by ArchitectureWeek

In January, the American Institute of Architects announced the winners of its premier awards program. "Each winning project offers its users or inhabitants an opportunity to enjoy a sense of place, beauty, or functionality that is the hallmark of wonderful architecture."

So said Gordon H. Chong, FAIA, new president of the AIA, in articulating the common themes of this year's AIA Honor Awards. The 18 architecture, 12 interior, and four urban design awards included an urban forum that helps reconstruct a city, a renovation that offers a contemplative experience of light, and a consensus-building planning effort to restore an urban riverfront to the public domain.

Four of these awards went to the firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM). In addition to an urban design award for a lively pedestrian connection to Chicago's waterfront, and another for a vibrant mixed-use downtown neighborhood, the firm won a rare "double" in both the architecture and interiors categories for its work on the San Francisco Airport's new international terminal.

The city's "front door to the world," and a milestone in seismic design, the terminal won the jury's praise as a model of spatial clarity, in which wayfinding is intuitively understood, and the structural solution is one with the architecture.   >>>

The San Francisco airport's new international terminal by SOM was one of this year's AIA Honor Award winners. Photo: Timothy Hursley The Sandra Day O'Connor U.S. Courthouse, by Richard Meier & Partners. Photo: © Scott Frances/Esto   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.