Chicago Architect November/December 2012 : Page 20

2012 AIA Chicago established the Distinguished Building Award in 1955 to recognize signiﬁ cant achievements in the planning, design and execution of recent building projects. Projects are eligible if they were completed between May 1, 2007 and May 1, 2012. Projects must be designed by Chicago area architects or be located in the Chicago area. The winners and all submissions can be viewed at aiachicago.org. DISTINGUISHED BUILDING AWARDS ARCHITECT: Perkins+Will CLIENT: Universidade Agostinho Neto GENERAL CONTRACTORS: Soares da Costa, Somague Engenharia, S.A, China Jiangsu International Economic Technical Cooperation Corporation CONSULTANTS: Dar Al-Handasan (Shair and Partners), Battle McCarthy, Schuler Shook, Paulien & Associates Inc. HONOR AWARD UNIVERSIDADE AGOSTINHO NETO LUANDA, ANGOLA The ﬁ rst phase of a campus for the largest university in The Republic of Angola consists of a central library with both above-and below-ground components, and several classroom buildings arrayed around it. High sustainability goals dictated that only the library would be air-conditioned. The classroom structures get maximum cross-ventilation with their short east-west façades and long north-south façades that face the prevailing winds off the Atlantic Ocean. They also have rooftop louvers calibrated to create airﬂ ow via manipulated pressure differentiation. Roof overhangs create shaded gathering spaces in the courtyards. “It doesn’t shy away from strong architectural expression,” a juror said. “The message is really good, but so is the aesthetic. It’s hopeful and bold. It’s forward-looking.” Photography by Steinkamp Photography 20 Chicago Architect nov | dec 2012

Distinguished Building Awards

AIA Chicago established the Distinguished Building Award in 1955 to recognize significant achievements in the planning, design and execution of recent building projects. Projects are eligible if they were completed between May 1, 2007 and May 1, 2012. Projects must be designed by Chicago area architects or be located in the Chicago area. The winners and all submissions can be viewed at aiachicago.org. HONOR AWARD UNIVERSIDADE AGOSTINHO NETO LUANDA, ANGOLA ARCHITECT: Perkins+Will CLIENT: Universidade Agostinho Neto GENERAL CONTRACTORS: Soares da Costa, Somague Engenharia, S.A, China Jiangsu International Economic Technical Cooperation Corporation CONSULTANTS: Dar Al-Handasan (Shair and Partners), Battle McCarthy, Schuler Shook, Paulien & Associates Inc. The first phase of a campus for the largest university in The Republic of Angola consists of a central library with both above- and below-ground components, and several classroom buildings arrayed around it. High sustainability goals dictated that only the library would be air-conditioned. The classroom structures get maximum cross-ventilation with their short east-west façades and long north-south façades that face the prevailing winds off the Atlantic Ocean. They also have rooftop louvers calibrated to create airflow via manipulated pressure differentiation. Roof overhangs create shaded gathering spaces in the courtyards. “It doesn’t shy away from strong architectural expression,” a juror said. “The message is really good, but so is the aesthetic. It’s hopeful and bold. It’s forward-looking.” HONOR AWARD POETRY FOUNDATION CHICAGO ARCHITECT: John Ronan Architects CLIENT: Poetry Foundation CONTRACTOR: Norcon, Inc. CONSULTANTS: U.S. Equities Realty, dbHMS, Arup, Terra Engineering, Reed Hilderbrand Associates, Charter Sills, Threshold Acoustics LLC Conceived as a haven for the makers and consumers of a precious literary art form, the building proceeds much like a reader’s growing comprehension of a poem. It begins with a finely crafted, inviting exterior and draws visitors in through a beautifully rendered garden, and beyond into an interior filled with light. Jurors applauded the environmentally sustainable building as a complete composition. The transparency of the exterior screen of oxidized zinc “is not for its own sake, but a veil that really reveals the purpose of the building with the books seen inside,” a juror noted. From that first moment of viewing, visitors “sense the restraint that is in place here,” a juror said. “The articulation of an idea with blurred