The American Institute of Architects announced three winners of its 2022 Collaborative Achievement Award, honoring the AIA New York Unified Task Force City and State, the University of Arkansas Community Design Center, and Joseph P. Riley, Jr., Hon. AIA, for "distinguished achievements of design" and their "beneficial influence on or advanced the architectural profession," according to a press release from the Institute.
The Winners
AIA New York Unified Task Force City and State
Assembled in just 24 hours in the spring of 2020, the AIA New York Unified Task Force City and State worked hand in hand with the state government to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, transforming existing building into facilities that helped mitigate the strain on New York's overwhelmed healthcare system. The team of design professionals, which came from AIA New York and AIA New York State, sourced over 1,000 buildings capable of providing additional life-saving beds and medical services to individuals infected with COVID-19.
As the pandemic has progressed since 2020, the task force has remained active, dynamically responding to the pandemic's evolving challenges.
The University of Arkansas Community Design Center
Founded in 1995 as the outreach arm of the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, the University of Arkansas Community Design Center is a national authority on urban design and development. Led by Stephen Luoni since 2003, the Community Design Center has received awards and recognition for projects including Rebuilding a Local Food Economy: Oahu, Hawai'i on the island of Oahu, Hawai'i, Re-Live Downtown Pine Bluff in Pine Bluff, Ark., and Building Neighborhoods that Build Social and Economic Prosperity in Kigali, Rwanda. The organization also received a 2014 Progressive Architecture Award for Fayetteville 2030: Food City Scenario.
Since its founding the Center, which also serves as an cross-disciplinary education hub for U of A students, has assisted over 50 communities and organizations across the nation with planning and development, helping secure over $70 million in funding for the improvements.
Joseph P. Riley, Jr., Hon. AIA
Elected the mayor of Charleston, S.C., in 1975, Joseph P. Riley, Jr. helped shape the city's transformation from a shrinking urban center to a vibrant cultural and social hub. Riley has maintained a strong focus on the city's public realm and urban fabric, encouraging the development of Charleston's Waterfront Park, the redevelopment of its Gaillard Center, and the currently under construction International African American Museum, designed by Moody Nolan and Pei Cobb Freed & Partners.
“Often architecture is thought elitist, that you’ve got to be schooled or have a special interest,” said Riley in a 2015 interview with ARCHITECT. “But not long after I was elected, I’d see visitors in town. They looked like they were retired blue-collar workers, and you’d see them admiring buildings. Beauty has no economic litmus test. It’s a basic human need and instinct.”
The jury for the 2022 Collaborative Achievement Award comprise chair Ryan Gann, Assoc. AIA, in Chicago; Shannon Gathings, Assoc. AIA, Duvall Decker Architects, P.A. in Ridgeland, Miss.; Joseph Mayo, AIA, Mahlum in Seattle; and Katie Swenson, Assoc. AIA, MASS Design Group in Boston.
See more winners of the 2022 AIA Honor Awards here.