2008 Small Project Awards

Deadline Just Extended!:  The submission process must be completed prior to 5 p.m. EST, January 21, 2008.

Click here, to submit a project.

Background

The AIA Small Project Practitioners (SPP) Knowledge Community presents the Fourth Annual Small Project Awards Program, to recognize small-project practitioners for the high quality of their work and to promote excellence in small-project design. This award program emphasizes the excellence of small-project design and strives to raise public awareness of the value and design excellence that architects bring to projects, no matter the limits of size and scope.

Recognition

Award recipients will be announced, reviewed, and recognized at Session FR34: Best Practices in Small-Project Design, at the AIA National Convention in Boston on Friday, May 16, 2008. The award-winning projects will be displayed at the convention, acknowledged in AIA publications and electronic media, and featured on the SPP Web site and in the SPP Journal #45, Spring 2008, edition. Each award-winning project will also receive a citation for excellence.

The Best Practices seminar also creates an opportunity for members to connect with like-minded professionals nationwide, gain inspiration and celebrate great work, and facilitate the sharing of knowledge while advancing the quality of successful small project practice.

Judging Criteria

Each entry will be judged for the success with which the project meets its individual program intent and requirements. Entries will be weighed individually, not in competition with each other.

Criteria for judging will include the following:

• The submission complies with all submission requirements (determined prior to presentation of submissions to the jury)
• The project demonstrates exemplary skill in meeting program intent and requirements (this criterion includes innovation and technical advancements in the design process)
• The project achieves excellence in design (this criterion includes the delight and contextual considerations required of exemplary design)

A minimum of five projects and a maximum of ten percent of the total number of entries will receive award citations.

Jury

Moderator: Lisa Stacholy, AIA, LKS Architects, Dunwoody, Ga., distinguished past chair (2006) of the AIA SPP Advisory Group.

Entries will be judged by a jury composed of members of the AIA Center for Building Science and Performance Advisory Group and the Young Architects Forum:

• Janice Olshesky, AIA, Olshesky Design Group LLC, Alexandria, Va.
• William Rakatansky, AIA, Freeman-White Architects Inc., Cornelius, N.C.
• George M. Blackburn III, AIA, Construction Consulting International, Carrolton, Tex.
• Edward D. Gaskin, AIA, Trahan Architects, Baton Rouge, and Gulf States Regional Liaison, Young Architects Forum

Award Categories

Entries are to be projects of the built environment within the following categories:

1. Small project objects (furniture, fixture, or fragment; under $50,000 construction budget)
2. Small project structures (under $500,000 construction budget)
3. Flood-resistant housing (built or proposed)

AIA SPP encourages submissions of projects in all building types: commercial, retail, industrial, educational, public, and private, as well as residential. In addition, projects may include fully completed new and renovation projects, or elements of built projects. There is no limitation other than the quality of the final work.

Flood-resistant housing is this year’s wild-card category, addressing the monumental rebuilding efforts of small-project practitioners in the Gulf Coast region following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The issue of flood-resistant housing, unfortunately, is not limited to the Southern Gulf Region. Proposed (i.e., paper) solutions as well as built examples are eligible and very much encouraged for submission.

Finally, AIA SPP also strongly encourages submissions from the many ethnically diverse small-project practitioner members of the AIA and the profession.

Eligibility

• Open to architects licensed in the United States
• Built projects completed after January 1, 2004
• Entry photography by submitting architect only (no professional photography is permitted)
• Maximum of two entries per firm
• No projects that have previously received a national AIA award are permitted

Entry Fee

• AIA members: $75 for each entry
• Nonmembers: $150 for each entry

All entry fees are nonrefundable.

Submission Requirements

Entry is a Web-based submission process. Please click here to submit a project.

