, the project establishes an affirmative relationship between the public and the Hudson River.
Centra Metropark; Iselin, New Jersey / Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF)
Developed by The Hampshire Companies, CENTRA re-imagines an obsolete dated existing structure into a state-of-the-art office experience. By strategically grafting a 10,000-square-foot addition to the top floor, the presence of the project not only doubles, but it offers an urban room conspicuously absent within the local ‘sub’ urban context. The new high-performance enclosure, the expressive structural asymmetrical tree-column and truss supporting the fourth floor extension, and the new garden light wells all work in concert to bring a third more rentable area, and a dynamic aesthetic that focuses on the integration of the natural environment with new urban civic spaces.
Clemson University, Lee Hall College of Architecture; Clemson, South Carolina / Thomas Phifer and Partners
The addition to the Lee Hall College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities at Clemson University is an ultra-energy efficient building. The 55,000-square-foot addition was conceived to accommodate the expanding needs of the college which includes 12 professional degree programs. To cultivate this sense of community within the addition, program elements are intermingled to generate an environment for “cross pollination” between disciplines through adjacency, allowing students to learn from other students and faculty though informal creative exchanges. Proximity and transparency are supported with carefully detailed glazing between interior program elements.
Mason Lane Farm Operations Facility; Goshen, Kentucky / De Leon & Primmer Architecture Workshop
The project consolidates dispersed operations facilities for a 2,000-acre farm into a single centralized complex. Rooted in the simplicity of regional farm structures and local building traditions, the project challenges accepted design constraints for conventional kit-of-parts utility structures and explores possibilities for passive sustainable strategies based on a nuanced understanding of site and climate. A particular focus on material application, detailing and sourcing includes the use of locally grown bamboo to weave a porous, impact resilient building skin, and cross-grain cut recycled paper pulp panels as acoustical interior wall surfaces.
Milstein Hall, Cornell University; Ithaca, New York / OMA
Milstein Hall is the first new building in over 100 years for the renowned College of Architecture, Art and Planning (AAP) at Cornell University. Rather than creating a new free-standing building Milstein Hall is an addition to the AAP buildings creating a unified complex with continuous levels of indoor and outdoor interconnected spaces. Enclosed by floor-to-ceiling glass and a green roof with 41 skylights, this “upper plate” cantilevers almost 50 feet over University Avenue to establish a relationship with the Foundry, a third existing AAP facility.
Morse and Ezra Stiles Colleges; New Haven, Connecticut / KieranTimberlake
Designed by Eero Saarinen, the Morse and Ezra Stiles Colleges are part of Yale’s system of residential colleges. Located on an irregular site at the western edge of the campus, it has an organic geometry, with the two colleges bifurcated by an elevated walk. The renovation focused on the transformation of the student housing mix from single rooms into suites, the provision of 25,000 square feet of student activity space below grade, and the transformation of outdoor hardscapes into a sustainable landscape. The addition is conceived as being unified with the landscape, extending it through the architecture, fusing inside and outside, new and old, and above and below.
The New York Public Library – Exterior Restoration; New York City / Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc.
The New York Public Library is considered one of the most important works of the firm of Carrère and Hastings. The design team investigated, recommended treatments, and oversaw a $50 million restoration of the library’s exterior in preparation for its centennial in 2011. The project addressed deteriorated marble facades, fine art sculptures, monumental bronze doors and windows, Monel roofs, and the surrounding ‘approaches’ or plazas. Repairs included cleaning (with soap and water), repointing (using hydraulic lime mortar), and various protective treatments. Over 2,000 carved in-situ marble dutchman patch repairs were executed.
Saint Nicholas Eastern Orthodox Church; Springdale, Arkansas / Marlon Blackwell Architect
This project is the result of a transformation of an existing metal shop building into a sanctuary and fellowship hall in anticipation of a larger adjacent sanctuary on the same site. The simple original structure is enveloped by a new skin, obscuring and refining the original gabled form. Although a small structure, its bold form makes it visible and recognizable from the interstate which passes nearby.
Vancouver Convention Centre West; Vancouver, Canada / LMN Architects + MCM/DA
The new Vancouver Convention Centre West integrates the urban ecosystem at the intersection of a vibrant downtown core and one of the most spectacular natural ecosystems in North America. Certified LEED® Canada Platinum, the project weaves together architecture, interior architecture, and urban design in a unified whole that functions literally as a living part of both the city and the harbor. Urban spaces formed by the building’s landforms mix with landscape and marine ecosystems, transportation modes, retail activity, and civic gatherings. The glass perimeter enclosure provides strong linkages with the urban and environmental context.
2013 Jury:
- Mary Katherine (Mary Kay) Lanzillotta FAIA, Jury Chair, Hartman-Cox Architects
- Brian Fitzsimmons, AIA, Fitzsimmons Architects
- John Kane, FAIA, Architekton
- William Leddy, FAIA, Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects
- Philip Loheed, AIA, BTA Architects, Inc.
- Robert Maschke, AIA, robert maschke ARCHITECTS inc.
- Douglas L. Milburn Assoc. AIA, Isaksen Glerum Wachter LLC and Becky Joyce Yannes, AIAS Representative, Drexel University
Project descriptions via the AIA.
