Government and cultural facilities lead the way in utilizing design to meet organizational goals

Recipients of the 2004 Business Week/Architectural Record Awards

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2004 Business Week/Architectural Records (BW/AR) Awards. Given annually, the BW/AR Awards honor architects and clients who best utilize good design to achieve important objectives for organizations such as marketing products and services, attracting and maintaining a high-quality student body or workforce, improving the health and welfare of employees, and uplifting the immediate environment. This year, the recipients largely represented the cultural and governmental sectors.

The BW/AR Awards, now in its eighth year, is sponsored by the AIA, in conjunction with Architectural Record and Business Week, both publications of the McGraw-Hill Companies. This year’s recipients consist of three government facilities, five cultural/educational projects, and two aid organizations. They range from a community center in LA’s Skid Row to an iron studio in rural North Carolina, from a martial arts facility in Japan to the foreign ministry in Jerusalem, but at the core they all share one attribute—they understand how good design can achieve important organizational objectives.

The projects were evaluated by a jury of ten consisting of prominent architects, design professionals, and business leaders. The jury looked for a high-degree of collaboration between architect and client, the contribution of design to the project’s success, the quality of the architectural design solution, and measured indicators of success. The members of the 2004 BW/AR jury are Moshe Safdie, FAIA, principal, Moshe Safdie and Associates; Betsy Z. Cohen, chairman and chief executive officer, Resource Asset Investment Trust; Rand Elliott, FAIA, principal, Elliott + Associates Architects; Douglas Gardner, former president, Urban Development Group, Catellus Development Corporation; Lee Green, director of Corporate Identity and Design, IBM Corporation; Paul Herzan, president, Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum; Frances P. Huppert, FAIA, senior vice president, Design & Construction, Empire State Development Corporation; Marianne McKenna, FRAIC, principal, Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects; Paula S. Wallace, president, Savannah College of Art and Design; and Allison G. Williams, FAIA, managing principal, Ai Architecture/San Francisco.

Select projects are profiled in the November 1, 2004 issue of Business Week (on newsstands October 22). All recipients and finalists will be featured in the November 21, 2004 issue of Business Week (on newsstands November 12) and the November issue of Architectural Record, winner of the 2003 National Magazine Award for General Excellence.

The recipients of the 2004 Business Week/Architectural Record Awards are:

Project: Humane Society/SPCA of San Antonio and Bexar County, San Antonio
Architect: Billy A. Lawrence, AIA, Alamo Architects, Inc., San Antonio
Client: Humane Society/SPCA of San Antonio and Bexar County, San Antonio
Shelter Design Consultant: Connolly Architects, Inc., Austin, Texas
Photo: Paul Bardagjy

Whereas most shelters are dark, noisy, depressing, and located on the periphery of town, the San Antonio SPCA selected a prime retail area. The resulting facility is spacious, welcoming, and uplifting, encouraging repeat visits and volunteerism. Adoptions are up 95 percent and the return rate has dropped to 2.5 percent. Disease levels have fallen significantly due to quick turnover and communal accommodations. Best of all, because the older animals are placed in the front, three times as many adult dogs and cats are now being adopted.

Jury Comments: “The Humane Society is about humanity and our reflection of ourselves…There was a quality about the buildings that felt they really belonged in Texas… the architecture resonated the social and animal purpose of the building…positive in every conceivable way.”

Project: Limerick County Hall, Co. Limerick, Ireland
Architect: Karen McEvoy and Merritt Bucholz, Bucholz McEvoy Architects, Dublin
Client: Limerick County Council, Limerick, Ireland
Photo: Michael Moran/Moran Studios

This government facility was created with the objective of creating a new vision of local government. The building provides clear and efficient public access to the local government, consumes virtually no energy from non-renewable resources, reduces CO2 emissions and energy usage; bathes employees in abundant natural lighting; provides natural ventilation; and is a model for other governmental organizations.

Jury Comments: “I think everyone really enjoyed this project a lot because it was like reinventing government. This doesn’t look like a government building in any way, shape, or form. It’s crafted. There’s a bris soleil; there’s a great sense of dealing with the environment; it’s glass and transparent. It’s really quite wonderful.”

