AIA Cincinnati, the International Interior Design Association Cincinnati/Dayton City Center, and the Society of Environmental Graphic Design Midwest Ohio Region joined forces to honor and celebrate the seventh annual Cincinnati Design Awards. The group donates proceeds from the program as scholarships to groups teaching today’s youth the importance of arts in the community. This year’s scholarship recipient, the Peaslee Neighborhood Center, encourages children and young adults to create works of art. This year’s ceremony, attended by more than 300 architecture lovers, marks the chapter’s largest ever.

Eighteen awards were given by this year’s distinguished jury:

• Scott Mallwitz, director of experience design, The Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, Mich.
• Pam Light, FIIDA, senior vice president, HOK, Culver City, Cailf.
• Norman Strong, FAIA, managing partner, The Miller/Hull Partnership, Seattle
• Alpha Blackburn, president/CEO, Blackburn Architects, Indianapolis.

Honor Awards for Built Work

Cincinnati Art Museum-Cincinnati Wing, by KZF Design Inc., for the Cincinnati Art Museum
The renovation area includes both the terminus of the 1880s museum’s major entry/circulation axis and the end of the secondary transverse axis through the Great Hall. The architect introduced daylight and views at these points, in concert with special lighting and granite flooring. At the end of the major axis, the renovation extends through the floor above to create a two-story window to Eden Park, a gesture to convey the museum’s desire to renew its engagement with the community. At the end of the secondary axis, two windows original to the building were reopened, and the gallery developed into the Fountain Room, a dedicated respite with comfortable furniture and a working ceramic art fountain. The modern shell houses “theming” walls with thin wood frames that allow historically appropriate backgrounds for the period artwork, while galleries within the 1880s building follow the original detailing as much as possible.
Photo © J. Miles Wolf Photography

Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art, by Zaha Hadid Architects with KZF Design Inc., for the Contemporary Arts Center
To give the structure a “gravity–defying appearance,” the architects chose to reverse “the usual order of things” by placing heavier materials on the top and lighter, transparent materials on the bottom. Organizationally, the fundamental concept is a jigsaw puzzle of diverse exhibition spaces—long, short, broad, or tall spaces, each with different lighting conditions. The architects expressed this concept on the building’s exterior, so that one can read the volumes of the building. While inside, material changes in the ceilings and the floors define each volume. The ground level transforms into a series of ramps/stairs that lead up to the galleries. Collectively, the space gives a recognizable identity to the center, ensuring that the experience of viewing art here will be distinct from any other venue.
Photo © Paul Warchol

Merit Awards for Built Work

Alverno Salon & Spa, by James Postell Architect, for John Michael
The architect divided this salon, located in a retail shopping center, into three spatial zones: hair-washing/styling area, manicure area, and a third space that supports product sales, waiting, reception, and makeover areas. Rolling panels allow natural light into the salon while blocking undesirable views out to the parking lot. The panels do double duty as armatures for graphics and posters. A 70-foot-long, 11-foot-high suspended birch ceiling flows into side-wall-mounted birch panels on two opposing walls, unifying the three zones and distinguishing salon from spa. The spa incorporates a series of enclosed rooms internally arranged by functional need for plumbing, mechanical, and electrical service.
Photo © Scott Hisey Photography

Block 3 Freedom Center Parking Garage by THP Limited Inc/Cincinnati Architects Collaborative, for Board of Commissioners of Hamilton County, Ohio
This base for the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center completes Phase I of the master plan, which will support the “Banks” riverfront development. The two-level, 300,000-square-foot, 700-car facility employs a simple grid plan allowing most of the servant spaces—stairs, elevators, exhaust shafts, etc.—to be concentrated along the northern edge. Circular shearwall openings, 11-foot floor heights, ample lighting, a white ceiling, and glass-enclosed stairwells create openness. Horizontal reveals and alternating split-face/smooth CMU coursing allude to local layered geology. The horizontal-banded stone tile (with embedded fossils) matches the stone of the Freedom Center above.
Photo © Murray Monroe

