The AIA is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2004 Business Week/ Architectural Record (BW/AR) Awards, given annually to honor architects and clients who best use good design to achieve important objectives for their client organizations. The BW/AR Awards program, now in its eighth year, is sponsored by the AIA in conjunction with Architectural Record and Business Week, both publications of the McGraw-Hill Companies. This year’s recipients consist of three government facilities, five cultural/educational projects, and two aid organizations. They range from a community center in LA’s Skid Row to an iron studio in rural North Carolina, from a martial arts facility in Japan to the foreign ministry in Jerusalem. At the core, though, they all share one attribute: They understand how good design can achieve important organizational objectives.

This year’s recipients are:

Humane Society/SPCA of San Antonio and Bexar County, San Antonio, by Alamo Architects Inc., with shelter design consultant Connolly Architects Inc., for Humane Society/SPCA of San Antonio and Bexar County
Whereas most shelters are dark, noisy, depressing, and located on the periphery of town, the San Antonio SPCA selected a prime retail area. The resulting facility is spacious, welcoming, and uplifting. Adoptions are up 95 percent and the return rate has dropped to 2.5 percent. Disease levels have fallen significantly due to quick turnover and communal accommodations. Best of all, because the older animals are placed in the front, three times as many adult dogs and cats are now being adopted.
Jury comments: “The Humane Society is about humanity and our reflection of ourselves . . . There was a quality about the buildings that felt they really belonged in Texas . . . the architecture resonated the social and animal purpose of the building . . . positive in every conceivable way.”
(Photo © Paul Bardagjy.)

Limerick County Hall, County Limerick, Ireland, by Bucholz McEvoy Architects, for the Limerick County Council
This government facility was created with the objective of creating a new vision of local government. The building provides clear and efficient public access to the local government, consumes virtually no energy from non-renewable resources, reduces carbon dioxide emissions and energy usage, bathes employees in abundant natural light, provides natural ventilation, and serves as a model for other governmental organizations.
Jury comments: “I think everyone really enjoyed this project a lot because it was like reinventing government. This doesn’t look like a government building in any way, shape, or form—it’s crafted. There’s a brise-soleil; there’s a great sense of dealing with the environment; it’s glass and transparent. It’s really quite wonderful.”
(Photo © Michael Moran/Moran Studios.)

MoMA QNS, Long Island City, N.Y., by Cooper, Robertson & Partners, with associate architect Michael Maltzan Architecture, for the Museum of Modern Art
The design of this project had to accomplish three goals: support preservation and research activities for 25 years; accommodate blockbuster exhibits without major structural changes; and provide a strong visual statement. MoMA QNS did all of that, plus it boosted the neighborhood’s evolution from industrial neighborhood to burgeoning arts community. The goal of 1,000–2,000 visitors per day is consistently exceeded, and during major exhibits visitors can number 4,000. In addition, MoMA’s goals were achieved months ahead of schedule and under budget.
Jury comments: “MoMA created a significant presence in an unlikely location. With design driving the project, the results were significantly greater than anticipated, both in usage by the local community, visitation levels, and with recognition level being 97 percent in terms of surveyed recognition—which is higher than many of the established museums.”
(Photo © Robert Benson Photography.)

Israeli Foreign Ministry, Jerusalem, by Diamond and Schmitt Architects Inc., with Kolker, Kolker Epstein Architects, for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Jerusalem
The 430,000-square-foot facility was designed to accommodate administrative and state ceremonial requirements—services that formerly were scattered in a series of single-story huts. The Foreign Ministry wanted the building to exude a stately and ceremonial function, yet also be a symbol of secure office design in the Middle East. Despite the fundamental need for security, the building achieves a feeling of openness and transparency, while distinguishing itself as an elegant and dignified state building.
Jury comments: “The Israeli Foreign Ministry was a kind of paradigm jump in the quality of government buildings in relationship to Israel as compared to any international standards . . . It is impressive how very demanding security issues were integrated into the architecture so they either became environmental assets or invisible. It’s a model of how security can be achieved. There’s also a sense of ritual in the building that has to do with its ceremonial function as a foreign ministry. It’s actually a luxurious and very well crafted building.”
(Photo © Tim Griffith.)

Iron Studio, Penland School of Crafts, Penland, N.C., by Frank Harmon Architect, for Penland School of Crafts
This rural school’s popular iron program had outgrown its ramshackle studio. The new 5,500-square-foot studio is programmed for designing, fabricating, and finishing iron objects weighing from three ounces to three tons. Within the first year of operation, enrollment increased by 100 percent and future courses are fully booked. Additionally, the Iron Studio has increased Penland’s visibility and raised the level of expectation for other craft disciplines within the school. Sturdy, practical, and deceptively simple, the Iron Studio celebrates the craft of iron fabrication in a noble way.
Jury comments: “This was great. This is a new construction of a blacksmithing facility designed in a very minimal way, with light and open space throughout the structure. It reflected state-of-the-art machinery and the craft of blacksmithing . . . I think it had a great romantic quality to it. There’s something very powerful about hand-crafted/human-crafted materials . . . And this facility has contributed to making it a more popular art form.”
(Photo © James West/J West Productions.)

