Koichi Yasuda, Ken Kannari, and Masao Nishioka of Nikken Sekki, Tokyo, received the 2003 DuPont Benedictus Award for innovation in architectural design using laminated glass for their Pola Museum of Art in Hakone-Machi, Japan. The glass, in the form of a transparent, sloped skylight, serves as the primary architectural feature of a museum that houses a private collection of Impressionist paintings.

“The skylight is the light spine of the museum,” the architects stated. “Using [clear laminated glass], we were able to create a highly transparent space despite the cold climate of the area.” Through the skylight, visitors can appreciate views of the nearby village of Kozukayama, and can understand the overall layout of the building by taking in a panoramic view downward through the glass atrium, extending to the second underground floor.

Use of laminated glass for the skylight, the award organizers point out, meant that the architects could mitigate the harmful effects of UV rays on the artwork and meet the safety and security codes developed in an area where earthquakes are prevalent. The museum architects also used glass in other ways: incorporated into structural ribs supporting the skylight, as a structural beam for the skylight ledge, for the museum’s entry bridge balustrade, and for a bus stop outside the facility that also sports a laminated glass cantilevered canopy to protect visitors from the elements.

“This project is really sensual,” said Lewis Koerner, AIA, a DuPont Benedictus juror. “It’s built in the middle of a forest, a five-story structure with only half a story above ground. The atrium showers visitors with light and brings natural light to all the circulation areas. It permeates the space below the light.”

Sylvester Damianos, FAIA, and Julie Vanden Berg Snow, FAIA, also served as jurors. Santiago Calatrava commented on the winning projects and highlighted two of them—the Pola Museum and the Lens Ceiling of the Phoenix Courthouse—for outstanding technical and design innovation. The awards, named for the French chemist who discovered the process for laminating glass, are organized by the AIA and the International Union of Architects (UIA), with sponsorship by DuPont, producer of a broad family of architectural glass laminating products and technologies.

2003 Category Winners

• Industrial: Protective housing at the Petuel Tunnel, Munich, by Fritz Auer and Carlo Weber of Auer + Weber + Architekten

• Education: Schule am Mummelsoll (school for special-needs children), Berlin, by Armand Grüntuch and Almut Ernst, Grüntuch Ernst Architekten.

2003 Honorable Mentions

• Commercial:
—Norddeutsche Landesbank in Hannover, Germany, by Stefan Behnisch of Behnisch, Behnisch & Partner
—Noevir USA headquarters, Irvine, Calif., by Michael Ferguson and John Hirsch, Space International Inc
—Bang & Olufsen headquarters, Struer, Denmark, by Jan Sondergaard, KHRAS architects
—GSW Headquarters, Berlin, by Matthias Sauerbruch and Louisa Hutton of Sauerbruch Hutton.

• Government
—The Royal Library, Copenhagen, Denmark (extension project), by Bjarne Hammer, Kim Holst Jensen, Morten Schmidt, and John Lassen, Arkitekterne maa Schmidt, Hammer & Lassen K/S, Aarhus, Denmark
—The embassies of the Nordic countries in Berlin, by Alfred Berger and Tiina Parkkinen, Berger + Parkkinen
—“Lens Ceiling,” Special Proceedings Courtroom, Phoenix Courthouse, by Luke Lowings and James Carpenter, James Carpenter Design Associates, New York City.

• Recreational
—Hydra Pier, Haarelemmermeer Pavilion, Floriade Exhibition 2002, Haarlemmermeer, The Netherlands, by Hani Rashid and Lise Anne Couture, Asymptote Architecture, in association with Octatube Space Structures BV, Delft, and executive architect Anton Bronsvoort, Arkitektenburo Bronsvoort BNA, Amerongen.

• Residential
De Blas House, Madrid, by Alberto Campo Baeza.

Lebanese student wins top prize
Students worldwide were challenged with a theoretical design problem: to design a bank for a small city, on a site of their choosing, while exploring the applications of laminated glass as a building material. The competition drew 220 design submissions from 28 countries. The top designs received cash prizes totaling $13,500 and were exhibited at the AIA national convention in San Diego. They also will be on display at the 2004 ACSA annual meeting in Miami.
• First prize: Najwan Yassin, Lebanese American University in Byblos, for “Minimal Music.”
• Second prize: Virginia Martinez Jimenez, David Ballesteros Moral, and Eva del Hoyo Martin, the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid, for “Cascada du Luz.”
• Third prize: Carla Aramouny, Lebanese American University in Byblos, for “Pause Scenarios.”

Students at Universidad La Salle in Mexico City; the Lebanese American University in Byblos; The University of Hong Kong; and the National University of Singapore received honorable mentions.

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