The AIA Gulf States Region annual Honor Awards Program seeks to salute excellence and elevate the quality of architecture in the region. As a testament to the strength of the Gulf States Region, each of the five states—Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee—had an award-winning project selected in the 2005 Honor Awards program. The jury deliberated over 135 submittals, ultimately recognizing 11 projects for design excellence. These awards were presented at the May 20 AIA Gulf States Region Reception in conjunction with the AIA national convention in Las Vegas. Program Chair Bob Proctor, AIA, and Kathy Proctor, AIA, emceed the presentation as these projects were recognized for their outstanding design work.

Honor Awards

The Shaw Center for the Arts, Baton Rouge, by design architect Schwartz/Silver Architects, with executive architect Eskew+Dumez+Ripple
This visual- and performing-arts facility provides a new identity for downtown Baton Rouge and serves as a broad catalyst within the artistic community. The project includes six stories of gallery, classroom and administrative space, and a theater. The complex provides stunning views of the Mississippi River from upper-story galleries, as well as from a rooftop terrace and restaurant. The existing historic Auto Hotel building on the site has been incorporated into the new complex, interweaving the new structure over and amidst the old, with the museum elevated above the roof terrace of the three-story Auto Hotel. The interlocking L shapes of the museum and theater are clad in a translucent channel glass system and connected by a soaring atrium lobby. The iconic shape of the museum and theater results from a north-facing clerestory for the museum and the functional fly-loft space of the theater. The jury commended the “aggressive concept with a good contrast of materials.” They also liked the “effective mapping of façade upon the plaza.”
Photo © Tim Hursley.

Fred and Mary Smith Razorback Golf Center, Fayetteville, Ark., by Marlon Blackwell Architect
The Razorback Golf Center transfigures the conventional metal building type so often used for university sports buildings. This new practice facility for the University of Arkansas Razorback golf team and the Blessings Golf Club includes coach’s offices, meeting room, locker rooms, and six practice bays. Between the hitting bays is a large meeting room with a glass wall through which golfers can mentally project their game to the course beyond. A continuous standing-seam copper roof and wall form a shell, an elytron, that extends beyond the stone body like wings, sheltering terraces at either end of the building. The copper skin loosely wraps the building and provides a sense of imperviousness to activity surrounding it. Jurors saw this as “very compelling,” calling the center “a great place to play golf, especially when it rains.”
Photo © Tim Hursley.

Holy Rosary Catholic Church Complex, St. Amant, La., by Trahan Architects APAC
The fundamental heart of the Holy Rosary Catholic Church Complex consists of three activities: worship, education, and administration. To support these activities, the complex’s component spaces include oratory, outdoor and indoor common spaces, classrooms, conference room, offices, and support spaces. The master plan for this rural campus creates a strong sense of place and draws a clear distinction between sacred and secular components. The oratory serves as the focal point, predominant by its unique placement and floating within the sacred precinct of a courtyard space. The jurors liked the “quiet elegance” of this design, commenting that it had a good choice of derivation with a Spanish influence. “The landscape of varying heights is very effective,” they said. “Abstraction went to all levels of design.”
Photo © Tim Hursley.

Honor Citations

Tunica RiverPark in Tunica, Miss., by Williamson Pounders Architects PC
This 168-acre park on the Mississippi River houses a 37,000-square-foot visitors center, a harbor and dock, parking, boat ramp, gardens, and interpretive wildlife trails. The two-story, steel-framed visitor’s center building includes administrative and public spaces overlooking the river and a two-story Mississippi River Museum organized around a central atrium space. The museum’s interpretive exhibits focus on the relationship between the Delta, its wildlife, the levee system, and the economic impact of the river on the region. The building’s “sail,” framed with horizontal and vertical trusses, is veneered with perforated aluminum panels and is visible for miles up and down the river. The observation platform within the sail structure provides spectacular vistas of the river and its wetland environment. Jurors liked the “well integrated landscape” and admired the project’s wonderful platform to view the river bend. “It has the character of the USS Arizona,” they said.
Photo courtesy of the Tunica Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Jemison Flats, Birmingham, by Giattina Fisher Aycock Architects Inc.
The idea behind Jemison Flats was to redevelop three abandoned downtown buildings into a mixed-use complex of 57 loft apartments, 25,000 square feet of office space, covered parking for 200 cars, and a small public park. Working with a site a block west of the economically vital urban core, Jemison Flats successfully combines urban redevelopment and adaptive re-use to increase the energy and economic activity of a decayed downtown. The Jemison Flats solution interconnected the three historic buildings, which sit in the heart of Birmingham’s Central Business District. Working with a tight budget and great respect of historic guidelines, the design team researched materials and layouts to minimize partitions, maximize light infiltration, and create visual interest in each living unit. The jury stated that “it reacts to the decayed environment around it. The design team transformed the backdrop with minimal formality.”
Photo © Lewis Kennedy.

