Eleven projects, sharing a high-design edge yet disparate in function and size, serve as the 2006 recipients of AIA Honor Awards for Interior Architecture. Two of the projects successfully addressed the modernization of 1960s architecture, while another pair—one on the West Coast and the other on the East—created theater space with shoestring budgets and very inventive partis. Ten of the projects are located in the U.S.; the eleventh is in London. All involve existing space; many transformed it for a new use.

Bizarre, Omaha, by Randy Brown Architects, for Djel Brown
This women’s boutique offered the architects an opportunity to challenge the typical retail store conventions “where the walls, fixtures, ceilings, and floors are all separate elements,” they say. They developed the interior space by folding and cutting a piece of paper to simplify the design language. This translated to a continuous surface that bends and folds to display merchandise and conceal the mechanical, electrical, and structural systems. The space’s narrow bay is divided into an enclosed space and an open space that contains a series of equally spaced pods to organize the merchandise. “The form of the building interior relates to function of space and goes to create something purposeful,” the jury noted. “Its curvilinear planes are willful and speak to the sensuous quality of the retail store’s inventory.” Photo © Assassi Productions.

English Residence, Beverly Hills, Calif., by Chu + Gooding Architects and interior designer Kay Kollar Design, for Tobias Emmerich
The owners of this mid-century Modern glass house by Harwell Hamilton Harris charged the architects with restoring the building to Harris’ original architectural intention while meeting the needs of their contemporary lifestyle. The architects used the existing caissons and basement slab to restore the original footprint of a service wing on the lower and upper levels while reconfiguring interior walls, gaining back the original design’s two bedrooms, bath, kitchen, family room, and breakfast room—plus space on the basement level for a gym. Throughout the house, the original detailing, which included glass-coffered ceilings, was restored. The jury deemed this project, “a really good example of the preservation and extension of mid-century Modernism.” They remarked: “Architects enhanced the current occupant’s needs, demonstrating that mid-century Modern can have an extended life.” Photo © Benny Chan, Fotoworks.

Google Headquarters, Mountain View, Calif., by Clive Wilkinson Architects, for Google Inc.
The master plan for this project, which resulted from a strategic workplace reevaluation and need to expand by a renowned Internet company, follows a simple distribution of work “neighborhoods” along a “Main Street” circulation plan. All share resources—meeting rooms, “tech talk” spaces, micro-kitchens, and library lounge—and find their homes along Main Street. Facility performance is tied to four main criteria: flexibility and adaptability to allow workgroup mobility and reconfiguration; concentration and collaboration through a system of three-person work rooms that are custom-fabricated to allow control of light, sound, air flow, and other environmental factors; work/life balance for people who work long hours through support services such as kitchens and open spaces for spontaneous meetings; and leveraged learning through the “tech talk zones,” where almost continuous seminars and knowledge sharing take place. A sustainable, energy-conserving environment also was high on the client’s list. “Elements of playfulness and humor are integrated with advanced technology,” the jury noted. “It’s a place where we’d like to work.” Photo © Benny Chan, Fotoworks.

Karla, Miami, by Rene Gonzalez Architect Inc, with associate architect Rene Gonzalez Architect AIA, for Karla Conceptual Event Experiences
The jury called this project “a masterful transformation of an undistinguished shell into a temple of light.” The architects’ magic turned an industrial warehouse and adjacent overgrown vacant lot into a flexible space that fosters large-scale production of floral arrangements as well as the staging of events for the local corporate and entertainment community. The architect reoriented the primary entrance to the lot and created a series of garden spaces for events and ancillary activities. Interior spaces center on two internally lighted acrylic walls fronted by the lobby and reception area. Throughout the project, spaces and fixtures were designed and chosen with simplicity of form and material to maximize effect while staying within a budget. “This is a remarkable juxtaposition of a lush subtropical setting with the building’s clinically white interior,” the jury remarked. “It gives you a huge sense of serenity; the pieces are selective and contemplative.” Photo © Ken Hayden.

Mother London, London, by Clive Wilkinson Architects, for Mother
Space for this advertising agency, which grew in six years from a six-person operation to the number one agency in Britain, had to treble the workspace for the staff and capture a radical attitude that embraces a completely flat organizational curve. Everyone in the firm works around a single work table, which has grown progressively larger as the staff expanded. Working within the client-selected three-floor, 42,000-square-foot existing warehouse, the architect transformed the top floor, which boasts 13-foot ceilings and 14,000 square feet of open area, into the primary work area. It houses a 250-foot-long cast-in-place concrete work table and is configured like a racetrack, taking cues from Turin’s Fiat headquarters, which is topped with a rooftop racetrack. All surfaces, including the floors, are painted white, and architect-designed seven-foot-long lampshades padded with acoustic foam dampen sound in the open space. “The level of creativity and imagination equal the ambition of the client,” the jury said. “It’s a bold approach to creating place for ideas where anything can happen.” Photo © Adrian Wilson.

