Do you look forward to this issue as much as we do each year? It's a real departure for us from the way we usually assemble our editorial content. Here, we cede control of our feature pages to a representative group of our readers--residential architects expert in their chosen field. We invite them to examine what our entrants consider their best work and to single out the truly exceptional for awards. Great work chosen by great architects makes for a beautiful issue of the magazine, we think. It's also a useful barometer for you and us to use in measuring our standards. Are we tough enough on ourselves? Are we compromising when we shouldn't, stopping at merely good when great might lie just around the corner? We were heartened to see that our judges selected some projects for awards that we've already run in the magazine in recent issues. Maybe we're all on the right track.
This year we received more than 575 entries in 10 categories: custom / 3,500 square feet or less; custom / more than 3,500 square feet; renovation; multifamily; single-family production / detached; single-family production / attached; affordable; kitchen; bath; architectural detail. All were eligible for the best-in-show prize of project of the year. As always, we gave our jury wide latitude to adjust the program. They can eliminate, add, or combine categories and bestow as many awards--or no awards--as they see fit. This year, they decided to subdivide the custom / 3,500-square-feet-or-less category into two classifications: custom / less than 2,000 square feet; and custom / 2,000 to 3,500 square feet. And they added a judges' award for projects they loved but thought should not remain in the category entered. Thus, we have a total of 12 categories of winners in this competition, plus our project of the year. There are six grand awards, 18 merits, two judges' awards, and project of the year. Not all categories have a grand award winner.
Our distinguished panel of jurors comprised: David Baker, FAIA, David Baker + Partners Architects, San Francisco; Harry Teague, AIA, Harry Teague Architects, Aspen, Colo.; Heather McKinney, AIA, McKinney Architects, Austin, Texas; Mark Hutker, AIA, Mark Hutker & Associates Architects, Vineyard Haven, Mass; Rick Emsiek, AIA, McLarand Vasquez Emsiek & Partners, Irvine, Calif.; D. Graham Davidson, FAIA, Hartman-Cox Architects, Washington, D.C.
