Awards: The Latest Architecture and News

Magma Architecture's Olympic and Paralympic Shooting Arenas have just been distinguished with a 2013 AIA UK Excellence in Design Award. Driven by the desire to evoke an experience of flow and precision inherent in the shooting sport through the dynamically curving space, the shooting arenas were the only buildings of the London 2012 Games to be selected. While all three ranges were configured in a crisp, white double curved membrane façade studded with vibrantly colored openings, the fresh and light appearance of the buildings truly enhanced the festive and celebratory character of the Olympic event. For more images and information on their award-winning project, please visit here.

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has selected the six recipients of the 2013 Housing Awards. The AIA’s Housing Awards Program, now in its 13th year, was established to recognize the best in housing design and promote the importance of good housing as a necessity of life, a sanctuary for the human spirit and a valuable national resource. All the winners, after the break.

Brooklyn-based architect and Harvard GSD alumni Gia Wolff has been awarded the $100,000 Wheelwright Prize for her proposal Floating City: The Community-Based Architecture of Parade Floats. Now in its first edition, the Wheelwright Prize is a travel grant issued by Harvard University in an effort to foster new forms of architectural research led by cross-cultural engagement.

Mohsen Mostafavi: “The positive response to the Wheelwright Prize has been extraordinary. It is inspiring to see so many talented architects with clear agendas and visions. I am delighted for Gia Wolff, the winner of the prize. Her proposed investigations at the intersection of design, performance, and temporality will surely provide us with new insights and new directions for the future of architecture.”

The American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) Housing and Custom Residential Knowledge Community, in conjunction with the Office of the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD), have recognized three recipients of the 2013 AIA/HUD Secretary Awards. The categories of the program include (1) Excellence in Affordable Housing Design (2) Creating Community Connection Award (no recipient selected this year) (3) Community-Informed Design Award and (4) Housing Accessibility - Alan J. Rothman Award. These awards demonstrate that design matters, and the recipient projects offer examples of important developments in the housing industry.

“These developments prove that you can push the boundaries of design while still creating something very special that folks can actually afford,” said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. “These projects took innovative visions from the drawing board and made them a part of how we live today.”

Now in its 14th year, the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum Design Awards recognizing outstanding achievement across a variety of disciplines in the design community. The awards were established to "promote design as a vital humanistic tool in shaping the world". This year the recipients will be honored at a gala in October during National Design Week in New York City. The goal of recognizing this achievements is to reinforce the idea that "everything around us is designed" and the potential for innovation and creation is present across all types of development. The winners of this year's design awards were selected based on excellence, innovation and public impact.

Join us after the break for a look at the 2013 Winners.

The Prince Claus Fund is now welcoming project proposals from Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean for cultural initiatives related to the rethinking of public space.

The term "public space" is defined as a social space that is open and accessible to all. A public space can take many different forms. It can be a gathering place defined by its social aspect, a civic space, a community space, a virtual space... The strength of the public space is its potential in reaching out and involving a wide and diverse group of people. 

Bohlin Cywinski Jackson has been honored with the Good Design is Good Business Lifetime Achievement Architecture Award, presented by Architectural Record in association with the American Architectural Foundation. The firm is the second recipient of this award in the program’s 15-year history, which was originally started by BusinessWeek and Architectural Record to recognize exceptional contributions to bettering how businesses and institutions perform through architecture. 

From innovative mud and bamboo schools to state of the art “green” high-rises, the Master Jury for the 2013 Aga Khan Award for Architecture has selected 20 deserving nominees to be in the running for the prestigious, US$1 million prize. Since the award was launched 36 years ago, over 100 projects have received the prize and more than 7,500 building projects have been documented for exhibiting architectural excellence and improving the overall quality of life in their regions.

Farrokh Derakhshani, the Director of the Award, remarked: “The Master Jury, which includes some of the most prominent architects of our time, made interesting choices this year. For example, they chose schools in Afghanistan and Syria, but they also chose a hospital in Sudan, a high rise in Bangkok and the reconstruction of a refugee camp in Lebanon. In many ways, the choices reflect a central preoccupation of the Award: the impact of buildings and public spaces on the quality of life. Now this seems fairly mainstream, but we must remember that the Aga Khan Award has been talking about 'human scale' and 'sustainability' since 1977”.

The 2013 Aga Khan Award for Architecture Shortlist includes: 

Known as the 'Oscars of Sustainable Existing Buildings', the finalists for the annual EBie Awards were recently announced by the Urban Green Council which aimed to celebrate sustainability improvements in Existing Buildings (therefore the EBies) and the individuals who made them happen. Recognizing “unsung heroes” who have made great strides in improving environmental performance, research shows that changes to existing buildings will have the greatest environmental impact, despite new buildings often getting the spotlight. More images and information on the finalists and their projects after the break.

