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Every spring, RECORD provides editorial coverage of the winners of the AIA Honor Awards, which represents the highest recognition of excellence in architecture, interior architecture, and urban design. Projects were selected from more than 630 submissions, with 35 recipients to be honored later this month at the AIA National Convention and Expo in Las Vegas. In addition, in this issue we feature the Gold Medalist, the Firm of the Year, and the 25 Year Award winners.
The jury chairs included Thomas W. Ventulett III, FAIA, chair for architecture, who felt the winners conveyed exceptional qualities of light, space, craftsmanship, sustainability, and context. The chair of the interior design jury, Mark McInturff, FAIA, saw a strong connection of project to place through evocative use of materials and elegant detailing. Michael Willis, FAIA, chair of the urban design jury, said, "This year's projects were all about community-building and grappling with the
differences of edge and place, in order to make meaningful connections to people." Architects are forever harmonizing competing interests in the realization of their work, one of their singular talents.
Santiago Calatrava, FAIA, the brilliant architect-engineer, received the 61st AIA Gold Medal. In recognition of his legacy to architecture, his name will be engraved in a granite wall in the lobby of AIA headquarters in Washington, D.C. The Yale Center for British Art, designed by Louis I. Kahn, FAIA, received the 25 Year Award. The jury noted, "[This building] is one of the quietest expressions of a great building ever seen—so rewarding and exhilarating when you step inside." And lastly, the Chicago firm of Murphy/Jahn received the Firm Award, the highest honor the AIA bestows on an architecture firm, for their consistently forward-looking vision. – Jane F. Kolleeny |
