Located in the remote village of Sinthian, Senegal, this project offers multiple programs for the community, including a gathering space, performance center, and residency for visiting artists. In the design, a parametric transformation of the traditional pitched roof inscribes a series of courtyards within the plan of the building while also creating shaded, multi-purpose areas around the perimeter of the courtyard. The inversion of the roof creates an effective strategy for the collection and storage of rainwater, capable of fulfilling substantial domestic and agricultural water needs for the community. Relying exclusively on local materials and construction techniques, the building’s traditional structure is formed primarily of bamboo and spaced-brick walls that absorb heat and promote airflow through the building interior.
Yale Center for British Art Building Conservation Project; New Haven, CT
Knight Architecture
Following nearly forty years of continuous operation, the Yale Center for British Art, designed by Louis I. Kahn and recipient of AIA’s Twenty-five Year Award, faced mounting programmatic, infrastructural, and operational pressures which threatened to degrade its extraordinary architectural character. The multi-year conservation project renewed interior finishes that had grown tired and worn; restored and expanded teaching spaces that were oversubscribed and underequipped; fortified spaces for exhibition, storage, and study of the growing collection; and replaced vital building systems which had reached the end of their practical life
2017 Institute Honor Awards for Interior Architecture
The 2017 AIA Institute Honor Award for Interior Architecture jury includes: Hagy Belzberg, FAIA (Chair), Belzberg Architects; Jodi R. Ernst, AIA, Universal Studios; Karen Fairbanks, AIA, Marble Fairbanks; Paula Peer, AIA, Trapolin-Peer Architects and Jim Poteet, FAIA, Poteet Architects, LP.
30 Rockefeller Plaza: 65th Floor, Rainbow Room, SixtyFive; New York City
Gabellini Sheppard Associates; Associate Firm: Montroy Andersen DeMarco
Gabellini Sheppard Associates opened a new chapter for the 13,160-square-foot Rainbow Room and 65th floor, blending contemporary needs with design that rekindled the room’s original Art Deco-inspired spirit and radiant notoriety of 1934. In the Rainbow Room, the revitalization of the rotating dance floor, addition of mesmerizing crystal window veils, and restoration of the chandelier and central dome, reinforce the modern-day grandeur. In Bar SixtyFive, a faceted ceiling composed of glass-reinforced gypsum panels anchor the space, reinterpreting the open-air height the room once had as a sun parlor.
General Motors Design Auditorium; Detroit
SmithGroupJJR
In 1956, the General Motors styling team moved from Detroit to a new design space. The complex, originally designed by Eero Saarinen, has become a legendary corporate master piece of planning and design. For SmithGroupJJR, the overall design intent was to modernize the facility but to do so in a manner consistent with the original Saarinen detailing. Technologies of materials, lighting and audio/visual have progressed dramatically and the revised Design Dome is now poised for General Motors to re-establish the relevance of this significant space for the design community.
George Washington University, Milken Institute School of Public Health; Washington, D.C.
Payette
Located on iconic Washington Circle Park in the heart of the nation’s capital, this School of Public Health is a rigorous, innovative response to site and program. With its most sustainable solutions so deeply embedded as to be nearly indistinguishable, it keenly demonstrates the symbiotic relationship between sustainability and public health. The building’s unusual skylit atrium, in which classrooms and study areas overlook the city through an open latticework of floor openings, invites exploration and discovery. The building supports a highly effective learning and interaction environment that is equally memorable for its intimacy and transparency.
In Situ; San Francisco
Aidlin Darling Design
Located in the recently reopened San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMoMA), In Situ represents a unique intersection of art, design, food and community. The restaurant features a curated collection of culinary innovators from around the world to make their contributions accessible for greater public engagement. Its design operates at many scales from urban to the intimate, and is intended to engage all of the senses with an emphasis on tactility and acoustics. The exposed interior shell of the building provides a backdrop for discreetly placed "artifacts" which include commissioned art, custom designed lighting, custom furniture and a sculptural wood ceiling.
Pinterest HQ; San Francisco
IwamotoScott Architecture with Brereton Architects
The new Pinterest headquarters is inspired by the redesign of the company's web platform — clean, simple, intuitive. It occupies a concrete structure in the SOMA district that previously housed a John Deer factory. A key aspect of the design extends the existing atrium through to the ground floor, spatially connecting all four floors. The Knitting Stair occupies this newly-activated heart of the building. The workspace program is organized as porous, concentric layers around the atrium and Knitting Stair, opening up to the city at the ground floor’s lobby, café, all-hands space and maker lab.
University of Massachusetts (UMass) Dartmouth, Claire T. Carney Library; Dartmouth, MA
designLAB architects; Associate Firm: Austin Architects
Conceived in 1963 as a utopian community by architect Paul Rudolph, the UMass Dartmouth campus remains a tour de force of late 20th century architectural exuberance and optimism. The Claire T. Carney Library is the 160,000-square-foot centerpiece of the concentric campus plan. designLAB’s transformation celebrates the historic architecture, while creating a state-of-the-art learning environment, improved group study spaces, a cafe, a lecture space, and a new campus living room. Inspired by Rudolph’s original design intentions, the renovation included the re-introduction of a vibrant color palette, bold supergraphics, and dynamic social spaces.
Writers Theatre; Glencoe, IL
Studio Gang
While functional requirements of performance venues often dictate opaque volumes, the 36,000-square-foot Writers Theatre is instead a transparent cultural anchor that embraces its community. A double-height lobby provides a flexible space for outreach, gatherings, and performances, with glass doors that open to the adjacent park. Clad in wood hewn from the site, box office and concessions are treated as furniture, integrated into flexible lobby tribune seating. A canopy walk hung from timber trusses provides an open-air gathering place before, after, and between shows. The two stages are configured to enhance the intimacy for which Writers is known while creating new opportunities for innovative performance.
2017 Institute Honor Awards for Regional & Urban Design
The 2017 AIA Institute Honor Award for Regional & Urban Design jury includes: Susan Chin, FAIA (Chair), Design Trust for Public Space, New York City; David W. Benn, AIA, Cho Benn Holback + Associates, Inc.; James S. Bershof, FAIA, OZ Architecture; Sheila Kennedy, FAIA, Kennedy & Violich Architecture, Ltd. And Robert L. Ooley, FAIA, Santa Barbara County Government, Office of the County Architect.
