2013 Institute Honors for Collaborative Achievement Recipients
Three influential groups have been chosen by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) to receive the 2013 Institute Honors for Collaborative Achievement. The award recognizes and encourages distinguished achievements of allied professionals, clients, organizations, architect teams, knowledge communities, and others who have had a beneficial influence on or advanced the architectural profession.
This year’s award goes to: the Chicago Architecture Foundation for DiscoverDesign.org, the Palm Springs Modern Committee (PS ModCom), and the DC Preservation League. Continue reading to learn how these three programs have had a positive impact on the profession. (more…)
2013 AIA Thomas Jefferson Award for Public Architecture Recipients
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has announced two recipients of the 2013 Thomas Jefferson Award for Public Architecture. In category one, the institute recognized Michael Pyatok, FAIA, of Oakland’s Pyatok Architects, as an architect who has dedicated his career to the theory and practice of public housing design. And, in category three, Ginnie Cooper, Chief Librarian and Executive Director of the District of Columbia Public Libraries, has been honored for spearheading the recent renaissance in library construction and renovation in the nation’s capital.
This year’s award recipients will be honored and receive their awards at the 2013 AIA National Convention and Design Exposition in Denver.
Grand Central Terminal Drawing Competition Winners

The Architectural League of New York and the New York Transit Museum recently announced the winners of a competition to select sketches by contemporary architects for a new Grand Central Terminal sketchbook produced in collaboration with Moleskine. The sketchbook features historical images from the Transit Museum’s collections, along with twenty drawings and sketches by contemporary architects and designers who were invited to “submit a sketch or drawing that captures and/or re-imagines Grand Central, representing or evoking what this iconic building means to you.” More images and information after the break. (more…)
Robert Greenstreet awarded Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architectural Education

Practitioner, author and celebrated educator Robert Greenstreet, Intl. Assoc. AIA, has been awarded the 2013 AIA/ACSA Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architectural Education. Greentstreet – one of the longest-serving architecture deans in North America – has influenced countless students and architects throughout his 35-year career. He has taught a five schools of architecture in the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as spent 20 years as dean at the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM).
In March, Greenstreet will be awarded the medallion at the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) annual meeting in San Francisco. The AIA will also recognize him at the 2013 AIA National Convention and Design Exposition in Denver in June. (more…)
Fenn Young Designers Award 2012: Judges and Winners

Open to all young creative minds from all parts of the world from the ages of 18-33, the Fenn Young Designers Award competition recently announced the judges and winners. Organized by Fenn Designers, based on interpreting “Organic”, they received a total of 280 participants, from 59 countries. The main question was, ‘How do you interpret “Organic” if you are designing a building, a piece of furniture, a fabric, a dress, a painting or any other form of art?’ More images and a complete list of the judges and the winners after the break. (more…)
Think Space Programme: Past Forward Competition Results & Upcoming Events

Think Space Programme recently announced the winners of all three competitions within the Past Forward 2012 Cycle, an annual cycle of conceptual architectural competition within the Think Space programme. This cycle of competitions aimed to hold a mirror to the discipline to reflect the changes of the last thirty years by re-visiting three competitions that radically transformed architectural culture: The Peak (Hong Kong, 1982), Yokohama Port Terminal (Yokohama, 1994) and Blur Building (Swiss Expo, 1999). The renowned architects, winners of the original competitions – Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher, Alejandro Zaera-Polo, Charles Renfro and Ricardo Scofidio – were jurors in this year’s Competition Cycle. Their upcoming events – Exhibition at Storefront for Art and Architecture, New York and the Unconference at Lauba House for People and Art, Zagreb in 2013 were also recently announced. More images and information on the winners after the break. (more…)
2012 IIDA Best Interiors of Latin America Awards

The IIDA recently released the photos on the winning projects for their 2012 Best Interiors of Latin America Competition. The competition was created to recognize, honor and celebrate outstanding Interior Design/Architecture projects that represent the highest level of creativity, originality and design excellence in the following countries: Argentina, Aruba, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Falkland Islands, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela. The design project(s) must have been completed between January 1, 2010 and June 31, 2012. A complete gallery of the winning projects can be viewed after the break. (more…)
Marianne McKenna Invested as an Officer of the Order of Canada

