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AIA Honor Awards 2008 The jury said, "[T]he architects used the light and breezes, which are free, wonderfully. The building is beautiful in a clean-scrubbed way while creating a safe haven." Across the Pacific Ocean in Seoul, South Korea, stands the Trutec Building, by German-American firm Barkow Leibinger Architects. The steel-framed building comprises 11 stories of offices and showrooms over five levels of underground parking. The distinctive facade of projecting mirrored-glass bays was developed with Arup Facade Engineering. A patterned array of two window types — a 3D panel, used in two orientations, and a flat panel — creates fragmented reflections on the exterior and altered views from the interior. The location of the core in the building's eastern corner frees large swaths of rentable space. The ground floor is a double-height, column-free showroom; other spaces boast open, 16-meter (52-foot) column grids. Dark zinc shingle cladding distinguishes the core from the dominant glazing. "The rational building massing is very beautifully detailed and carefully developed," commented the jury. "For a relatively modest building, it has an incredible street presence through a subtle manipulation of a simple kit of parts." Two units of an Infill Student Housing project for the University of California, Berkeley, garnered an honor award for EHDD Architecture. The architects succeeded in increasing housing density at a 1960s dormitory complex — adding 884 beds — while also creating more usable open space for students and improving the whole facility's relationship to its low-density residential context. New infill buildings step down in height from the existing multistory towers. Stepped facades with alternating materials help give the appearance of separate, narrower buildings. Lobby entrances, patios, and landscaped walkways connect the dorms more directly with the streetscape. "The urban integration works well," remarked the jury. "The new buildings really work with the smaller scale of the adjoining residential neighborhood." The design incorporates existing below-grade student support space, and a central plaza and landscaped courtyards for use by area residents, both UC Berkeley-affiliated and non-university. The project was designed to achieve LEED Silver certification, and energy performance is expected to exceed California Title 24 requirements by 20 percent. Another award-winning residential project is the diminutive Delta Shelter in Mazama, Washington, by Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects. This 1,000-square-foot (90-square-meter) weekend cabin rises three stories from a footprint 20 feet (six meters) square. Located near a river, surrounded by mountains, the house is raised on stilts to maximize views and minimize potential flood damage. Half of each exterior facade is steel-clad and half is glazed, with operable windows and pivoting doors. Large steel shutters, operated by hand-cranks, can be moved over the glazed portions to add insulation at night and to protect the building in the owner's absence. Steel decks cantilever from the middle and top levels. The steel structure, roof, shutters, and stairs were prefabricated offsite. "The concept, design, detailing, materials, composition, and inventiveness are all exceptional," commented the jury, lauding the project for its "sensitive site planning" and an "imaginative architectural translation of the client's aspirations for a modest tree house retreat." Seattle's Olympic Sculpture Park earned an honor award for Weiss/ Manfredi Architecture/ Landscape/ Urbanism. Visitors start at an exhibit pavilion, then descend 40 feet (12 meters) along a continuous Z-shaped "green" platform that passes over existing train tracks and an arterial road to reach the water. The jury praised the project for seamless integration of disciplines: "buildings, landscapes, engineering, infrastructure, and art." "The park reconnects the downtown water's edge with a brilliant topographic solution," the jury continued. "Each move is concise and elegant and establishes a new dynamic public place, which brings art, nature, and community together." The four other architecture honor awards went to the Griffith Observatory renovation and addition, Los Angeles, California, by Pfeiffer Partners Architects; the The Liberty Memorial Restoration and Museum, Kansas City, Missouri, by ASAI Architecture (now part of PGAV Architects); Thomas L. Wells Public School, Toronto, Canada, by Baird Sampson Neuert Architects; and Unilever House (100 VE), London, United Kingdom, by Kohn Pedersen Fox Architects. Interior Architecture Interiors jury chair Neil P. Frankel, FAIA, FIIDA, of Frankel Coleman Architects, said, "The body of work submitted, while connected through the commitment of attention to detail, materiality and form making, was refreshingly unique in concepts and focus." One of the projects recognized was the restoration of the Illinois State Capitol House and Senate chambers by Vinci | Hamp Architects, Inc., previously covered in ArchitectureWeek. >>> Discuss this article in the Architecture Forum...
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