Images

• Images include drawings and photos
• These should be sufficient to describe the project context, special considerations, and innovative design
• Maximum eight, minimum four; to be arranged in the order you wish them viewed
• These should include a site plan, floor plan, and section (if appropriate to project type; drawings must include a north arrow and a graphic scale)
• Digital parameters: 300 DPI/JPG/high quality-low compression/1600 x 1200 resolution

Text

• Written information shall be limited to 200 words
• This must include
• • Project name and location (city and state)
  • Statement of program and contextual background

In addition, include any special challenges or considerations, unique and/or innovative solutions, lessons earned, or other information pertinent to the understanding of the project.

All submitters must

• Read and agree to a statement that all images are the product of the design architect
• Read and agree to a statement that the project construction cost (not including soft costs) is accurate for the category submitted
• Read and agree to a statement that the project has not received a previous national AIA design award
• Read and agree to the AIA Intern Declaration
• Read and complete the AIA 2007 Copyright Permission Form

Note: project owners may be contacted to verify information provided.

Failure to comply with the above requirements will result in disqualification.

Board Layout

Authors of submissions cited for excellence will be asked to indicate the images and verbiage to be taken from the above submission requirements to be included on a display board for presentation. A template will be provided to those winners and all printing shall be completed by AIA.

Image Requirements

Image Quality

The image quality is important in allowing the jury to determine the quality of your project. An award cannot be made to a project where the relevant details cannot be determined or confirmed in the visual submission material. Therefore, please follow the above specifications closely. You should be able to meet the specifications with a three-megapixel camera, used in its highest resolution and with minimal compression. Our research shows that such cameras can be obtained for as little as $150 from office supply chains or specialty retailers. Use of higher-resolution cameras is acceptable and encouraged. For best results follow these simple rules:

1. Read your camera’s owners manual and know how to adjust the settings.
2. Use a tripod and the slowest speed possible if people are not in the picture. If people are in the picture shoot at no less than 1/30th of a second.
3. Use the smallest aperture possible (highest number, e.g., f32) for clearest images over the deepest field, near to far.
4. Shoot in natural daylight if possible.
5. Shoot in the early morning or late evening for dramatic effect.
6. If you cannot shoot in natural light, then adjust your camera’s white balance for the light source (usually tungsten or fluorescent). You may also need to adjust for cloudy skies.
7. Clean and prepare the site before shooting. For example, pick up paper and trash that are blowing around the ground, straighten clothing and merchandise on display, and pay attention to doors, windows, curtains and other compositional devices.

For more information and suggestions on how to improve your photographs, please see the Small Project Forum Issue 29 archive, www.aia.org/spf_nwsltr_1203.

Image Editing

Images may be edited to improve contrast ratio or color balance, or to crop the image. Images may not be edited to alter architectural elements or context, except that images, which show inappropriate firm identification, may have the offending material blanked out. Images may be black and white, sepia, or color, but may not be colorized black and white images. Images should represent the project as it is in the built environment. Images should forgo artistic composition if the resulting image would be confusing to the jury as to the nature of the project. It might make a nice logo but it may not express your project’s context, importance, and value.

Copyrights

The architect/photographer should own the copyrights to the project images being submitted. Historic images are allowed only if they are copyright free or permission to use the image has been obtained and included with the submission.

Please see the AIA copyright release form. Winners will be asked to prepare a detailed project description for future publication.

Any identification of the architect or firm appearing on any submitted images shall cause the entry to be disqualified. Failure to fully comply with all submission requirements shall cause the entry to be disqualified.

Submission Deadline

The submission process must be completed prior to 5 p.m. EST, January 21, 2008 (deadline just extended!)

Questions

If you have any questions, refer to the SPP Awards Program FAQs or contact

Amanda D’Luhy
1735 New York Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20006
Phone: 202-626-7360
E-mail: adluhy@aia.org

Winners will be notified by March 19, 2008.

The SPP will prepare panels of all award-winning projects to be exhibited at the 2008 AIA Convention in Boston. Templates will be provided to award winners so that they may specify content taken from submitted materials for inclusion on their project panel.