Awards: The Latest Architecture and News

San Francisco-based Form4 Architecture have won the 2017 American Prize for Architecture, by The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design, and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies. Also known as The Louis H. Sullivan Award, the prize is awarded to outstanding practitioners in the United States that have “emblazoned a new direction in the history of American architecture” and “demonstrated consistent contributions to humanity through the built environment and the art of architecture."

These may well be the ultimate, true romantic architects, said Christian Narkiewicz-Laine, President of The Chicago Athenaeum. Form4 Architecture’s design philosophy conveys a ‘vision of the future’ and all the artistic possibilities of imagination, emotional meaning, and lyrical expressionism for a consequentially better and more enlightened world around us.

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The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and its Committee on the Environment (COTE) have named the recipients of the 2017 Top Ten Awards, celebrating buildings that best exemplify the integration of great design, great performance and sustainable design excellence.

Now in its 21st year, the COTE Top Ten Awards program was established to honor projects that protect and enhance the environment through an integrated approach to architecture, natural systems, and technology.

79 shortlisted buildings have been selected as winners of the 2017 American Architecture Awards, which honor the best new buildings designed and constructed by American architects in the United States and abroad, and by international architects for buildings designed and built in the United States.

The Awards, hosted by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design, and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies, were juried by a group of Greek architects, who chose from 300 buildings and urban planning projects.

The winners of the 2017 American Architecture Awards are:

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The Noguchi Museum has selected architect John Pawson and painter Hiroshi Senju as the recipients of the 2017 Isamu Noguchi Award. Now in its fourth year, the annual award was established to honor individuals who “share Noguchi’s spirit of innovation, global consciousness, and commitment to East/West cultural exchange.”

The award is presented each year to one architect and one artist or designer, honoring the multi-faceted career of artist/architect Isamu Noguchi. Previous winners of the award have included Tadao Ando and Elyn Zimmerman in 2016; architect Yoshio Taniguchi and industrial designer Jasper Morrison (2015); and winners of the inaugural award, Norman Foster and artist Hiroshi Sugimoto (2014).

The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) and the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) have awarded Montreal’s Bibliothèque du Boisé with the annual Green Building Award for 2017. Designed by the trio of Consortium Labonté Marcil, Cardinal Hardy and Eric Pelletier architectes, the library is situated in the city’s Saint-Laurent district, and received the distinction as an example of “buildings that are environmentally responsible and promote the health and wellbeing of users.”

"The library offers a variety of beautifully lit and welcoming spaces throughout, maximizing daylight and views and the use of natural elements, such as wood, to create an environment that contributes to health and wellbeing,” said the jury. “Their approach to high-performance building through whole systems design and strategy has resulted in an impressive achievement.”

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The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has named the fourteen projects selected as recipients of the 2017 Housing Awards. Now in its 17th year, the AIA’s Housing Awards program was established to recognize "the best in housing design and promote the importance of good housing as a necessity of life." Projects are awarded in four categories: One/Two Family Custom Housing, One/Two Family Production Housing, Multifamily Housing and Special Housing.

The 2017 AIA Housing Award recipients include:

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The European Commission and Europa Nostra have unveiled the winners of the 2017 European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards, which honor achievements in conservation, research, dedicated service, and education, training and awareness. Out of 202 applications from 39 countries, 29 winners have been selected.

The winners of the 2017 European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards are:

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the American Library Association (ALA) have selected eight projects as recipients of the 2017 AIA/ALA Library Building Awards. Founded to “encourage and recognize excellence in the architectural design of libraries,” the award draws attention to the changing role of libraries in society, and how exemplary community spaces can change to reflect the needs of their surrounding residents.

The eight winners of the 2017 AIA/ALA Library Building Awards are:

Toronto-based Hariri Pontarini Architects’ Bahá’í Temple of South America has won the 2017 Innovation in Architecture Award presented by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC).

Located in the foothills of the Andes Mountains outside Santiago, Chile, the domed building was designed and built using computer modeling, measuring, and fabrication software, as well as custom glass, all of which culminated in nine monumental veils that frame an open worship space for up to 600 visitors. Completed in 2016, the project took 14 years to realize.

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The winners of the 2017 Architectural Review MIPIM Future Project Awards have been announced. Prizes span across 11 categories and were awarded to projects from eight countries, from projects under construction to competition entries and conceptual designs.

"Successful projects this year include a thermal bath and resort in the Baltic, a new ecclesiastical library for the Church of England, a rural women’s community center in Turkey and a ‘dematerializing’ office building in the US Capitol city, all demonstrating the dynamism and creativity at the heart of the architectural professional internationally," explained the awards organizers in a press release.

The winners of the 2017 Architectural Review MIPIM Future Project Awards are:

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The Award for Architectural Heritage Intervention AADIPA, arises from the belief that heritage, as a vehicle for social integration and an economic vitalizing resource for the community, deserves to be appreciated and encouraged. In the current context, in which architectural heritage is considered not only to be a fundamental instrument of knowledge but also a first rate socio-economic resource for the sustainable development of the territory, the disclosure, distinction and recognition of works and quality projects contributing to the preservation of the collective memory is imperative.

The City of Westminster, England has announced the shortlist for its first People’s Choice Award for the city’s best building from the past decade.

In an effort to engage the public in a debate about what makes a great building, the Westminster City Council asked a panel of architects, developers, councilors, and planners to shortlist 12 designs to be voted on by people who live and work in the city, as well as by visitors. Buildings for the shortlist were chosen based on its use of materials, purpose, and impact on the surrounding space.

"Brilliant architectural design should be recognized for all the fantastic benefits it can have in terms of health and wellbeing, sustainability, and the simple pleasure we all take from having such striking buildings lining our routes home, to shop and to work," said Cllr Robert Davis MBE DL, Deputy Leader of Westminster City Council. "The best people to ask about the impact these buildings have are those who see them day in, day out, and so I am delighted that we have been able to engage the public in a debate about what makes a great building and to promote design excellence."

The 12 shortlisted projects for the Westminster People’s Choice Awards are:

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The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has selected 14 recipients for the 2017 AIA Young Architects Award. Now in its 24th year, the award was founded to honor young architects - licensed 10 years or fewer regardless of their age - who have “shown exceptional leadership and made significant contributions to the profession early in their careers.”

The Boston Society of Architects (BSA) has announced announced Mecanoo and Sasaki as the winners of the 2016 Harleston Parker Medal for their design of the Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building. Awarded each year by the BSA and the City of Boston, the prestigious award honors “the single most beautiful” building or structure built in the metropolitan Boston area over the past 10 years.

Colored concrete is being used increasingly as a premium building material. Numerous buildings are constructed every year around the world that are colored with inorganic pigments. Specialty chemicals company LANXESS will be presenting in the third Colored Concrete Works Award in 2017 to architects who create modern architecture with colored concrete and focus on their work, the beauty and aesthetic quality of this special, natural building material.

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has named 178 AIA members to be elevated to its prestigious College of Fellows, an honor awarded to members who have made “a significant contribution to architecture and society and who have achieved a standard of excellence in the profession.”

Artist Rachel Whiteread has won the 2017 Ada Louise Huxtable Prize, which recognizes individuals working in the wider architectural industry who have made a significant contribution to architecture and the built environment. Whiteread was selected by respondents to the Architectural Review’s Women In Architecture: Working in Architecture survey.

Some of Whiteread’s notable work includes her 1993 Turner Prize-winning House, her collaboration with architects like Caruso St John on the UK Holocaust Memorial International Design Competition, and her participation on the RIBA Stirling Prize 2016 jury.