spaces and a material palette is splendid,” another said. Another said simply, “It’s transcendent.” CITATION OF MERIT NINE SQUARE CHICAGO ARCHITECT: Wheeler Kearns Architects CLIENT: Private CONTRACTOR: Goldberg General Contracting CONSULTANTS: Sherry Koppel Design, Schmechtig Landscapes Inc., Enspect Engineering A widowed grandmother who entertains family often and also collects art wanted a “cheap and cheerful” home that would welcome both. The plan is divided into nine 24-foot bays, with one left open to the sky. A passerby would read the home as visually quiet, opaque volume, low-slung and clad in fiber-cement panels. They wouldn’t see that behind one pivoting door lies a courtyard, and that the home within is crisply organized, its details handled meticulously. “It’s not a very expensive house, but it’s so very well executed,” a juror said. “They know they have sharp materials, and they use them well.” The material palette is largely limited to grey cement panels, white gypsum board, American walnut and a few others; the intent, according to the architects, being to form a background for the art, grandchildren and landscape that are the cherished foreground elements here. CITATION OF MERIT 1999 K STREET WASHINGTON, D.C. ARCHITECT: Murphy/Jahn CLIENT: 1925 K Associates LLC/Vornado (original owner), Deka USA K Street LP (current owner) ASSOCIATE ARCHITECT: WDG Architecture CONTRACTOR: Davis Construction CONSULTANTS: Werner Sobek, Tadjer Cohen Edelson, GHT Limited, Yann Kersale, Randy Burkett Lighting Design, A. Morton Thomas and Associates On a corner site in the nation’s capital, famously a place of strict rules that in less capable hands inhibit architectural excellence, this LEED Gold office project both fits squarely within the limits and enlarges them. The edges of the building blur: screen walls at the top suggest there is no top, a tall glazed screen wall blends street life into the luminous lobby, and an emphasis on lightness and transparency everywhere reduces the distinction between outdoors and in. “Particularly in Washington, this is an exceptional project,” a juror said. “It boils down to the essence of a corner building in that city.” CITATION OF MERIT FACEBOOK PRINEVILLE DATA CENTER PRINEVILLE, OREGON ARCHITECT: Sheehan Partners CLIENT: Facebook CONTRACTOR: DPR/Fortis Construction CONSULTANTS: AlfaTech, Facebook, Peoples Associates Structural Engineers, WH Pacific, Brightworks This Facebook center's simple and handsome distribution of 300,000 square feet in Oregon's high desert impressed jurors with its combination of spaces that house offices, a bewilderingly large conglomeration of custom servers, and a specially designed cooling system that makes the data center one of the most energy efficient facilities in the world. The architects wrapped the package in a warm-colored concrete that resembles homes in the region. The perimeter wall erodes at the entry and at service courtyards, and layered glass exposes conference and meeting rooms without compromising privacy. “It’s a simple but elegant strategy,” a juror said. CITATION OF MERIT UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO RICHARD J. DALEY LIBRARY IDEA COMMONS, CHICAGO ARCHITECT: David Woodhouse Architects CLIENT: Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois CONTRACTOR: Joseph Construction CONSULTANTS: dbHMS Design Build Engineering, C E Anderson & Associates, Schuler Shook, Construction Cost Systems The new commons area inserted into Walter Netsch’s 1965 library at UIC updates the way an academic library welcomes and serves students, as well as of the Brutalist look of the space itself. Filled with “smart” classrooms, casual study areas, a café—room types that now typify college life—it’s also a connector between the library and the rest of campus. The IDEA Commons “extends the materials and formal palette of the original to create a design-rich contemporary environment,” a juror said. The use of graphics and other visual components “brings a more appropriate scale to the project than the original had.” The jurors also lauded the new interventions because they clearly respect the original while “distinguishing themselves from it. There’s no confusion.” CITATION OF MERIT CTA MORGAN STATION CHICAGO ARCHITECT: Ross Barney Architects CLIENT: