Awards: The Latest Architecture and News

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Grafton Architects' co-founders Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara have been jointly awarded the fourth annual Jane Drew Prize for their “massive influence” on the profession. The “hardworking” Dublin-based duo impressed the jury, which included Norman Foster and Patty Hopkins, for not being “afraid to speak in a language that is feminine” yet “produce buildings which are robust and full of conviction.”

“Grafton’s buildings are consistently high quality. Their approach is solid,” added the jury. “They are business-savvy.”

Nova Scotia architect Brian MacKay-Lyons, FRAIC, founding partner of MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects, has been selected to receive the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada’s 2015 Gold Medal. The RAIC’s highest honor, the Gold Medal is awarded annually to architects who have had a “significant and lasting contribution to Canadian architecture.”

“His work is universally recognized as pure, dignified, poetic and beautiful,” said the jury. “His work comes from an intimate connection with his communities.”

Judges Patty Hopkins, Eva Jiricna and John McAslan have awarded Jane Priestman the Ada Louise Huxtable Prize. The 85-year-old British designer, lauded for being a “visionary” client, is the first to receive this lifetime achievement award, which honors non-architects which have significantly contributed to the architectural profession.

“Her contribution to future generations is immeasurable,” said the judges. “Priestman had the belief that architecture could change people lives, and wanted to work with architects who could help her do it.”

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Martin Lesjak, co-founder of Austrian firm INNOCAD and 13&9 Design, has been named Contract magazine’s Designer of the Year 2015 - the magazine’s 36th annual awards’ most prestigious honor.

“Martin Lesjak elicits power, grace, and emotion from his engaging and sensuous interior spaces. Through both his visionary architecture and interior design, as well as beautiful product design, Lesjak is clearly a design star that others in the profession look up to,” says Contract Editor in Chief John Czarnecki, who selected Lesjak as Designer of the Year. “Martin has won a total of three Interiors Awards from Contract in the previous two years, those projects turned heads in the U.S., and his body of work continues to grow and gain international attention.”

Wood Design and Building Magazine has announced the winners of its 2014 Wood Awards. Run in partnership with the Canadian Wood Council, this year the awards included for the first time an international awards category in addition to the North America awards. With 166 submissions, the 24 awarded projects were selected by a jury consisting of Larry McFarland (Principle, McFarland Marceau Architects), Brigitte Shim (Principle, Shim-Sutcliffe Architects) and Keith Boswell (Technical Partner, SOM).

"The Wood Design Awards showcases exceptional wood buildings that not only display the unique qualities of wood, but also serve to inspire other designers who may not initially think of wood as the material of choice," said Theresa Rogers, Editor of Wood Design & Building magazine. "The calibre of projects submitted displayed a mature sense of design that either paid homage to older building techniques or completely reinvented the conventional way of thinking about building envelope and design," added Etienne Lalonde, the Canadian Wood Council's Vice-President of Market Development.

See the full awards list after the break.

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Eight practitioners from the US, Canada and Mexico have been selected to receive The Architectural League of New York’s 33rd annual Emerging Voices award - one of the most coveted awards in North American architecture. Each recipient was selected for being a “distinct design voice” with the “potential to influence" disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture, and urbanism.

“This year’s Voices critically re-envision solutions for contemporary design concerns—programmatic, typological, and tectonic—that have the potential to inspire new approaches to building and form,” says program director Anne Rieselbach.

This year’s emerging voices are…

Architects’ Journal has released the shortlist of their annual Women in Architecture awards, naming 17 established and emerging practitioners who have raised the profile of women architects “in a sector where women still face an alarming degree of discrimination.” In honor of their selection, the nominees have shared their advice for aspiring female architects.

See who was shortlisted and find out what they believe takes for women to succeed in the profession of architecture, after the break. 

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Celebrating the most innovative spaces in the realm of interior design, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) has selected this year's recipients for the prestigious Institute Honor Awards for Interior Architecture. These eight projects will be recognized for their exceptional design at the AIA 2015 National Convention and Design Exposition in Atlanta.

Learn more about the winning designs after the break.

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Several projects have been selected to receive this year's Institute Honor Awards for Architecture, chosen by the American Institute of Architects (AIA). The award celebrates projects which exhibit design excellence in the field of architecture, and is one of the highest such awards in the industry. The recipients will be recognized for their work at the AIA 2015 National Convention and Design Exposition in Atlanta.

View the winners after the break.

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Four projects have been selected by the American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) for honorably expanding the role of the architect beyond the building and into the realms of urban design, regional and city planning, and community development. These projects will be honored with the AIA’s Institute Honor Awards for Regional and Urban Design at the 2015 National Convention and Design Exposition in Atlanta. See the winners, after the break.

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A global survey conducted by BD has deemed Foster + Partners to be world’s “most admired architect" for the ninth consecutive year. The London-based practice, led by Norman Foster, is the 16th largest practice in the world. Foster + Partners’ ranking was undeniable, as the survey revealed a significant seven percent lead over runner-up contender, Herzog & de Meuron.

“To be voted most admired practice by our peers is a great honor,” said Norman Foster. “It is a huge tribute to our talented and hard-working teams with their myriad skills and disciplines, both in our many studios around the world and our base in London, all working towards the common goal of bringing innovative design solutions to create a better built environment.”

See who else topped the list as the world’s “most admired,” after the break.

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill’s Broadgate Exchange House (1990) in London has been announced as the 2015 recipient of the American Institute of Architects’ 25-Year Award. The first UK project to ever win the award, the ten-story Exchange House was commended for “standing the test of time” with its “simple yet ingenious structural system that unifies design and function in the mid-century Modernist tradition.”

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John Quinlan Terry, one of Prince Charles' preferred architects, is being recognized on the UK’s 2015 New Year Honours list and awarded the Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services in classical architecture. The Queen’s annual awards will also be honoring architect Cecil Balmond, former deputy chairman of UK Arup, with the Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). Former City Planning Officer and professor Peter Wynne Rees, who oversaw the realization of the Gherkin and highly disputed Walkie Talkie, will also receive a CBE for his services. Katharine Heron, professor of Architecture University of Westminster, has been selected to receive a Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for her services to architecture and higher education.