BusinessWeek and Architectural Record (both publications of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.) and the AIA invite entries to the 2004 BusinessWeek/ Architectural Record (BW/AR) Awards. Now in its eighth year, the BW/AR Awards honor client and architect teams that best use good design to achieve important objectives for organizations. As BusinessWeek editor Bruce Nussbaum noted, “Far more than a beauty contest, this competition judges architecture on how well it solves business problems.”

Any project that utilizes design to help an organization achieve its goals and was completed after January 1, 2000, is eligible to be entered. Past recipients include libraries, bridges, schools, a hospital, a manufacturing plant, as well as corporate facilities, and retail operations. There’s still time to submit a project that represents the achievement of organizational goals through extraordinary architect/client collaboration. The deadline for entry is March 19; the submission deadline is April 16. In addition, significant changes made to the 2004 submission materials simplify the entry process.

Changes in process
The new, concise submission instructions highlight essential content to be included yet leave ample opportunity for creativity in the approach and delivery of information. For example, the Project Narrative Sections (formerly called Descriptive Data Sheets) now organize project information into sections titled Project Goals, Project Process, and Project Results. Additionally, the Project Summary, which provides the jury an overview of each project, now includes an expanded Objectives section that reflects a range of activities important to a wide range of organizations such as corporations, health-care facilities, multi-family housing, schools, libraries, and non-profit organizations, among others.

This year, the program offers four sample submissions of varying project types to help entrants prepare their entries. Each sample submission replicates an entry binder submitted by a 2002 or 2003 BW/AR Awards recipient. They include the original presentation format, written text, graphics, and photographs. The samples available this year are a corporate headquarters, health-care clinic, museum, and production facility.

BW/AR jury
The BW/AR jury is consistently unparalleled in its breadth of expertise in business and design. Confirmed jurors for 2004 include:

• Moshe Safdie, FAIA, principal, Moshe Safdie & Associates, Somerville, Mass.
• Rand Elliott, FAIA, principal, Elliott & Associates Architects, Oklahoma City
• Betsy Z. Cohen, chair and CEO, Resource Asset Investment Trust, Philadelphia
• Paul Herzan, president, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, New York City
• Frances P. Huppert, FAIA, senior vice president for design and construction, Empire State Development Corporation, New York City
• Marianne McKenna, FRAIC, principal, Kuwabana Payne McKenna Blumberg, Toronto
• Lee Green, director of corporate identity and design, IBM Corporation

Former juries have included Paul O’Neill, CEO of the Pittsburgh Regional Healthcare Initiative and former U.S. Treasury Secretary; David Childs, FAIA, consulting partner, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, LLP; Chee Pearlman, president, Chee Company; Toshiko Mori, AIA, chair, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University; Sam Farber, founder, COPCO, OXO International, and WOVO; Dr. Michael Hammer, author of Reengineering the Corporation; and Frances Halsband, FAIA, principal, R.M. Kliment & Frances Halsband Architects.

For more information about the BW/AR Awards, including updates on the 2004 jury or questions about eligibility, send an e-mail to BWARawards@aia.org. To purchase a submission packet online, visit www.aia.org, click on “awards and competitions,” then select “2004 BW/AR Awards Call for Entry.”

—Heather Livingston
Coordinator, Business Week/Architectural Record Awards

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