When looking at the 2009 AIA Honor Awards as a whole, it is easy to comprehend why this year’s winners were chosen. From iconic new buildings in the Architecture category, including cathedrals and community centers, to projects in the Interiors category, such as a ballet school and offices, to a group of Urban Design winners, each of which creates a unique site for people to gather and ties place and person with environment, these projects strip away opulence and get us back to basics.
Each year, the AIA Honor Awards provide a rough outline of architectural culture in the U.S. Though not conceived as a larger statement, the projects invariably serve to sketch an American sensibility.
2007 AIA Honor Awards It’s no surprise that the vast majority of this year’s AIA award winners share an interest in preserving the quality of the natural environment—architecture’s future is undoubtedly “green,” and the firms featured here represent the profession’s cutting edge. From Pugh + Scarpa’s energy-neutral Solar Umbrella House to Lake/Flato’s World Birding Center, which provides a conscientious gateway into the wild, to the seven regional and urban design winners, which consider sustainable ways to develop land—these projects exemplify how innovative design techniques can do more than just improve the aesthetics of a given site. But while ecofriendly design
Previous AIA HonorAwards 2008 AIA Honor Awards It’s difficult to find a constant theme among the diverse building types, programs, and projects that make up this year’s Honor Award winners. Sustainability is there, certainly, as exemplified by Architecture Award winners that include the Platinum LEED–rated Heifer International World Headquarters, by Polk Stanley Rowland Curzon Porter Architects; the Thomas L. Wells Public School, by Baird Sampson Neuert Architects; and KieranTimberlake’s Loblolly House, much of which can be disassembled and recycled. And while we’re on the subject of the Philadelphia-based firm, the 2008 Firm Award winner, it should be mentioned that the
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