by ArchitectureWeek

Winners in the 2001 AIA New England Design Awards program were announced in September at the annual conference of the New Hampshire Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

Winning projects run the gamut of types: house, library, athletics facility, aquarium, observatory, art museum, chapel. Even a chilled water plant wowed jurors with its exuberance. From a competitive pool of 268 entries, a jury of nationally prominent architects selected 23 firms for honor, merit, and special awards, and two for prestigious 25-Year Awards.

"A Great Apartment"

Asked to make a living space for two Boston executives from a featureless shaft of space, enlivened only by windows at its narrow ends, Ruhl Walker Architects produced a dramatic and flexible space that accommodates a fluctuating set of domestic, entertaining, and business functions.

Shifting planes of various materials and degrees of opacity create spaces that expand and contract as needed. Long, windowless side walls have been transformed with articulated custom millwork on one side, and a "floating window" of steel and backlit translucent acrylic on the other.

The translucent window/wall opens to reveal a home office at one end and conceals a dressing room on the other end. It is the primary light source for the entire loft, glowing with a wash of sunlight in the morning and halogen light in the evening.   >>>

Ruhl Walker Architects of Boston were awarded for a loft apartment with "sophisticated use of materials, detailing, and lighting." Photo: Jordi Miralles Photographia William Rawn Associates, Architects of Boston won an honor award for the Symphony Lake Amphitheater in Cary, North Carolina. Photo: Michael Zirkle Photography   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.