AIA Announces 2013 Small Project Awards

As part of the AIA’s 2013 National Architecture Week, the AIA has announced the winners of its tenth annual Small Project Awards. The Small Project Awards were conceived as a way of raising public awareness of the importance of hiring architects, no matter how small a project, by emphasizing the skill and expertise architects can provide. The 10 winning projects were awarded in four categories, as described below. The jury included Leonard Kady, AIA (jury chair), of Leonard Kady Architecture + Design; Julie Beckman, of KBAS; Christopher Herr, AIA, of Studio H:T; Laura Kraft, AIA, of Laura Kraft Architect; and Rob Yagid, of Fine Homebuilding Magazine.

To view details and images of each of the winning projects, please visit ARCHITECT’s Project Gallery. The winning projects are listed below, divided up by category, with jury comments about each project.

Category 1: A small project construction, object, work of environmental art or architectural design element up to $150,000. 

Jury comments for Bemis InfoShop: "The introduction of pattern-making on surface, in concert with the spatial implications of the form of the desk and the adjacent walls, make the whole operate experimentally on timeless principles, yet so appropriately in the context of the societal and economic forces that come to bear in this specific time."

Jury comments for Cemetery Marker: "It is easy to imagine this found at some time in the distant future, when the words will be read, the composition will be noticed, and the finder will become the remembered, connected to people unknown, yet somehow richer for it."

Jury comments for Studio for a Composer: "This project accomplishes a rare level of purity - I find myself wanting to hear the music that must be inspired by such a contemplative place."

Category 2: A small project construction, up to $1,500,000. 

Jury comments for Nexus House: "As the name Nexus suggests, this house is very well connected. Composed of a brick podium and a wood clad block on top, it masterfully accomplishes a variety experiences in a compact footprint."

Jury comments for Pavilion at Cotillion Park: "There is an elemental treatment of water that allows this simple structure to remind us of our connection to basic elements - water, earth... The contrast of the light structure overhead with the bounding and seating elements also makes a place that is wonderfully occupiable."

Jury comments for Webb Chapel Park Pavilion: "The scale of the work leads me into the project; first I understand what appears to be a conventional form as an object in a field, then I understand its levitation, then upon approach I understand its texture from the formwork, and finally, when I'm in, the warm glow and softness of being 'in'."

Category 3: A small project construction, object, work of environmental art, or architectural design less than 5,000-square-foot constructed by the architect. The architect must have had a significant role in the construction, fabrication and/or installation of the work, in addition to being the designer. 

Jury comments for 308 Mulberry: "A demanding redesign that respectfully preserves the original architecture, while artfully transforming the home. There is a calm, logical quality to this design that is not easily attained."

Jury comments for Nevis Pool and Garden Pavilion: "Beautiful composition of materials complements beautiful composition of forms and generates space that is diaphanous and dynamic as it is animated by reflections of the water to which it is adjacent, and the play of light and shadow that filters to it through the leafy canopy under which it sets itself."

Jury comments for Tahoe City Transit Center: "A remarkable piece of regional architecture that is overwhelmingly successful in its design and construction. This is timeless design, executed with materials and a construction approach that rightfully suggests permanence and longevity."

Category 4: Unbuilt architectural designs less than 5,000-square-foot for which there is no current intent to build, of all project types including purely theoretical, visionary projects, with or without a client. 

Jury comments for Four Eyes House: "One can find minimalist, modern architecture easily these days – design blogs, glossy magazines, and so on. However, minimalist modern architecture that is referential to the cosmos, the horizon, and the sun is rare indeed."