AIA New York State presented its 2005 Design Awards on September 16, 2005, at the chapter’s annual convention. Created in 1968, the awards celebrate achievements in design excellence by New York state registered architects with the goals of generating greater public interest in architecture and honoring the architects, clients, consultants, and contractors who work together to create and enhance the built environment. The jury awarded 27 projects from a field of 224, with the selected projects demonstrating diverse contextual design solutions and the architects’ creativity and thoughtful use of available resources. The distinguished jury was composed of Chair Marvin J. Malecha, FAIA, dean and professor of architecture, North Carolina State University; Richard Green, FAIA, director, Sciences Group, CBT Architects, Boston; and Patricia Oliver, AIA, senior vice president, Educational Planning and Architecture, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, Calif.

Awards of Excellence

Klein Residence, Santa Fe, N.Mex.
Ohlhausen DuBois Architects PLLC
This home for art collectors includes an 8,500-square-foot residence and a 1,300-square-foot guest house set on a 16-acre mountainside with spectacular desert views. The challenge was to create a sense of shelter while engaging the remarkable landscape and vistas. Load-bearing structural glass was used to create a pure glass wall separating interior from exterior. Photo © Ohlhausen DuBois Architects PLLC.
Jury Comments
Elegant details; appropriate materials for a desert environment; careful massing and proportions; composed movements.

Heimbold Visual Arts Center, Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, N.Y.
Polshek Partnership Architects, LLP
Sustainable design was identified as a fundamental principle from the start. Because sustainability was key from the outset, issues of siting, solar orientation, material selection, daylighting, and mechanical systems were integrated into the overall conceptual design, contributing to LEED™ certification. Photo © Richard Barnes.
Jury Comments
Has a strong sense of its own purpose; not a derivative architectural style; strong integration of technology; great use of materials.

Smith College Campus Center, Northampton, Mass.
Weiss/Manfredi Architects
At the intersection of town and college, this new 60,000-square-foot campus center provides students, faculty, and staff with a new setting for interaction, creating the college’s only campus-wide communal space. Seen as an extension of the Olmsteadian landscape, this glass-, steel-, and wood-clad building mediates the physical and social gap between the residential and institutional buildings. Photo © Jeff Goldberg/Esto.
Jury Comments
Great town-gown relationship; great sense of scale and light; positive character for students and visitors.

Victorian Estate Conversion, Berkshire, England
Leroy Historic Studio Architecture, P.C., with associate architect DSDHA
This private 150-acre estate was formerly a working stud farm. In addition to a previously renovated manor house, the property is scattered with more than two dozen 19th century Victorian buildings ranging in function from stables to staff cottages, which were reconfigured to provide new functions for this single-family retreat. Photo © Helene Binet.
Jury Comments
Elegance of new pieces—understated and inserted with skill and respect; totality of environment and concepts; restoration is sensitive.

William J. Clinton Presidential Center, Little Rock
Polshek Partnership Architects, LLP, with associate architects Polk Stanley Rowland Curzon Porter Architects, Ltd.; Witsell Evans Rasco Architects and Planners; and Woods Carradine Architects
The main body of the center has been elevated off the ground plane, allowing the new park to flow uninterrupted beneath. Clad in glass and metal, the building’s bridge-like form is a reference to Little Rock’s distinctive “Six Bridges.” Inside, the main feature is a naturally lighted 240-foot-long, 40-foot-high exhibition space. Photo © Timothy Hursley.
Jury Comments
Contextual solution; challenge to both represent a person and an era in a specific context; very strong and clean vocabulary; it is its own style.

Awards of Merit

Assembled Residence, Barnes Landing, East Hampton, N.Y.
Bates Masi Architects
This 1,200-square-foot residence was designed for a writer who was looking to simplify her life and downsize from an earlier home done by Bates Masi. The house was designed to be both spatially and economically efficient by coordinating the assembly of prefabricated components researched over the Internet. It is essentially one large room with ancillary spaces that feed off it. Photo © Bates Masi Architects.
Jury Comments
Small can be wonderful; carefully organized and studied; use of materials is exceptional.

Automated Trading Desk Technology Campus, Mount Pleasant, S.C.
Helfand Myerberg Guggenheimer Architects (now Helfand Architecture pc and Guggenheimer Architects), with executive architect McKellar & Associates, Inc.
The two-story 70,000-square-foot structure provides 120 individual offices, numerous team workplaces, a 5,000-square-foot data center, and a 24/7 trading floor. All occupied spaces have abundant natural light and views to the exterior. The garden settings beyond the building and within the enclosed atria create a contemplative counterpoint to the stresses of split-second decisions on the trading floor. Photo © Paul Warchol Photography.
Jury Comments
Great siting and place-making in the country; many subtle moves to make an environment; great sense of scale.

Binghamton University Appalachian Collegiate Center, Binghamton, N.Y.
Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects, with architect of record Bearsch Compeau Knudson Architects & Engineers P.C.
This new facility for Binghamton University features a dining hall that accommodates 500 students and related administrative and student support spaces. It also serves as a gateway to the new 1,000-bed student residential community being implemented as part of Binghamton’s student housing master plan. Photo © Michael Moran Photography.
Jury Comments
Sensitive to sun and site; well proportioned and animated main spaces; quiet and strong.