Nissan Design America, Farmington Hills, Mich., by design architect Luce et Studio Architects, with executive architect Albert Kahn Associates Inc., for Nissan Design America
The client challenged the architect to create a “synergistic, creative work environment that would strike a balance between the frank industrial nature of the program and architectural sophistication” by adding a wing for automotive design that would allow a seamless evolution from conception to prototype. The resulting connective tissue that links the 30 designers to 400 engineers is a loggia space that serves as the public entrance. Featuring a 20-foot-tall pivoting stainless steel door as well as a 20-foot-tall projecting screen, the public space allows the staff to communicate through visual images, creating a “public landscape of the design process.” A new modeling studio features the traditional bedplate of steel, which allows up to five models to be developed and tested simultaneously. “The project’s strong detailing reflects precision engineering,” said the jury. “It utilizes moving parts with great finesse. Design elements are scaled to those of large-scaled mechanisms.” Photo ©Paul Rivera/archphoto.

The Royal Bank of Scotland plc, Houston, by DMJM Rottet, for the Royal Bank of Scotland plc
The design team needed to create an office environment for an international bank client that had recently split into two groups, allowing each group its own identity while also creating some communal space for them to share. The architects employed a “box-within-a-box” concept for the public areas while maximizing the light and views that come with the client’s location on the 65th floor of a Pei Cobb Freed building. Using a subtle form of branding, the interior motif plays on the concept of pattern and grids within a Scottish tartan rather than employing decorative motifs or overt logos. Art from local artists adorns the walls, and an entertaining bar within the space serves as a gathering place that pleases employees and clients alike. “Simply gorgeous, exquisite—nirvana!" exclaimed the jury. “We like the monochromatic palette of sublime materials juxtaposed and woven into a composition exuding restraint and sophistication.” Photo © Benny Chan, Fotoworks.

Schepens Eye Research Institute Laboratory Renovation, Boston, by Payette, for Schepens Eye Research Institute
The architects used studies in transparency, translucency, and contrasts in color and texture to completely transform 64,000 square feet of “tired” lab space into three floors of state-of-the-art molecular biology research environment. A racetrack corridor scheme became an open laboratory design that enhances the interaction among research groups and dramatically increases the amount of assignable lab and lab support space. The renovation takes full advantage of large perimeter windows to maximize the amount of natural light and the loftlike feeling of the space. A total redesign of the main lobby expresses the client’s desire to become more visually open to the streetscape. The jury admired this project’s “creativity used in a project type that normally has many restrictions.” They especially like the beautifully designed research areas that allow natural light to be introduced deep into the lab area. Photo © Warren Jagger.

Skillman Library, Lafayette College, Easton, Pa., by Ann Beha Architects, for Lafayette College
The jury called this project a “great transformation of a 1960s building.” They particularly appreciated its “wonderful sense of detail and use of carefully crafted materials,” and how it addresses the faults of the original building with a clear distinction between new and old. The architect strove to expand and transform an undervalued and underappreciated 1964 library of 75,000 square feet into a new learning center where students can work collaboratively and at the same time establish a connection with surrounding buildings, circulation paths, and landscaping lacking in the original design. On its main level, the center—with the addition of 30,000 square feet, now offers a large and flexible “information studio,” with a café, casual reading areas, meeting areas, group study rooms, digital project rooms, a gallery, and computer rooms. An entry moved south orients and connects the building to the campus green, and large expanses of glass connect inside and out. Photo © Florian Holzheer.

Temporary Theater, Portland, Ore., by BOORA Architects, for the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art
“Brilliant! Creative and inventive!” said the jury. “The designers utilized true architectural means to create a concept and functional space within a limited budget.” Designed for an institute of contemporary art that each year presents a festival for contemporary performances of theater, dance, music, and electronic media, this project turned an empty warehouse into a performance venue with a 200-seat theater and a cabaret stage, plus an ancillary bar and café. The architects delineated the theater space from the rest of the warehouse with a wall of scaffolding that hid production equipment. Additional scaffolding provided seating, and an overhead gantry crane served as home for the theatrical lighting. Pegboard and fire-treated visqueen—both left intact for future uses—defined interior walls and created an intimate theater space within the vast warehouse. Photo © Sally Schoolmaster.

Woolly Mammoth Theater Company, Washington, D.C., by McInturff Architects, for the Woolly Mammoth Theater Company
To provide a first-time home for an edgy-production theater company that has been entertaining Washington, D.C., for 25 years, a developer offered space—to be designed via a publicly funded competition—for the rent of $1 per year. Embedded deep within a large residential/commercial building at 14 feet below street level, the developer provided finished exterior facades and a concrete shell, leaving interior fitout to the theater. For expression and to meet the minimal budget, the architects proposed retaining the crude shell and weaving necessary walls, stairs, and ceilings within. “This energetic, open-ended design solution is in sync with the progressive nature of the theater,” the jury declared. “The architects get great mileage out of a very modest budget while remaining totally free of clichés—the outward appearance of the theater does not reveal the splendor within!” Photo © Julia Heine.

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