Chicago Department of Transportation CONTRACTOR: F. H. Paschen CONSULTANTS: TranSystems, LTK Engineering Services, OSA Engineers For this new elevated CTA stop in the Fulton Market district, the architects devised a look that puts a new spin on the familiar term “light industrial.” Its tallest components resemble vertical slabs, their steel framework entirely visible inside a semi-transparent wrapper, so that the neighborhood’s industrial heritage gets a nod, but its brighter contemporary iteration does, too. “It raises the functional program of an El station to an admirable level of civic quality,” one juror said. The steel, glass, concrete, polycarbonate and granite components are “artfully deployed,” one said, and the interplay of light and solid surfaces “is well developed.” The overall translucency of the composition, they said, “gives it a vibrancy both day and night.” CITATION OF MERIT BLUE VALLEY SOUTHWEST HIGH SCHOOL OVERLAND PARK, KANSAS ARCHITECT: Perkins+Will CLIENT: Blue Valley Unified School District ASSOCIATE ARCHITECT: HTK Architects, PA; NSP Architecture CONTRACTOR: Crossland Construction CONSULTANTS: Larson Binkley, Structural Engineering Associates, Shafer, Kline & Warren, Richard Clayton Barrett Landscape Architecture, Audio Visual A 300,000-square-foot high school on a 112-acre site could overwhelm its students. The architects on the project cut it down to size by creating separate pavilions for individual programs, each with its own distinct roof profile. The library pavilion has a butterfly roof, the cafeteria a gentle gable, and the theater a single pitch. “It fits with the Great Plains landscape, where you’re constantly looking out toward shapes in the distant landscape,” a juror observed. Another noted that it’s all pulled together with a consistent datum, which itself could stand for the Plains. “There’s a close relationship between the buildings and the site,” a juror said. CITATION OF MERIT BUCKTOWN THREE CHICAGO ARCHITECT: Studio Dwell Architects CLIENT: Private CONTRACTOR: Stedl Construction & Development CONSULTANTS: Louis Shell Structures, Chicago Specialty Gardens Expanding an existing single-family home, the clients wanted a light-filled urban retreat to display their art collection. The architects responded by bathing nearly every surface of the interior and exterior with a crisp white finish, that maximizes light everywhere. Thoughtfully placed natural wood and floors stained ebony keep the white from becoming a single blanket gesture, as does the placement of art. Glass stair rails, skylights and even some transparent furniture serve to keep daylight as a key element throughout the house, rather than blocking it. “There’s very skilled detailing going on here,” a juror said. Another felt that the “consistent use of materials is nicely executed.” CITATION OF MERIT RITA ATKINSON RESIDENCES, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO ARCHITECT: Valerio Dewalt Train Associates CLIENT: University of California San Diego CONTRACTOR: Webcor Builders CONSULTANTS: Searl Lamaster Howe, Hope Engineering, Sprig Electric, Acco Engineered Systems, McParlane Associates, RBF Consulting, KTU+A Sited on the university’s growing medical campus, the Rita Atkinson Residences completes the axis of what will become an academic mall. The building’s deconstructed symmetry gives the 226-unit housing development a distinctive profile that reflects the informality of the coastal southern California lifestyle, rather than creating a starchily formal southern terminus for the planned mall. The sense that parts of the building drop off from a rectilinear profile echoes the promontory on which it sits. A sizable structure, it breaks down nicely, the jurors felt. “They introduce smaller, more livable areas,” one said. “There’s a sense of scale control.” That’s true both in the architecture and in the landscape. The jury noted that particularly impressive was the fact that the architects delivered such a handsome project nearly a year early, and on budget. DISTINGUISHED BUILDING AWARD JURY Jonathan Barnes, AIA Jonathan Barnes Architecture & Design Columbus, Ohio Annie Chu, AIA Chu + Gooding Architects Los Angeles Adam Yarinsky, FAIA Architecture Research Office New York

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