The Governor General of Canada, David Johnston, has bestowed Officer of the Order of Canada – one of Canada’s highest honors – to Toronto architect Marianne McKenna of Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects. Similar to the Order of the British Empire in Britain and the Kennedy Center Honors for artists in the United States, the award recognizes Canadians for a lifetime of outstanding achievement, dedication to the community and service to the nation.
Office of the Secretary to the Governor General stated: (more…)
2018 World Cup: Populous Awarded Rostov Stadium

Populous was recently selected as the designers of the new Rostov Stadium in Russia, which will be the fourth Populous-designed stadium in the country to be used for the 2018 World Cup, together with Kazan, Saransk, Sochi. Part of an overall landscape, this urban design is planned for the whole region. It is inspired by the ancient earthworks along the banks of the river, the Kurgans. These archaeological mounds of earth were used for burial pagan rituals, creating major forms in the landscape. More images and architects’ description after the break. (more…)
Thomas H. Beeby named 2013 Driehaus Laureate

Recognized as one of the “Chicago Seven” architects who challenged modernist orthodoxy in the 1970s and 1980s, Thomas H. Beeby has been selected as the 11th recipient of the Richard H. Driehaus Prize from the University of Notre Dame. The prestigious award honors Beeby’s lifetime contribution to classical and traditional architecture, as he was one of the leading figures who helped bring traditional architecture and urban design back into the public consciousness. For over 40 years, Beeby – the current Chairman Emeritus of HBRA Architects – has spearheaded a wide spectrum of work that has embodied a positive cultural, environmental and artistic impact within the modern world.
“Tom Beeby has had a transformational role in modern architecture’s return to classical and traditional design principles,” says Michael Lykoudis, Dean of the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture. “Beeby’s recent design of the Tuscaloosa courthouse is a great example of how the rigor and richness of classicism can be used to achieve a sense of place and purpose that will be relevant well into the future.”
Read the Jury’s Citation after the break… (more…)
BOLLES+WILSON Receive ‘Brick Award 2012′

Awarded by the Brick Development Association (BDA), BOLLES+WILSON recently received the ‘Brick Award 2012′ for their Raakspoort – City Hall and Bioscoop project in Haarlem, Netherlands. The jury headed by BDA-Chairman Bob Allies commended a wealth of innovation in brickwork details throughout the building’s intelligent design and its character, which is clearly responding to its contextual surroundings. Out of about 300 projects from across the globe, with 84 shortlisted, this project won the international category ‘Worldwide Brick’. More information after the break. (more…)
AIA Awards: Topaz Medallion for Architectural Education & Kemper Award for Service to the Profession

Both Robert Greenstreet, Intl. Assoc. AIA, and John D. Anderson, FAIA, have won prestigious AIA award. The Board of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) named Robert Greenstreet as 2013 recipient of the Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architectural Education. In addition, the AIA Board of Directors elected John D. Anderson as the 2013 recipient of the Edward C. Kemper Award in recognition of his many leadership roles within the AIA at the state and national levels. More information on their awards after the break. (more…)
Winning Proposal for Bus Shelter Challenge: AdaptbyMany / Milos Todorovic

The first prize in the DesignByMany competition for the Bus Shelter challenge was recently awarded to Milos Todorovic for his AdaptByMany proposal. By adapting to local conditions, transferring aesthetic ideas to users, and putting functionality as its primary role, this proposal stood out. According to Glenn Katz, one of the DesignByMany judges and an AEC Education Specialist at Autodesk, the proposal was chosen for “its simplicity, [...and for] providing a rich kit of parts and elements that can be combined in interesting and flexible ways to create any number forms responding to site conditions.” More images and Todorovic’s description after the break. (more…)
2012 ar+d Emerging Architecture Awards Winners Announced

Presented by The Architectural Review and sponsored by the Danish architectural hardware design company, d line, the winners of the 2012 ar+d Awards for Emerging Architecture for young professionals under the age of 45 included projects of exceptional merit. This year’s four winning projects include a glass house in Japan, a community centre in rural earthquake-prone Bangladesh built on low-lying land susceptible to chronic flooding, an innovative 10-family condominium in Winnipeg, and temporary facilities for a nomadic music festival that had been commissioned at the last minute due to emergency circumstances. Original and practical, thoughtful and inventive, these projects demonstrate fresh approaches to a variety of architectural challenges. More information after the break. (more…)
Architecture Honor Awared to Pink Floyd Drummer

Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason was recently awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters by the Westminster University architecture faculty alongside architect Brian Waters. A former student at the university, Mason was forced to abandon his architecture degree a year before completion due to band commitments.
“Not only did studying architecture teach us some useful stuff, but it also gave us an opportunity to develop and put us in touch with some fantastic mentors,” said Mason.
Frederick Kiesler Prize for Architecture and the Arts Winner: Andrea Zittel

Recognizing one exceptional artist every two years whose work transverses the boundaries between art and architecture, Andrea Zittel came out as this year’s winner for the prestigious Frederick Kiesler Prize. Accepting the award just this month at the New Museum of New York, one criterion for the award is that the artist be under-recognized. While fun and playful in nature, Zittel’s works are also illuminating studies of how we attribute significance to things, including the structure we live in and what we actually need in order to exist in comfort without being surrounded by accumulated belongings. Her ‘Indy-Island’ and ‘A-Z Wagon Stations’ projects can be seen in the images after the break. (more…)
Media Architecture ‘Oscars’ Awards Announced

The Media Architecture ‘Oscars’ were recently awarded for the first time at an internationally well attended ceremony in Aarhus, Denmark on November 16. Common features of the six awarded projects, which are very different winning projects, are their ability to integrate media and architecture – and the profound impact on their urban surroundings. More images and descriptions of the winning projects after the break. (more…)
2013 Urban Edge Award Winners: Marion Weiss and Michael Manfredi

Marion Weiss and Michael Manfredi were recently announced by the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee as the recipients of the 2013 Urban Edge Award. This biennial award honors an internationally recognized designer or firm whose work brings innovative thinking and effective strategies to transform the realm of urban design. As award recipients, Weiss and Manfredi will curate the Urban Edge Symposium, Evolutionary Infrastructure, at the UWM School of Architecture and Urban Planning in April 2013. (more…)
Transforming the Bridge Competition Winners

Results from the Transforming the Bridge Competition for Cleveland, Ohio, are in. The competition called for an innovative solution for the redevelopment and repurposing of the abandoned Detroit-Superior Bridge. The brief called for a variety of uses, dedicated pedestrian and bike paths, performance spaces, and landscaping solutions. Nine projects made the cut…
Join us after the break for a closer look at the winning projects. (more…)
OMA’s Maggie’s Gartnavel wins 2012 Doolin prize

The RIAS (Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland) has announced OMA as the tenth recipient of the prestigious Andrew Doolan Best Building in Scotland Award for the firm’s “welcoming, light and spacious” design of Maggie’s Gartnavel in Glasgow.
Serving as an exemplar for alternative healthcare design, OMA’s single story composition for the cancer care center laces together a series of interlocking rectangular spaces that form around a lush courtyard. Transparent walls of the building’s light-filled interior promenade connect patients directly to nature, as the building accommodates for the complex needs of the facility by providing spaces of interaction, personal privacy, and discrete counseling rooms, along with private nooks and corners. A notable characteristic of Maggie’s Gartnavel is the rich use of materials, from the flush inlaid timber and concrete ceiling to the simplistic concrete exterior and expansive floor-to-ceiling glass walls.
OMA generously donated their £25,000 prize to the Maggie’s Cancer Care Center.
More images after the break… (more…)
Winners of 2012 RIBA President’s Awards for Research

Research plays an integral role in the evolution of architecture. To celebrate it’s importance and acknowledge outstanding research currently happening within the field of architecture throughout the UK, The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced the winners of the RIBA President’s Awards for Research.
RIBA President Angela Brady said: “The RIBA President’s Awards for Research highlight and reward the outstanding research in architecture that is taking place across the country. Congratulations to all of this year’s winners, your research is hugely appreciated and highly valued across the profession. Research into architecture provides a lasting legacy to all in the profession and reminds us of the importance of innovation and strategic thinking in our everyday work.”
The RIBA President’s Awards for Research, presented in four categories, were awarded to: (more…)