Project: MoMA QNS, Long Island City, N.Y.
Architect: Scott D. Newman, AIA, Cooper, Robertson & Partners, New York City
Client: The Museum of Modern Art, New York City
Associate Architect: Michael L. Maltzan, AIA, Michael Maltzan Architecture, Los Angeles
Photo: Christian Richters/Christian Richters Fotograf

The design of this project had to accomplish three goals: support preservation and research activities for 25 years; accommodate blockbuster exhibits without major structural changes; and provide a strong visual statement. MoMA QNS did all of that, plus it started the neighborhood’s evolution from industrial neighborhood to burgeoning arts community. The goal of 1-2,000 visitors per day is consistently exceeded, and during major exhibits visitors can reach 4,000. In addition, MoMA’s goals were achieved months within schedule and under budget.

Jury Comments: “MoMA created a significant presence in an unlikely location. The project evolved to become more than was originally anticipated. With design driving the project, the results were significantly greater than anticipated, both in usage of the local community, visitation levels, and with recognition level being 97 percent in terms of surveyed recognition—which is higher than many of the established museums.”

Project: Israeli Foreign Ministry, Jerusalem
Architect: Jack Diamond, Hon. FAIA, Diamond and Schmitt Architects, Inc., Toronto, Canada, with Kolker, Kolker Epstein Architects, Jerusalem
Client: Israeli Foreign Ministry, Jerusalem
Photo: Tim Griffith

The 430,000-square-foot facility was designed to accommodate administrative and state ceremonial requirements—services which were formerly scattered in a series of single-story huts. The Foreign Ministry wanted the building to exude a stately and ceremonial function, yet also be a symbol of secure office design in the Middle East. Despite the fundamental need for security, the building achieves a feeling of openness and transparency, while distinguishing itself as an elegant and dignified state building.

Jury Comments: “The Israeli Foreign Ministry was a kind of paradigm jump in the quality of government buildings in relationship to Israel as compared to any international standards…One of the things that impressed me is how very demanding security issues were integrated into the architecture so they either became environmental assets or invisible. It’s a model of how security can be achieved. There’s also a sense of ritual in the building that has to do with its ceremonial function as a foreign ministry. It’s actually a luxurious and very well crafted building.”

Project: Iron Studio, Penland School of Crafts, Penland, N.C.
Architect: Frank Harmon, FAIA, Frank Harmon Architect, Raleigh, N.C.
Client: Penland School of Crafts, Penland, N.C.
Photo: James West/J West Productions

This rural school’s popular iron program had outgrown its ramshackle studio. The new 5,500-square-foot studio is programmed for designing, fabricating, and finishing iron objects weighing three ounces to three tons. Within the first year of operation enrollment increased by 100 percent and future courses are fully-booked. Additionally, the Iron Studio has increased Penland’s visibility and raised the level of expectation for other craft disciplines within the school. Sturdy, practical, and deceptively simple, the Iron Studio celebrates the craft of iron-making in a noble way.

Jury Comments: “This was great. This is a new construction of a blacksmithing facility designed in a very minimal way, with light and open space throughout the structure. It reflected state of the art machinery and the craft of blacksmithing…I think it had a great romantic quality to it. There’s something very powerful about hand-crafted/human-crafted materials…And this facility has contributed to making it a more popular art form.”

Project: Finn Center, Community School of Music and Arts, Mountain View, Calif.
Architect: Mark Cavagnero, AIA, Mark Cavagnero Associates, San Francisco, Calif.
Client: Community School of Music and Arts
Photo: Tim Griffith

After 36 years in temporary facilities, the Community School of Music and Arts finally has a permanent facility that integrates its programs and spaces, providing 17 private music studios, several large art classrooms, ceramics studios, an exhibition gallery, exterior performance areas, and a 204-seat concert hall. Boasting inspiring light-filled classrooms and studios for art and acoustically exceptional practice and performance spaces for music, the building is a “blank canvas” for the school’s creative programs. With a new building that has caught the attention of the surrounding community, the Community School has seen even greater interest in its programs. In the eyes of the client, the Finn Center, in function and presence, reflects the collaboration that has allowed it to further its mission of Arts for All.