With the ambition of honoring and encouraging outstanding artistic talent, the Dutch state prize for the arts - the Johannes Vermeer Award - has been awarded this year to architect and writer Rem Koolhaas. The jury made a unanimous decision, citing Koolhaas’s critical contributions to architecture and urbanism since his career began with the publication of Delirious New York in 1975.

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and its Committee on the Environment (COTE) have selected the top ten examples of sustainable architecture and green design solutions that protect and enhance the environment. 

The COTE Top Ten Green Projects program, now in its 17th year, is the profession's best known recognition program for sustainable design excellence. The program celebrates projects that are the result of a thoroughly integrated approach to architecture, natural systems and technology. They make a positive contribution to their communities, improve comfort for building occupants and reduce environmental impacts through strategies such as reuse of existing structures, connection to transit systems, low-impact and regenerative site development, energy and water conservation, use of sustainable or renewable construction materials, and design that improves indoor air quality.

The 2013 COTE Top Ten Green Projects and Top Ten Plus after the break...

Zaha Hadid has been announced as the winner of the 41st Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Award at a ceremony in London on Monday. Now in its 41st year, the Veuve Clicquot Award was set up by the Champagne house to recognize the work of successful businesswomen worldwide, who embody their spirit of Madame Clicquot.

Madame Clicquot was a 19th Century businesswomen who, after being widowed at the age of 27, took the reigns of her husband's Champagne businessa became one of the first women to lead a male-dominated company. The company describes her as a women who was 'proud and strong-willed' who demanded "only one quality, the finest." The award appraises the nominees under the headings of entrepreneurship, financial success, corporate social responsibility and whether or not they are seen as a role model to others.

The American Academy of Arts and Letters recently announced the recipients of its 2013 architecture awards. Beginning in 1955 with the inauguration of the annual Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize in Architecture, this is awarded to a preeminent architect from any country who has made a significant contribution to architecture as an art. In 1991, the Academy began giving Arts and Letters Awards (formerly called Academy Awards) to honor American architects whose work is characterized by a strong personal direction. An additional award category was created in 2003 to honor an American from any field who has contributed to ideas in architecture through any medium of expression. Information on the winners after the break.

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With a strong passion for successfully integrating tall buildings into their surrounding communities, William Pedersen, FAIA, FAAR has played a significant role as founding design partner in transforming Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF) into an international powerhouse, whose diverse portfolio is executed by over 600 staff members in six global offices.

In honor of his undeniable success, the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects announced Pedersen as recipient of the 2013 AIANY Medal of Honor during a ceremony at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City Wednesday.

More information and an interview with William Pedersen after the break...

The Architectural League of New York announced early this month the award of its 2013 President’s Medal to Renzo Piano of the Renzo Piano Building Workshop.The President’s Medal is the Architectural League’s highest honor and is bestowed, at the discretion of the League’s President and Board of Directors, on individuals to recognize an extraordinary body of work in architecture, urbanism, or design. This award also exemplifies the Architectural League’s 130-year history of encouraging and honoring excellence in architecture, urbanism, and design. The medal was presented to Renzo Piano, one of the world's most admired architects, by Architectural League President Annabelle Selldorf on April 9th at a dinner with over 350 guests in Manhattan. For more information, please visit here.

LEESER Architecture’s design for the Museum of Moving Image has recently been announced as the winner of the 2013 Red Dot Design Award in its highly competitive Architecture and Urban Design category. Completed in 2011, the Museum of the Moving Image houses a comprehensive collection dedicated to educating the public about the art, history, technique, and technology of film, television, and digital media.The existing structure is seamlessly integrated with the substantial new addition through a grand lobby which connects the two. More information on their award after the break.

Peter Wilson, partner in the Münster based office of BOLLES+WILSON, was recently awarded the AIA's (Australian Institute of Architects) highest honor, its 2013 Gold Medal. The recognition acknowledges Peter Wilson's role as remarkable statesman for Australia as well as an outstanding body of architectural works of great distinction, widely published and exhibited over more than thirty years. The Gold Medal also cites Wilson's longstanding contribution to the development of architectural drawing as a tool of representation and research. More information on Wilson's award after the break.

London’s Design Museum has announced the seven category winners for the annual Designs of the Year Awards, celebrating the best of international design from the last 12 months. Among the seven category winners include the renovation and reimagining of a faded 1960s tower block in Paris and the "quiet" graphics of David Chipperfield’s 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale, Common Ground.

The seven category winners are: