The American Institute of Architects is once again proving that diminutive architecture can still deliver with its selections for the sixth annual Small Project Awards.
Established to recognize small-project practitioners and to promote excellence in the field, the awards program is divided into three categories: Architecture in the Public Interest, Small Project Objects for entries with construction budgets of $50,000 or less, and Small Project Structures for entries with construction budgets of up to $500,000.
A jury, consisting of Tom Howorth of Howorth & Associates, Kevin Harris of Kevin Harris and Associates, Camilo Parra of Parra Design Group, David Miller of Miller Hull Partnership, and University of Minnesota College of Design dean Thomas Fisher, selected the following projects, each by a different firm, and provided descriptions for each:
Architecture in the Public InterestArt as Shelter; Raleigh, North Carolina
Tonic Design
Designed and built as an integral component of the North
Carolina Museum of Art Park’s ‘art-in-service’ projects program, ‘Art as
Shelter’ offers visitors a sheltered place to sit and reflect upon the
museum sculpture park and public greenway. Viewed as an object in the
landscape or experienced from within, the pavilion offers magnificent
veiled panoramic views of the surrounding landscape.
SplitFrame; Portland, Connecticut
North Studio at Wesleyan University
SplitFrame is a wildlife viewing structure designed and
constructed to maximize environmental exposure while minimizing impact,
both in construction and over the projected life of the structure.
Sited in a publicly accessible wildlife sanctuary, the core of the
project consists of two integral pieces – a floating Observation Deck
and an elevated viewing station – connected via a hinged staircase,
allowing the observation Deck to rise and fall with the seasonal change
in water levels.
Small Project Objects
Shadow Pavilion; Ann Arbor, Michigan
PLY Architecture
The Shadow Pavilion explores the paradox of a perforated
structure where the removal of material makes a structure lighter and
weaker. The Shadow Pavilion, is both a structure and a space made
entirely of holes. The pavilion surface is made with over 100 aluminum
laser cut cones that vary in size. Beyond testing the limits of sheet
aluminum, the cones funnel light and sound to the interior space,
offering visitors a space to take in the views and sounds of the
surrounding landscape.
plug-in satellite office – ASU; Phoenix
mark ryan studio
When not in use the steel tube frame enclosure can compact to
7’ x 14’ and can be moved as necessary throughout the studio. When
fully deployed it occupies a floor space that is 14’ square feet and
accommodates one to four persons. It can be ‘plugged-in’ as needed
around the entire studio perimeter where data and electrical services
are located. The specific site for the satellite inside this historic
warehouse was chosen for its active, energetic atmosphere within the
emerging downtown arts district that sits adjacent to the university’s
downtown campus in process.
Prospect.1 Welcome Center; New Orleans
Eskew+Dumez+Ripple
The Welcome Center for Prospect.1 (P.1), which is the largest
biennial of international contemporary art in the U.S. is housed in the
historic Hefler Warehouse – and serves to orient visitors to the city
and the biennial. The design was inspired by the shape and scale of
shipping containers, a nod to the significance of the port to the city’s
economy and a reference to the nature of delivery for much of the art
exhibited for the biennial. Due to constraints of time and budget – the
entire project was designed and constructed in 6 weeks at a total cost
of $28,000 – a single construction material, plywood, was selected that
was both inexpensive and readily available.
Puptent; New York City
slade architecture
This piece was an exploration in materials designed and fabricated for
the Design Trust for Public Spaces Annual Auction. The design is for a
modern, indoor dog lounge or PUP TENT. Water-jet cut plywood was
laminated to create a conical shape. The exterior surface was sanded and
finished smooth and the interior maintains the stepping configuration
characteristic of the plywood lamina. A surface pattern is created as
the planar plies of the wood intersect with the conical geometry of the
surface.
Small Project Structures
East Village Studio; New York City
jordan parnass digital architecture
Living and working in just under 500 square feet, the client
had been occupying the space without ever really living in it. The
solution was ultimately to combine the kitchen, bath, sleeping loft and a
new walk-in closet into an intricately sculpted wood-paneled central
service core. The space outside of the core area would remain as
flexible as possible, with millwork finished in a high-gloss white to
read as part of the shell and stand in contrast to the wooden service
core.
Salve Staff Canteen; Milwaukee
Johnsen Schmaling Architects
This small canteen serves the cooks, janitors, and maids of an
ornate downtown hotel built in 1893. Located deep inside the building’s
subterranean belly and without access to daylight, the canteen was
carved out of a cluttered maze of residual spaces previously occupied by
closets, obsolete mechanical equipment, and a make-shift break room.
Invisible to the hotel guests above, this modest back-of-the-house
project demonstrates architecture’s transformative power, regardless of
scope or budget limitations, benefitting a community of workers at the
bottom of the economic food chain.
Kevin Mundy Memorial Bridge; Bozeman, Montana
Intrinsik Architecture
With a clear span of 50 feet, the bridge is two halves made up
of two opposing shed trusses, each with a high part and a lower
part. The moment frame, accentuated by powder-coated orange steel, joins
the two wood halves together. Seating is designed to accommodate many
and offer dynamic shelter to contemplate the art of the structure and
the nature of the place. From various perspectives, including the
winding approaches and from points high along the trail, the dynamic
form continues to surprise and impress.
[Wide] Band – Nomadic Café; Los Angeles
Griffin Enright Architects
[WIDE]BAND is a 600-square foot, portable project with the flexibility
to accommodate a multiplicity of functions. Originally designed as an
installation for NeoCon West, it was then moved to the A + D Museum in
Los Angeles where it functioned as a café by day and as a bar/lounge
space at night without altering the configuration. The name,
[WIDE]BAND, alludes to the physical loop formed by the surfaces and to
the broadband technology supporting the wireless Internet access
provided.
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