Crookshank Road Highway Maintenance Facility by Cole+Russell Architects for the Cincinnati Department of General Services, City Facility Management Division
This 20,000-square-foot facility replaces an existing 1920s city garage on the same site. The city requested a “progressive yet affordable building” that would serve for maintenance and house a program that offers connection to downtown city services. In response to the request for an inviting and open work environment for service department employees, the architects designed the front portion of the custom steel-framed and metal-skinned building to house offices, a conference room, rest rooms, locker rooms, and support spaces—all in a natural-light-filled and free-flowing space. For durability and economy, the garage portion of this project uses simpler structural elements, yet still takes advantage of natural lighting.
Photo © J. Miles Wolf Photography

Otto Armleder Memorial Aquatics Complex at Hanna Park by Burgess & Niple, Inc., for the Cincinnati Recreation Commission
The project entailed replacing an existing inner-city-neighborhood swimming pool with a new family aquatic center. An existing 1927 Bath House, renovated as part of this project, and the new Pump Building to house mechanical equipment, frame the welcoming entranceway. Entry through the gate between the two buildings represents the crossing of a threshold—from the hot street into an environment cooled by the sound of water and splashing children. The Pump Building, a simple brick box , complements the style of its existing neighbor, to which it sits at right angles. The space opens up as the pool becomes progressively deeper, culminating in an exciting water slide at the apex.
Photo © Water Technology, Inc.

The OSU and James A. Rhodes State College Life & Physical Sciences Center by Champlin/Haupt Architects, for the Ohio State University and James A. Rhodes State College
Completing a 1970s Modernist quad, this facility offers instruction space for chemistry, biology, physics, geology, and general mathematics for both institutions. An existing service court and desire for better pedestrian access from the parking lot dictated that the building be set back from the quad edge. A bold, overscaled entrance portico facing the quad provides the desired presence. Glass stair towers anchor each end of the building along the quad entry walk; their transparency encourages foot traffic. They become welcoming light beacons at dusk. Internally, a racetrack corridor system provides students with easy readability of space, oriented on a soaring four-story, daylight well.
Photo © CAMTECH Photography

National Steamboat Monument by glaserworks, for the Cincinnati Recreation Commission and Greater Cincinnati Tallstacks
The architect used a sternwheel that had been acquired by the City as the focal point for this monument to the importance of steam in the westward expansion of the U.S. Programmatically, they needed to maintain vehicular access to a public landing to the popular Steamboat Row and develop a monumental stair down to the landing for pedestrians. They kept the materials vocabulary of nearby riverfronts: board-formed concrete, circular forms, white-painted railings, and the columnar torcheres.
Photo courtesy of the architect

Siddall Dining Hall, by MSA Architects, for Office of University Architect, University of Cincinnati
The architects were careful to include elements that reinforce the 1980s campus plan in their design of this new dining hall. For instance, a long overhead beam, which mirrors the floor geometry reinforces the lines of the adjacent quad. Satellite cooking/preparation areas create a market-style atmosphere and allow for multiple choices in dining venues while also creating visual separations in the space. Galvanized steel, exposed structural systems, MDF panels, and angled iron create a contemporary and durable environment. The wall-panel design complements the existing curtain wall system of the ’70s-style architecture, and versatile graphic panel installations respond to the ever-changing campus environment.
Photo © Ron Forth Photography

Special Awards

The chapter and its allies also presented these special awards.

Architectural Advancement

• Monmouth St. Facade Study & Design Guidelines, by Muller Architects (Honor Award)
• Evaluation of Anthrax Contamination—3D Graphics, by Muller Architects (Merit Award)

Site Improvement/Landscape Categories:

• Theodore M Berry—International Friendship Park, by Human Nature Inc./EDAW (Honor Award)

International Interior Design Association Category

• Procter & Gamble Tower North—16th Floor, by BHDP Architecture (Honor Award)
• Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Interiors, by GBBN Architects (Merit Award)
• UltraFemme, by FRCH Design Worldwide (Merit Award)

Society of Environmental Graphic Design (SEGD) Awards

• The Great American Ball Park, by FRCH Design Worldwide (Honor Award)
• Theodore M Berry International Friendship Park, by Kolar Design, Inc. (Merit Award)
• Along Jordan’s Path—Tall Stacks Performance Exhibit, by Kolar Design, Inc. (Merit Award)

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