by: Julie Engh Assoc. AIA
At the 64th Annual Honors and Awards Celebration, the AIA bestowed honorary membership upon seven distinguished professionals and recognized the 2013 Young Architect Award and Associates Award winners. The Renzo Piano Building Workshop-designed Menil Collection was honored as the Twenty-five Year Award recipient, while Honor Awards winners in the areas of Architecture, Interior Architecture, Regional and Urban Design, and Collaborative and Professional Achievement were celebrated. AIANY members, of course, came up big.
Two AIANY Chapter members were honored for outstanding contributions to the profession at a young age. Susannah C. Drake, AIA, ASLA, was recognized as a 2013 AIA Young Architect Award winner, and Jessica Sheridan, AIA, LEED AP, as a 2013 AIA Associates Award winner. In recognition of his career which “set the standard for well-designed, mixed-use and mixed-income, and green projects,” the AIA selected Jonathan F.P. Rose, Hon. AIA, to become an Honorary AIA member.
Honor Awards for Regional and Urban Design were conferred to projects in recognition of their achievements in involving the expanding role of the architect in urban design, regional and city planning, and community development. The National September 11 Memorial by Handel Architects received this commendation for its ability to “capture the absence of the towers both literally and poetically,” and create a “successful space for collective mourning and remembrance.” Michael Arad, AIA, accepted the award on stage.
For their ability to elevate the general quality of architecture practice, establish a standard of excellence against which all architects can measure performance, and inform the public of the breadth and value of architecture practice, the AIA distinguished 11 projects with Honor Awards for Architecture.
For its celebration of “simplicity, craft, resilience and advanced-resource efficiency,” Architecture Research Office’s Boat Pavilion for Long Dock Park earned such a distinction. With its Centra Metropark, Kohn Pedersen Fox proved “design can have a ripple effect in an otherwise mundane context” by positively impacting the surrounding parkway, and stimulating improvements in surrounding structures. At Cornell University’s Milstein Hall, OMA and KHA Architects created “exciting new conditions while posing a series of creative opportunities for future uses and artistic additions.”
Considering the project involved more than 2,000 hand-carved marble Dutchman repairs, The New York Public Library – Exterior Restoration by Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates was lauded as “a commendable job on a building of national significance” that was “thoroughly and successfully executed.” By preserving the work of Saarinen and thoughtfully considering “materials, lighting dynamics, and spatial results,” KieranTimberlake’s Morse and Ezra Stiles Colleges at Yale was praised for its “sensitive to the resources and shows real attention to detail.” And as the 2013 Architecture Firm Award Recipients, Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects also earned an Honor Award in Architecture for their design of The Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. The jury thought this project “serves as an example for the museum building typology” which “commands attention” and resolves “challenges of context, security, and materiality.” (Tod Williams, FAIA, and Billie Tsien, AIA, are also 2013 AIANY Heritage Ball honorees).
To read more about the winners, visit the AIA National Awards webpage here.
Event: 2013 AIA Convention: 64th Annual Honors and Awards Celebration
Location: Colorado Convention Center, Denver, 06.20.13