There will not be a winner of the American Institute of Architect's Twenty-Five Year Award this year, marking the first time this has occurred since the award was officially established. Over the award's decades-long history, it has recognized projects that have "stood the test of time for 25-35 years and continues to set standards of excellence for its architectural design and significance." Past winners include Louis Kahn's Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's Farnsworth House, and most recently, the Grand Louvre—Phase I, designed by New York's Pei Cobb Freed & Partners.
"The award was created in 1969 as a special move by the AIA Board of Directors," says AIA spokesperson Matt Tinder in an email to ARCHITECT. "The following year (1970) the board moved to officially make the award annual, hence the gap year—technically this is the first year it has not been awarded. In 1970, no recipient was selected because the award program did not open that year."
This year's jury was comprised of chair Lee Becker, FAIA, Hartman-Cox Architects in Washington, D.C.; Anne Marie Decker, FAIA, Duvall Decker Architects in Jackson, Miss.; Susan Johnson, AIA, Strata Architecture + Preservation in Kansas City, Mo.; Anna Jones, Assoc. AIA, Shyft Collective in Johnston, Iowa; Merilee Meacock, AIA, KSS Architects in Princeton, N.J.; Robert Miller, FAIA, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson in Seattle; Sharon Prince, Grace Farms Foundation in New Canaan, Conn.; Rob Rogers, FAIA, Rogers Partners in New York; and student representative Caitlin Jean Kessler, the University of Arizona.
The jury released the following statement (sent to ARCHITECT by the AIA): "The jury felt that there were submissions that appeal to architects and there were those that appeal to the public. The consensus was that the Twenty-five Year Award should appeal to both. Unfortunately, this year the jury did not find a submission that it felt achieved twenty-five years of exceptional aesthetic and cultural relevance while also representing the timelessness and positive impact the profession aspires to achieve."