Jury Comments: “A beautifully cast-in-place concrete structure using natural materials created a very successful music and arts school with an interior courtyard that’s really the communal space…a concert hall allows access to the community and the greater regional area, creating a successful business plan so that there’s a quantum leap in income so that they can operate for the scholarship and outreach program that is in their original mission…created a sense of place and a “there” where there was no “there.”

Project: Ehime Prefectural Budokan, Matsuyama City, Ehime, Japan
Architect: Michio Sugawara, Hon. FAIA , Ishimoto Architectural & Engineering Firm, Inc., Tokyo
Client: Ehime Prefecture, Ehime, Japan
Photo: Kenichi Suzuki/Schinkenchiku-sha Co., Ltd.

The goals for this martial arts facility were to increase visitors, improve international appeal, boost the local economy, and create a landmark facility that would be a monument to culture, friendship, and local traditions. The number of annual visitors, previously registered at 21,745, has increased to 146,546. By contracting with local vendors, the project generated nearly $13 million for the community. In addition, in the four months following completion, 20 large events were held in the facility, including one international-level sport game and one national-level convention.

Jury Comments: “It’s responsible for raising the attention about physical health and putting the martial arts in with that concern. It raised the use of the facility by 700% and boosted the economy by $13 million due to the fact that it’s completely built out of local materials—local stone, wood, and clay tiles. It’s really incredible.”

Project: James M. Wood Community Center, Los Angeles
Architect: Michael B. Lehrer, FAIA, Lehrer Architects LA, Los Angeles
Client: SRO Housing Corporation, Los Angeles
Photo: Orrin Moore/Ronald Moore & Associates

This project, a repeat collaboration between architect, builder, and client, is the sole community space for the social, recreational, and nutritional needs of LA’s Skid Row residents. The project uses natural light and color to engage the user and transform the tough urban context. The architecture serves to honor the homeless population, honor the street, and explore both the humane and the monumental.

Jury Comments: “Often these centers are just shelter—just a roof—they don’t have the emotional power of architecture and this one really did. It is a piece of architecture in the truest sense of the word. They produced a piece of architecture which is upbeat, cheerful, and I think to use their words ‘demonstrates the dignity which architecture can bring to a struggling community.’”

Project: Fisher Pavilion at Seattle Center, Seattle
Architect: Robert Hull, FAIA, and Ron Rochon, AIA, The Miller/Hull Partnership, LLP, Seattle
Client: City of Seattle, Seattle Center
Photo: Steve Keating

The primary function of this new exhibition hall is to promote community and a sense of place for nearly one million visitors per year. The previous building and plaza sat isolated along the southern edge of the green and blocked the view of a nearby theatre. The desire to open up the view and increase available space led to a “subterranean” design which pushed the building into the ground and created a public rooftop pavilion. The environmentally-sensitive design was built for a LEED Certified rating reducing its impact on the community’s water and energy resources, and has provided a rich open space for community events and festivals.

Jury Comments: “It is so rare to have a community or owner come forward and demolish a building to improve the whole urban design situation. Often one would see a chance to use the old building—to renovate it—but this was a very audacious approach to a major improvement in the urban design context.”

Project: Britomart Transport Centre, Auckland, New Zealand
Architects: Greg Boyden, JASMAX Ltd., Auckland, New Zealand and Mario Madayag Architecture Ltd. (MMA), Auckland, New Zealand
Client: Auckland City Council Britomart Project Group, Auckland, New Zealand
Preservation Architect: Salmond Reed Architects, Auckland, New Zealand
Photo: Patrick Reynolds

The City Council wanted to create a central underground transport station; increase the desirability and image of public transportation; upgrade harbor and gulf ferries and buses; and redesign terminals near the new train station. Recognizing that downtown Auckland urgently needed revitalization and the original central train station was inconveniently located, the City Council decided to remedy both ailments simultaneously. The resulting design successfully integrates an existing heritage building, the world’s only underground diesel train station, a “glasshouse” that links the two projects, and a spirited redevelopment of surrounding streetscapes and public spaces.

Jury Comments: “They devoted tremendous energy and resources in creating a building which had to overcome very many technical obstacles. It used good design to help encourage the Auckland population to take advantage of the transit facilities in that vicinity… It was a very effective, very creative approach to this particular problem.”