Awards: The Latest Architecture and News

The AIA Arizona Design Awards program recognizes excellence in design, planning, and construction of projects located anywhere in the world that are designed by AIA Arizona architects registered and licensed in the State of Arizona.

Nestlé Social Block (featured earlier in ArchDaily), designed by chilean architects GH+A / Guillermo Hevia won Hunter Douglas‘ Project of the Year.

The San Francisco office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) has received a 2010 “Good Design is Good Business” China Award for the new U.S. Embassy Complex in Beijing, China. Architectural Record and McGraw-Hill Construction recognized 17 projects with their third bi-annual program. The awards celebrate projects that demonstrate the power of design in the advancement of business and civic objectives.

The U.S. Embassy in Beijing, which opened for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, received its award in the Best Public Project category. Working with the U.S. Department of State, SOM responded to the building’s diplomatic role by creating a space that is welcoming, secure, and respectful of local traditions. As a sovereign U.S. presence on Chinese soil, the Embassy reflects American cultural, social and political values while paying respect to the host country’s ancient and extraordinarily vibrant culture.

More images and information after the break.

The RIBA Royal Gold Medal for 2010 goes to an architect whose renown has been built over several decades of consistently producing a very particular kind of structure — often aspired to, rarely achieved.

Last week the AIA announced the 28 projects that will receive the Honor Awards this year, an award which recognizes excellence in architecture, interior architecture, and regional and urban design.

The winners will be recognized during the AIA 2010 convention in Miami.

Complete list of awarded buildings, including links to features on ArchDaily, after the break:

Works carried out by students usually disappear into drawers after presentation to a relatively small college audience. There the work remains invisible.

The AR Emerging Awards have awarded the most promising young practices from around the world. Previous versions of this award confirms it: Sou Fujimoto, Miro Rivera, Plot (BIG), Pezo von Elrrichshausen and more, as you can see on our coverage last year.

These year, 4 projects were awarded:

• Bridge School, Xiashi, China by Li Xiaodong Atelier
• Knocktopher Friary, Knocktopher, Ireland by ODOS Architects (see more projects from ODOS Architects on ArchDaily)
• Curtain Door, Surat, India by Matharoo Associates
• Sports Research Centre, Guijo de Granadilla, Spain by Jose Maria Sanchez Garcia

The selection this year was very good… and it even included a door.

As for my favorite, I still can’t decide between the school and the sports center. Both show a new arrangement of the program, and affect the landscape in different scales.

Which one is your favorite, and why?

After the break, more photos and info about the awarded projects presented at Architectural Review:

Ninety seven projects and urban schemes have been recognized as part of this year’s International Architecture Awards program. For the 2009 Awards, the jury received a record number of entries, from firms in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and the Americas. The International Architecture Awards has “become a global event of an unprecedented scale—an important barometer for the future direction of new architectural design and thinking today—celebrating, recognizing, and highlighting the world’s foremost architectural solutions for the designs of new skyscrapers, corporate buildings, institutions, arts facilities, airports, private homes, industrial structures, and urban planning projects from London to Singapore.”

Out of the 97 projects awarded, the United States received the highest number of thirteen awards, followed by China with eight, Japan and Great Britain with each seven and Germany having six awards. The Netherlands, Brazil, Italy, Canada won four awards each.  The winning projects all an innovative approach to design while providing buildings that attempt to respond to the problems of environment, social context, improving quality of life, and sustainability.

More images of the winning projects after the break.

The RIBA Stirling prize is given each year to one selected building. And this year’s prize went to the Maggie Center by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners.

This small buildings has a great inside/outside integration, given by the combination of several transparent planes and the independent roof, as you can see on the photos.

After the break, more photos by architectural photographer José Miguel Hernández Hernández, and a short video by AJ.

The Jerde Partnership’s Namba Parks, in Osaka, Japan, was just named one of the winners of the Urban Land Institute’s 2009 Awards of Excellence: Asia Pacific competition. When asked to create a gateway to redefine Osaka’s identity, the architects responded with this project that would become a natural intervention in Osaka’s dense and harsh urban condition. The rooftop park offers a sloping park plane that is “bifurcated by a sinuous, open-air ‘canyon’ path that reinforces the connection with nature while forming the primary circulation pattern.”

More about the park after the break.

ACXT and IDOM have launched the third edition of their International Award for Architecture Diploma. The aim of these awards is to encourage architecture students to research and reflect on new patterns and approaches within the current cultural context. They are invited to work on relevant themes such as the digital revolution, environmental awareness, multi-disciplinary demands, the role of information management, innovation and globalization.

A few minutes ago, the Pritzker Award ceremony took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This year, the prize was awarded to swiss architect Peter Zumthor.

Our correspondent Martin Bravo was there and sent us this photos of the event:

The Rice Design Alliance Prize, presented annually, has been created by Rice Design Alliance (RDA) to recognize exceptionally gifted architects in the early phase of their professional career. The jury saw avant-garde architecture and a personal language in the work of Antón García-Abril that is at the forefront of the contemporary architectural scene.

RDA – a committee of architects and academics – will meet annually to review the work of national and international architects, young talents that exemplify excellence in design and are within their first 15 years of professional practice.

The inaugural “Rice Design Alliance Prize” was formally delivered to Antón García-Abril, founder of Ensamble Studio (Madrid), on April 15 in Houston. In addition García-Abril gave a lecture to present his latest work.

More images, after the break.

Gallery with photos and videos of 2009 Pritzker Laureate, Peter Zumthor.

All after the break:

The European Commission and the Mies van der Rohe Foundation has just announced the final five projects that will compete for the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture, the Mies van der Rohe Award 2009. The winning building will be announced in May.

Schmidt hammer lassen architects (SHLA) has just received the MIPIM AR Future Project Award for their winning proposal for the Holbæk city harbour masterplan. The project includes a sports complex developed by the Danish Gymnastics and Sports Associations. The MIPIM AR prize is awarded once a year in various categories by the British magazine Architectural Review at the international property fair MIPIM in Cannes. The Holbæk project was nominated in the Mixed-use category. SHLA, were also awarded this prestigious prize in 2007 and 2008.

The winners of the 10th edition of the AR Emerging Awards are being announced right now. In the past, the AR Emerging Awards have awarded the most promising young practices from around the world. Previous versions of this award confirms it: Sou Fujimoto, Miro Rivera, Plot (BIG) and more.

This time, we´ve got 3 winners, 6 highly commended, 4 commended and 12 honourable mentions.

As for the winners we have the BIP Computers building (Santiago, Chile) by Alberto Mozo (previously featured on ArchDaily), the Hotel Aire Bardenas (Navarra, Spain) by Emiliano López and Mónica Rivera Arquitectos and the the HOMEmade village family houses and DESI building (Vishnupur, Bangladesh) by Anna Heringer (in collaboration with BASE habitat, BRAC University and Dipshikha (NGO)).

Anna Heringer was also featured on the previous versions, and I recommend checking out her work, as she has been doing an amazing job in India, involving the community.

More pictures of the awarded projects after the jump.