Finn Center, Community School of Music and Arts, Mountain View, Calif., by Mark Cavagnero Associates, for Community School of Music and Arts
After 36 years in temporary facilities, the Community School of Music and Arts finally has a permanent facility that integrates its programs and spaces, providing 17 private music studios, several large art classrooms, ceramics studios, an exhibition gallery, exterior performance areas, and a 204-seat concert hall. Boasting inspiring light-filled classrooms and studios for art and acoustically exceptional practice and performance spaces for music, the building is a “blank canvas” for the school’s creative programs. With a new building that has caught the attention of the surrounding community, the Community School has seen even greater interest in its programs. In the eyes of the client, the Finn Center, in function and presence, reflects the collaboration that has allowed it to further its mission of “Arts for All.”
Jury comments: “A beautifully cast-in-place concrete structure using natural materials created a very successful music and arts school with an interior courtyard that’s really the communal space . . . a concert hall allows access to the community and the greater regional area, creating a successful business plan so that there’s a quantum leap in income so that they can operate for the scholarship and outreach program that is in their original mission . . . it created a sense of place and a ‘there’ where there was no ‘there.’”
(Photo © Tim Griffith.)

Ehime Prefectural Budokan, Matsuyama City, Ehime, Japan, by Ishimoto Architectural & Engineering Firm Inc., for Ehime Prefecture
The goals for this martial arts facility were to increase visitors, improve international appeal, boost the local economy, and create a landmark facility that would be a monument to culture, friendship, and local traditions. The number of annual visitors, previously registered at 21,745, has increased to 146,546. By contracting with local vendors, the project generated nearly $13 million for the community. In addition, in the four months following completion, 20 large events were held in the facility, including one international-level sport game and one national-level convention.
Jury comments: “It’s responsible for raising the attention about physical health and putting the martial arts in with that concern. It raised the use of the facility by 700 percent and boosted the economy by $13 million due to the fact that it’s completely built out of local materials—local stone, wood, and clay tiles. It’s really incredible.”
(Photo © Nacasa & Partners Inc.)

James M. Wood Community Center, Los Angeles, by Lehrer Architects LA, for SRO Housing Corporation
This project, a repeat collaboration among architect, builder, and client, is the sole community space for the social, recreational, and nutritional needs of LA’s Skid Row residents. The project uses natural light and color to engage the user and transform the tough urban context. The architecture serves to honor the homeless population, honor the street, and explore both the humane and the monumental.
Jury comments: “Often these centers are just shelter—just a roof—they don’t have the emotional power of architecture and this one really did. It is a piece of architecture in the truest sense of the word. They produced a piece of architecture that is upbeat, cheerful, and, to use their words, ‘demonstrates the dignity that architecture can bring to a struggling community.’”
(Photo © Orrin Moore/Ronald Moore + Associates.)

Fisher Pavilion at Seattle Center, Seattle, by The Miller/Hull Partnership LLP, for the City of Seattle
The primary function of this new exhibition hall is to promote community and a sense of place for nearly one million visitors per year. The previous building and plaza sat isolated along the southern edge of the green and blocked the view of a nearby theater. The desire to open up the view and increase available space led to a “subterranean” design that pushed the building into the ground and created a public rooftop pavilion. The environmentally sensitive design was built for a LEED™ Certified rating, thereby reducing its impact on the community’s water and energy resources and providing a rich open space for community events and festivals.
Jury comments: “It is so rare to have a community or owner come forward and demolish a building to improve the whole urban design situation. Often one would see a chance to use the old building—to renovate it—but this was a very audacious approach to a major improvement in the urban design context.”
(Photo © Steve Keating.)

Britomart Transport Centre, Auckland, New Zealand, by JASMAX Ltd. and Mario Madayag Architecture Ltd., with preservation by Salmond Reed Architects, for Auckland City Council Britomart Project Group
The city council wanted to create a central underground transport station, increase the desirability and image of public transportation, upgrade harbor and gulf ferries and buses, and redesign terminals near the new train station. Recognizing that downtown Auckland urgently needed revitalization and the original central train station was inconveniently located, the city council decided to remedy both ailments simultaneously. The resulting design successfully integrates an existing heritage building, the world’s only underground diesel train station, a “glasshouse” that links the two projects, and a spirited redevelopment of surrounding streetscapes and public spaces.
Jury comments: “They devoted tremendous energy and resources in creating a building that had to overcome very many technical obstacles. It used good design to help encourage the Auckland population to take advantage of the transit facilities in that vicinity . . . It was a very effective, very creative approach to this particular problem.”
(Photo © Patrick Reynolds.)

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