| NEWS | DESIGN | BUILDING | DESIGN TOOLS | ENVIRONMENT | CULTURE |
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Livable Buildings Awards | |
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People and Places | |
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AIA Honor Awards 2008 | |
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KieranTimberlake Firm Award | |
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KieranTimberlake Firm Award The firm's focus soon shifted to include more institutional commissions. Early institutional projects included a student activity center (1987) at Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia, and West Middle School (1993) at the Shipley School in Bryn Mawr. The collaborative process of architectural "weaving" involved in the Shipley School project is described by Kieran and Timberlake in the artifice Architectural Weaving in ArchitectureWeek, based on their 2002 monograph Manual: The Architecture of KieranTimberlake: "Weaving provides a way to navigate what goes over and what goes under... We have to trace every pipe and duct. We have to know how large it is, what it is made of, and how it turns. In this small building section, below a balcony walkway, all the building trades had to come to know and work with each other, while coinhabiting three feet four inches (102 centimeters) of common real estate." Some of the firm's noteworthy later projects have been for the University of Pennsylvania, Middlebury College, and Yale University. "At Yale, the firm has breathed new life and inspiring form into historic structures for over ten years," said Murray. Projects there have included Berkeley College, Sterling Law School Dining Hall, and, more recently, Pierson and Davenport Colleges and the Sculpture Building and Gallery. The renovations of Pierson and Davenport, both originally designed by James Gamble Rogers in 1930, included preservation of some historic spaces and repurposing of other areas for contemporary uses. Basement squash courts were converted to a 72-seat theater in Davenport, and into a new computer cluster and library in Pierson, adjoining a restored older library. New food serving facilities contrast with restored dining halls. KieranTimberlake juxtaposed materials to celebrate the old and distinguish the new. The new Sculpture Building and Gallery (2007) adjoins the existing Art & Architecture Building by Paul Rudolph and the University Art Gallery and Center for British Art by Louis I. Kahn. A 3,000-square-foot (280-square-meter) gallery fronts the street with a glazed facade and wood rain screen. The four-story studio building behind it was "conceived as a mid-block lantern," according to the architects. With such features as a green roof and high-performance curtain wall, the project is expected to receive LEED Platinum certification. KieranTimberlake's work at the University of Pennsylvania includes the Melvin J. and Claire Levine Hall (2002) a largely glazed structure that serves as a bridge between historic buildings housing the School of Engineering and Applied Science. "The ability to weave cutting-edge technologies into historic precincts is masterfully demonstrated at the University of Pennsylvania," said Murray. Levine Hall features the first active curtain wall in the United States, according to KieranTimberlake. The architects describe the system in Manual: "The inner and outer glass units form an air plenum, through which room-return air is circulated and extracted via the HVAC system. The intermediate blind reflects some of the solar radiation incident on the facade back through the external glass unit and absorbs the remaining radiation, re-radiating it back into the cavity as heat. The heat is then extracted via the continuous airflow between the inner and outer glass units." Details create a respectful union between Levine Hall and its older neighbors. The edges of the curtain wall are knitted, zipper-like, with the existing masonry. Instead of uninterrupted expanses of glass, the facade is patterned into smaller sections that relate to the fenestration of nearby buildings. Another recent project is Atwater Commons (2004) at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont, a project that Murray said "sets new standards for the holistic integration of sustainable design with compelling architectural form." The project includes two stone-clad residential buildings with windows, fans, and floor plans designed to maximize natural ventilation. The glazed dining hall pavilion supports a green roof. In the 2006 middle school addition and renovation for Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C., the school sought to demonstrate its commitment to environmental stewardship. KieranTimberlake embodied that ethic not only through high-performance systems, but also by making the building a teaching tool. The building received LEED Platinum certification, and was named one of the Top Ten Green Projects of 2007 by AIA/COTE, as reported in ArchitectureWeek No. 334: "In this 72,000-square-foot (6,700-square-meter) school — about half new, half renovation — solar chimneys with south-facing glass are designed for passive ventilation, operating without additional energy input. Sunlight heats air within the glass chimney tops, creating a convection current which draws cooler air into the building through north facing open windows." Students can observe the movement of air in the solar chimneys through portals that reveal telltales and wind chimes. Rainwater systems are also open to view, and the green roof provides both opportunities for container gardening and views of the nearby photovoltaic panels. The Loblolly House (2006) on Taylors Island, Maryland, also prominently links site and building. This single-family house perches atop timber piles between a stand of loblolly pines and a stretch of cordgrass, facing Chesapeake Bay. On the land-facing sides of the house, rain screen siding is patterned to evoke the vertical shapes of the forest. The largely glazed water side features adjustable interior accordion-style folding glass doors and exterior polycarbonate-clad hangar doors. The house is built of prefabricated components, and was assembled on its platform onsite in less than six weeks. In its recent win of a 2008 AIA Institute Honor Award, the jury remarked that "Every single joint is perfect," while also commenting that the "[r]igid formality of prefab construction breaks loose as the amber glow and the emitting light broadcast out to become welcoming elements." KieranTimberlake's current projects include the Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economy (ISEEE) at the University of Calgary in Canada. The firm is "signature architect" on the building, slated for completion in 2011. Professor Friedman praised KieranTimberlake for creating more than just an outstanding body of work. "In addition to great buildings they have produced great process — deeply critical, deeply poetic, deeply realistic alternatives to the way we reason through our responsibilities," Friedman said. "Every line they draw generates a new ethical continuum." The AIA Architecture Firm Award, given annually, is the highest honor the AIA bestows on an architecture firm and recognizes a practice that consistently has produced distinguished architecture for at least 10 years. The award will be presented at the American Architectural Foundation's Accent on Architecture Gala on February 22, 2008, at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. >>> Discuss this article in the Architecture Forum...
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