March 8, 2011
by: admin

Event: Design Awards Jury Symposium – Winners Announced
Location: Center for Architecture, 03.01.11
Jurors: Architecture: Minsuk Cho, — Principal, Mass Studies; Vincent James, FAIA — Principal, VJAA & Cass Gilbert Professor-in-Practice, University of Minnesota School of Architecture; Murat Tabanlioglu — Principal, Tabanlioglu Architects; Interiors: Neil Frankel, FAIA, FIIDA — Chair, University of Wisconsin/Milwaukee School of Architecture and Urban Planning; Monica Ponce De Leon — Principal, Office dA; Patricia Patkau, FRAIC, Hon. FAIA, Hon. FRIBA — Principal, Patkau Architects; Urban Design: Julia Czerniak — Principal, CLEAR & Associate Professor, Syracuse University School of Architecture; Marilyn Jordan Taylor, FAIA — Dean, University of Pennsylvania School of Design; Ray Gastil — Director, Gastilworks Planning & Design; Un-Built Work: Chris Genik, AIA — Principal, Daly Genick & Dean, Newschool of Architecture and Design, San Diego; Joe Rosa — Director, University of Michigan Museum of Art; Elias Torres Tur — Partner, Martinez Lapena — Torres Arquitectos
Moderator: William Menking — Editor-in-Chief, The Architect’s Newspaper
Sponsors: Patron: Trespa; Sponsors: Buro Happold; Ingram Yuzek Gainen Carroll & Bertolotti, LLP; Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates; MechoShade Systems, Inc.; New York University; Structure Tone Inc.; Studio Daniel Libeskind; Syska Hennessy Group; Swanke Hayden Connell Architects; Weidlinger Associates, Inc.

Jurors discuss winners in four categories, including Architecture, Interiors, Urban Design and Un-built work.

Courtesy Center for Architecture

Whether it’s site-specificity or small-scale intimacy, the AIANY Design Awards jurors rewarded 38 projects that are diverse with a variety of approaches — with Honor and Merit Awards.

The Architecture category winners included several projects built in Asia. Juror Minsuk Cho pointed out that it can be challenging designing modern architecture within the context of Asian building traditions, but he believes that entries such as Merit Award-winning Stan Allen Architect succeeded by creating a design that is “not only site-specific, but also time specific.” The temporary Taichung Info-Box is constructed with bamboo, a local material that can also be easily recycled. Another theme among winning projects was the play on topography. The Honor Award-winning Hypar Pavilion Lawn and Restaurant at Lincoln Center by Diller Scofidio + Renfro with FXFOWLE Architects was the “most simple and most successful” of these designs, stated Vincent James, FAIA, who noted that the changes in planes create a 3-D effect.

Chicago architect Neil Frankel, FAIA, FIIDA, found the entries in the Interiors category “ethereal” compared to work in his hometown, and believes that “NYC is rich with intimate spaces.” Monica Ponce De Leon noticed a “struggle for how to make architecture out of nothing” within small spaces. Thomas Phifer and Partners’ Fifth Avenue Apartment, which won an Honor Award, incorporated reflective surfaces in window frames, “a simple move that transforms the character of the space,” she said. Jurors agreed that there wasn’t a central idea among the winning projects, and those they selected exhibited distinct methodologies and ranges of scale, from private apartments to the very public NYC Information Center by WXY Architecture + Urban Design, which won a Merit Award.

“Urban design is creating opportunity,” said Ray Gastil. Jurors for the Urban Design category believed that Brooklyn Bridge Park by Michael Van Valkenburgh and Maryann Thompson Architects deserved an Honor Award for its “surface and creation of topography,” according to Marilyn Jordan Taylor, FAIA. She noted that many projects garnered awards by creating “urban junctions” that invite in the surrounding neighborhood. However, Julia Czerniak pointed out that there were aspects absent from submissions, including temporary, small-scale projects, and the policy component of how to actually get work built.

Projects within the ephemeral Un-built Work category ranged from those by well-known firms, including the Honor Award-winning Phare Tower by Morphosis Architects with SRA Architectes, which jurors praised for breaking away from the skyscraper ideal, as well as work by emerging firms. SO-IL’s Kukje Art Center, which received an Honor Award, features a “skin that is just unstable enough to suggest all types of uses,” which intrigued Chris Genik, AIA. Jurors gave a Merit Award to Playcloud by NAMELESS, part of the 2010 FIGMENT/ENYA/SEAoNY City of Dreams Pavilion competition on Governors Island, for its “optimism of confined space for adults to play,” according to Joe Rosa. Although, he admitted, there could be some structural issues with the design.

On 04.12.11, the winners will be honored at the Design Awards Luncheon at Cipriani Wall Street. The projects will be featured in an exhibition at the Center for Architecture (04.14-06.25.11) and in the summer issue of OCULUS. For more information about the AIANY Design Awards, click here.

Murrye Bernard, LEED AP, is a freelance architectural writer and a contributing editor to e-Oculus.

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