AIA Announces 2015 Housing Awards

The AIA announced the 10 winners of the 2015 Housing Awards on Apr. 16. The Housing Awards honor the best in housing design in four categories: One/Two Family Custom Housing, which recognizes outstanding designs for custom and remodeled homes; One/Two Family Production Housing, for which there were no winners this year; Multifamily Housing, which recognizes outstanding apartment and condominium design; and Special Housing, which recognizes outstanding design of housing that meets the unique needs of other specialized housing types such as single-room occupancy residences, independent living for the disabled, residential rehabilitation programs, domestic violence shelters, and other special housing. 

This year's jury included Stephen Schreiber, FAIA, of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst; Jon Dick, AIA, of Archaeo Architects; Kathy Dixon, AIA, principal of K. Dixon Architecture; Clair Enlow, a freelance writer, and Jody Mcguire, AIA, of SALA Architects. 

Jury comments: This has a lot of functionality and beauty. There is a refined sophistication to the design.  It frames the landscape in different places in different ways. There is simplicity as well as intimate connection with the natural environment. 

Marlboro Music: Five Cottages, Marlboro, Vt
HGA Architects and Engineers

Jury comments: This idea of opening into the landscape in New England where the weather is so rugged is difficult. The formal idea meets the context in a very natural way. The detailing is exquisite. 

Jury comments: The use of modest materials—concrete floor, concrete fireplace, OSB on the ceiling—is admirable. The complex relations between the three parts is exciting but the courtyard locks it into place.

Multifamily Housing

Jury comments: The architecture reflects the context [with] the flat facades. It captures the essences of the neighborhood in a humble way. The edible landscape garden is transformative: The garden will be so successful, and it carries as much weight as the architecture. 

Jury comments: The delightful common space unites the whole project. There is a lightness to it, and surprising touches such as the window treatment. 

Jury comments: It’s a vital mix of uses that get united into one large–scale project. It’s admirably taking a 1950’s modernist aesthetic and making it very sophisticated. 

Jury comments: It really enlivens the street above and beyond what anyone would expect in a building like that. It breaks down the scale of a tower in a really nice way [with] public spaces [that] go all the way up the building. 

Jury comments: There is complexity to the façade in the way it sits on the street and with regard to the surrounding buildings: It is compatible without resorting to mimicry.