Hydron Midden-Nederland, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Rietveld Architects LLP
This project is a total rehabilitation of a 1970s office building. Hydron decided against demolishing the structure in favor of stripping the existing 125,000 square feet of all obsolete systems and materials. Recycled materials, and water-based glues and paints were used in both structure and finishes. Photo © Hans Morren.
Jury Comments
Extraordinary transformation; related sound isolation and ventilation of heat gain.

New York Hall of Science, Queens, N.Y.
Polshek Partnership Architects, LLP
The new building expansion to the Hall of Science contains two flexible, permanent exhibit halls and supporting program spaces. The north end of the exhibit hall is rendered as a glass prism, admitting direct sunlight through the curtainwall and skylight, and the transparent base allows passersby a glimpse into the hall’s interior. Photo © Jeff Goldberg/Esto.
Jury Comments
Made existing building and complex significantly better; the plan is well resolved.

Rinker Hall, University of Florida, Gainesville, Fla.
Croxton Collaborative Architects, PC and Gould Evans Associates, PL
The University of Florida’s new Gold-LEED certified School of Building Construction is the first building in the state to be designed under the LEED program. Accommodating 450 students on three levels, Rinker Hall’s 47,000 square feet include classrooms, teaching labs, construction labs, administrative offices, and student facilities. Photo © Timothy Hursley.
Jury Comments
Strong sustainability moves; use of materials relates to campus, yet resolves daylighting and specific building operation issues.

Shelving Rock Residence, Lake George, N.Y.
Bohlin Cywinski Jackson
Set on a bluff in a dense forest on the east shore of Lake George, this 4,300-square-foot vacation house will eventually serve as a full-time residence. The linear plan takes advantage of lake views, while the low roof profile and stained green cedar siding meld into the surrounding forest. Photo © Nic Lehoux.
Jury Comments
Excellent fit into landscape; warm development of craftsman tradition.

Swarthmore College Unified Science Center, Swarthmore, Pa.
Einhorn Yaffee Prescott Architecture & Engineering, PC and Helfand Myerberg Guggenheimer Architects (now Helfand Architecture pc and Guggenheimer Architects)
The Unified Science Center was created from a 60,000-square-foot renovation and an 80,000-square-foot expansion of the college’s aging science facility. The new form wraps around the existing buildings to link the individual science buildings and library. A Silver-LEED rating is expected. Photo © Jeff Goldberg/Esto.
Jury Comments
Great sense of scale, proportion, and material; well-detailed and presented.

Vacheron Constantin Headquarters and Watch Factory, Geneva, Switzerland
Bernard Tschumi Architects
This building serves as the manufacturing and administrative headquarters of Switzerland’s oldest watch-making company. The interior is clad with wood veneer, and the exterior surface is formed from a metallic sheet that unrolls over the structure’s geometry, lifting to create a larger multi-story portion of the building. Photo © Peter Maus/Esto.
Jury Comments
Powerful image in the countryside; use of wood in the interior is strong.

Verizon 140 West Street Building Restoration, New York City
William F. Collins, AIA Architects LLP
140 West Street, also known as the Barclay-Vesey Building, was originally designed by Ralph Walker of McKenzie, Voorhees and Gmelin. After suffering severe structural and façade damage from the collapse of the Twin Towers and 7 World Trade Center, the challenges were disaster recovery and landmark restoration to the façade, interior first floor lobby, and entrances. To date, much of the exterior and interior work has been accomplished, and the building was reoccupied at the beginning of 2004. Photo © Gil Amiaga.
Jury Comments
Extraordinary rebirth after tragedy; loving attention to detail; very respectful to Art Nouveau tradition.

Washington State Legislative Building Rehabilitation, Olympia, Wash.
Einhorn Yaffee Prescott, Architecture & Engineering, P.C., with architect of record SRG Partnership
This 1928 landmark building was designed by the New York firm of Wilder & White. Already in need of renovation, the building was further damaged by a 6.8 magnitude earthquake in February 2001. The $120 million rehabilitation included the installation of the largest solar panel array on a state capitol, visible only from the air. LEED principles and standards were applied, and the challenges of using LEED in historic structures were documented. Completed in December 2004, the building received the Washington State Historic Preservation Offices Special Achievement Award for 2005. Photo © Peter Aaron/Esto.
Jury Comments
Incredible attention to detail; masterful respect for original ideas.

Winrock International Global Headquarters, Little Rock
Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum
Winrock is a nonprofit whose mission is to work worldwide to increase economic opportunity, sustain natural resources, and protect the environment. The challenge from the outset was to create a sustainable, global headquarters at a budget competitive with conventional office buildings to prove that sustainability pays. Photo © Craig Dugan/Hedrich Blessing.
Jury Comments
Elegant winged light quality of roof structure; clean vocabulary and resolution of details.

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