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The top winners of this year's Seattle and Portland AIA awards are more alike than not, however. They represent a restrained brand of modern architecture that is enlivened by the craftsmanship and texture of its materials.

Arts School in Dallas

The two top Portland award-winners for 2008 represent a kind of yin and yang in local architectural circles. One honor award went to the well-known architect Brad Cloepfil and his firm, Allied Works, for Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts; the other went to sole practitioner Brett Crawford for his 1310 Condominiums, a modest renovation of an existing apartment building in southeast Portland.

Cloepfil has achieved a kind of international stardom in recent years, as his firm has won design competitions for projects such as the Museum of Art & Design at 2 Columbus Circle in New York City (beating out Zaha Hadid for the job) and the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (chosen over Herzog & de Meuron).

Booker T. Washington High School was Dallas's first African-American high school. Today it is one of the foremost arts magnet schools in the United States and a cornerstone for the emerging Dallas Arts District. As renovated by Allied Works, with Booziotis & Company Architects of Dallas as associate architect, the four-story building features rooms arranged in a pinwheel around a central open-air amphitheater, with loft spaces facing four-story atriums.

The material palette is mostly brick and concrete, rough materials that Allied makes feel refined and contemporary. "The new school manifests the qualities of creative industry: workshop, forge, studio and factory," Cloepfil has said of the project. "The forms are elemental, the space and materials raw and visceral." Room placement and a plethora of diverse spaces encourage students of various artistic disciplines to intermingle.

"The detailing is wonderfully considered with a rugged elegance," wrote the AIA Portland awards jury. "It was a clear, serious response to the context of its location."

Condos in Portland

Brett Crawford represents a significant trend in Portland: the emergence of several high-end condominium projects scattered throughout the city's historic neighborhoods, at a scale smaller than the towers rising downtown. Building modern amongst an urban fabric of Craftsman bungalows and Victorian houses can often draw the ire of neighbors who think such architecture doesn't fit its context, but Crawford has drawn raves from neighbors, as well as the AIA Portland awards jury and other fellow architects.

"The project clearly demonstrates the value of architecture as a transformative process," lauded the jury. "The building is strong, but also humble in its character."

Crawford's design for the 1310 Condominiums transformed a 1969 apartment building into a five-unit complex with aggressively sustainable features and a modern aesthetic. To achieve the level of design, craftsmanship, and sustainability envisioned, the project was designed, developed, and constructed by Crawford and his wife, architect Dana Ing Crawford.

The jury commented on the astute use of simple materials with great compositional scale to create layers of depth. For example, for the north and south facades, Crawford used okoumé plywood panels, which are more commonly used in the manufacture of cargo ships. The front of the building is composed of mahogany sunscreens, the signature aesthetic element of the redesign.

The 1310 Condominiums were also recognized by AIA Portland for sustainable design, including such features as low-e window glass, high-efficiency gas furnaces and tankless hot-water heaters, and bamboo flooring.

Home in Woodway

In Woodway, Washington, north of Seattle, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson extended the Woodway Residence living spaces outdoors to allow for informal gathering spaces and to better integrate the house with the surrounding landscape, which includes views of the wooded terrain and nearby Puget Sound.

The AIA Seattle jury appreciated the renovation for both its approach and its execution: "The Woodway Residence preserves a structure with a strong heritage, but transforms it so completely that it has a new life programmatically and spatially that is better than the original."   >>>

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The 1310 Condominiums in Portland, Oregon, were also honored by the local AIA chapter. Photo: Courtesy Brett Crawford The front facade of the 1310 Condominiums is finished in okoumé plywood panels and includes a louvered mahogany shading system. Photo: Courtesy Brett Crawford Extra Large Image The 1310 Condominiums were recognized by AIA Portland for sustainable design features. Photo: Courtesy Brett Crawford Prior to the renovation, the 1310 Condominiums building was a low-end 1969 apartment building. Photo: Courtesy Brett Crawford Extra Large Image The Woodway Residence, in Woodway, Washington, was expanded and remodeled by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson. Photo: Nic Lehoux Extra Large Image Crisp detailing and a simple material palette are integral to the Woodway Residence expansion. Photo: Nic Lehoux Extra Large Image A level change differentiates the main circulation spine from the adjacent rooms in the Woodway Residence, which was recognized by AIA Seattle in its 2008 honor awards. Photo: Nic Lehoux Extra Large Image   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.