Jemison Park, Birmingham, by Giattina Fisher Aycock Architects Inc.
This small urban park completes the residential/commercial redevelopment of an abandoned block in Birmingham’s Central Business District. The architects conceived the park as “a gathering space for the new community, a respite, and a bridge to further community.” About 80 feet by 100 feet, the park anchors the southeast corner of the block, helped by existing brick building walls on the north and west perimeters. The garden includes these walls, a textural floor, conceptual ceiling, and water. The park, raised 18 inches above the sidewalk, is accessible by wide, smooth-formed concrete steps and a ramp at the east side. The south side offers a seat-height wall of smooth-formed concrete. The jury liked that the architects “left rough ruins intact, creating a dynamic contrast. The dome is a great example of the contrast.”
Photo © John O’Hagan.

Merit Awards

Boathouse, New Orleans, by Ledbetter Fullerton Architects
The architects gutted and redesigned this lakefront boathouse as a loft that is able to capture spectacular views. Facing Lake Pontchartrain and backing up to a large marina, the boathouse is one in a row of dozens on a narrow slip of land. A glass box—the bathroom—floats in the center of the space and separates the public living area and kitchen from the master bedroom. Removal of the existing sheetrock ceiling allowed exposure of steel beams, tension rods, and a corrugated roof. Two rows of added skylights march through the space and emphasize its length. The exterior, executed in white stucco and aluminum channels, was reconceived as the most basic form of a house. The jury termed the project “a white jewel,” deeming it “extremely elegant” and “really nice work.”
Photo © Richard Sexton.

Eupora Depot Restoration, Eupora, Miss., by Belinda Stewart Architects
The 1889 Eupora Depot, which served the Georgia Pacific Railroad Company was acquired by the City of Eupora to preserve its place in history. The architects restored the existing wood siding and details and painted them with a historic color palette. A new loading dock, wheelchair ramp, and brick paving were installed, using early photographs as a guide. A new concrete foundation replaces a wood foundation on grade. The office area, now the county’s economic development office, enjoys the fully restored original wood cabinetry, counters, and trim. Adjacent to the depot, the new depot park has added greatly to the development of the community and downtown area. The jury especially commended this design for being “rigorous in its execution.”
Photo © Jack Kotz.

Residential Loft Renovation, New Orleans, by Eskew+Dumez+Ripple
The architects renovated this former 1900 warehouse into a 4,000-square-foot mixed-use residential/commercial property. Located in the lower Garden District at the intersection of Magazine and Felicity streets, this renovation makes the most of the property’s geometry—essentially a 30/60/90 triangle—the result of the historical street pattern developing over time to create “flatiron” conditions. A six-foot-wide stair parallels the long leg of the triangle, extending upward to a skylighted penthouse, where it reveals itself on the exterior as a zinc-clad addition to the original structure. This penthouse addition provides access to a roof deck for outdoor uses. The plan organizes itself around a simple 3½-foot-wide, 30-foot-long walnut cabinet that rises along the widened entry stair to a total height of 30 feet. Primary living areas are located at this “loft” level, with bedrooms at a half-level below. The jurors really liked this project, admiring specifically its “carefully considered section.”
Photo © David Richmond.

Jefferson County Domestic Relations Courts Building, Birmingham, by Giattina Fisher Aycock Architects, Inc.
Domestic relations courts administer the separation or dissolution of a marriage, and this project's goal was to recognize the separation of the parties while offering a physical environment that would help to relieve the stress of what happens here. The two halves—one solid with heavy deep openings and the other lighter with shallow openings and a different brick pattern—are separated by a glass wall from earth to sky. The architects sought to provide stress relief through clarity of circulation and function, as indicated by the plans and open stairway to the second floor, where waiting, courtrooms, and support areas are readily apparent. Indirect lighting, reflected off sculpted ceilings in waiting and courtrooms helps soften these areas. A light, neutral pallet of clear finished maple, gray stone, painted plaster, buffed stainless steel acoustical panels, and carpet combine to provide a warm and subdued atmosphere. Jurors commented that the architect “managed to do nice work with conservative clients who are traditionally difficult to work with.”
Photo © John O’Hagan.

Red Deluxe Brand Desire, Memphis, by Archimania
The goal of the project was to design a new office for an existing, progressive advertising agency that is tough, refined, “subtle, and, yet . . . not so subtle.” The solution is a distinctive, 4,400-square-foot space that creates five characteristic work zones—the conference room facing the street, the “concept room,” private offices, semi-private workstations, and the “engine room”—through the careful integration of simple, raw materials combined with a sensitive play of light and color. Each of the five programmatic zones reads as smaller objects within the larger space that is the office. The objects are linear, as is their habitable space, and positioned to allow distant views into the space aided by the lines of entrance portals, slats, and linear door tracks. The architect achieved all of this on an extremely tight budget of $29/square foot. The jury commended this project for its “clear conceptual strategy” and the “innovative doorway portal details.”
Photo © Jeffrey Jacobs.

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