Design Awards

After carefully evaluating 60 entries from 24 local architectural firms, the San Antonio chapter of The American Institute of Architects announced the winners of the 2011 AIA San Antonio Design Awards at a special dinner and ceremony at the Pearl Stable on Friday, November 4, 2011.

The awards celebrate the “best of the best” and help increase public awareness of the importance of architecture in everyday life.

In addition to familiar annual awards given in numerous categories and the popular Mayor’s Choice Award honoring a publicly funded architectural project, this year’s presentation included the chapter’s seventh Twenty-Five Year Award for a distinguished project that has stood the test of time.

Ten projects were selected to receive 2011 AIA San Antonio Design Awards. The winning projects included:

CITATION AWARDS

Project Name:           Haven for Hope
Location:                     San Antonio, Texas – District 5
Owner:                        City of San Antonio
Architect:                     Overland Partners
Contractor                   Zachry Construction Corp.
Consultants:                Blum Consulting (MEP)
                                    DBR Engineering (MEP)
                                    Alderson & Associates (MEP)
                                    Jaster-Quintanilla (Structural)
                                    Valla Design group (Interior Design)
                                    Bender Wells Clark Design (Landscape Architect) 

Project Name:           La Lomita Mission Chapel
Location:                     Mission, Texas
Owner:                        City of Mission, “Diocese of Brownsville”
Architect:                     Kell Munoz Architects
Contractor:                  5125 Company
Consultants:                Halff Associates (Civil)
                                    Hinajosa Engineering (Structural) 

Project Name:           Visual Arts Center
Location:                      Austin, Texas
Owner:                        The University of Texas at Austin
Architect:                     Lake|Flato Architects
Contractor:                  Flynn Construction
Consultants:                Civil Engineering Consultants (Civil)
                                    Jose I. Guerra Engineers (MEP) 
                                    Ten Eyck Landscape Architects

MERIT AWARDS

Project Name:           Hillside House
Location:                     Austin, Texas
Client:                          withheld
Architect:                     Lake|Flato Architects
Contractor:                  Pinnelli Comstruction Company
Consultants:                HHCC, Inc. (MEP)
                                    Datum Engineers (Structural)
                                    Terry Hinziker (Interior Design)
                                    Bill Bauer (Landscape Architect)

Project Name:           University of Pennsylvania Morris Arboretum Horticulture Center* 
Location:                     Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Client:                          University of Pennsylvania
Architect:                     Overland Partners
Contractor:                  W.S. Cumby, Inc.
Consultants:                J.M. Hunt Associates (Civil)
                                    Bruce E. Brooks & Associates (MEP)
                                    CVM Engineers (Structural)
                                    M2 Architects  (Interior Design)
                                    Andropogon Associates (Landscape Architect) 

This project also was chosen for the Sustainability Commendation.

Project Name:           Student Multipurpose Center 
Location:                     Odessa, Texas
Owner:                        The University of Texas of the Permian Basin
Architect:                     Alvidrez Architecture
Contractor:                  Imperial Construction
Consultants:                Landgraf Crutcher (Civil)
                                    Halff Associates (MEP)
                                    Charles Gojer & Associates (Structural)
                                    Alvidrez Architecture (Interior Design) 
                                    KDC Partners (Landscape Architects)  

Project Name:           TMI All Saints Chapel – The Episcopal School of Texas
Location:                     San Antonio, Texas
Architect:                     Ford Powell & Carson, Architects & Planners
Contractor:                  Browning Construction
Consultants:                Poznecki-Camarillo (Civil)
                                    ms2, Inc. (MEP)

 
HONOR AWARDS

Project Name:           Hermann Park
Location:                     Houston, Texas
Owner:                        Hermann Park Conservancy
Architect:                     Overland Partners
Contractor:                  Vaughn Construction
Consultants:                Walter P. Moore & Associates (Civil)
                                     Wylie & Associates (MEP)
                                     Walter P. Moore & Associates (Structural) 
                                     James Patterson Associates (Landscape Architects)

Project Name:           LIVESTRONG (Lance Armstrong Foundation)
Location:                     Austin, Texas
Client:                          Lance Armstrong Foundation
Architect:                     Lake|Flato
Contractor:                  Spaw Maxwell Company
Consultants:                Baker-Aicklen & Assoc. (Civil)
                                    ARC Engineering (MEP)
                                    Architectural Engineers Collaborative (Structural)
                                    The Bommarito Group (Interior Design)
                                    Ten Eyck Landscape Architects

Project Name:           Story Pool Pavilion
Location:                     Centerpoint, Texas
Client:                          Ed & Joel Story
Architect:                     Lake|Flato Architects
Contractor:                  Duecker Construciton, Inc.
Consultants:                Jack Harrison, P.E. (Structural)

STUDIO AWARDS
AIA San Antonio added a new awards submittal category in 2011 - the AIA San Antonio Studio Awards.  Open to the chapter’s design practitioners, faculty, and students, this award recognizes excellence in design for conceptual projects and un-built work. Of the eleven projects submitted for consideration three were from architects and seven were submitted by local architecture students. The three member jury was chaired by former UT-Austin School of Architecture Dean Larry Speck, FAIA. Speck, now a principal with Page Southerland Page in Austin, TX, was joined by Cisco Gomes and Matt Fajkus.
The winning projects included:

• SLOT 211 – submitted by Ford Powell & Carson
• Cooper (2) House – submitted A-Gruppo, LLC

MAYOR’S CHOICE AWARD
This popular award was started in 2000, recognizing outstanding work on publicly funded architectural projects.
This year’s winner is Café College. The 5,000 SF warehouse was transformed into a series of classrooms, computer lab and meeting spaces for patrons seeking college information. Cafe College is strategically located in District 1 near UTSA and other centers of learning.
Christina Davis of RVK Architects accepted the award from Mayor Castro. 
 
25-YEAR AWARD
AIA San Antonio established the Twenty-Five Year Distinguished Building Award in 2005.  It recognizes architectural projects of significant cultural importance that were completed at least 25 years ago.
The criteria for eligibility include: a project that is at least 25 years old and within the chapter boundaries; that was designed by an architect who, at sometime in his or her career, was a member of the San Antonio chapter; and, importantly, a project that maintains its dignity and appeal to this day.

For 2011, the award goes to The Tower of the Americas, an iconic San Antonio landmark created for the 1968 World’s Fair, designed by Ford Powell & Carson, Architects & Planners. 

Accepting the Award on behalf of the Tower of the Americas were Boone Powell, FAIA, Ford Powell & Carson who was the Principal-in-Charge and Lead Designer for the Tower; Mayor Julian Castro and Lori Houston, representing the City of San Antonio, owners of the Tower; Jared Aguilar and Stephanie Boland representing Landry’s, the current tenant of the Tower; and Xavier Gonzalez with the Hemisfair Park Area Redevelopment Corporation (HParc), the entity tasked with transforming the site of the former World’s Fair into a vibrant neighborhood. 

Also present were several members of the original team including Ray Pinnell, the Design Engineer for the Tower of the Americas (Feigenspan & Pinnell Consulting Engineers). Mr. Pinnell, now in his 90’s, was joined by good friend and fellow engineer Dick Kistner, who during the construction worked for Pre Stressing Industries, a high strength steel company who provided the pre-stressed post tensioning for the Tower. 
 
2011 JURORS
Serving on this year’s Design Awards jury were: 
 
Andrea P. Leers, FAIA
Leers Weinzapfel Associates – Boston, MA
 
Andrea P. Leers received a bachelor of arts in art history from Wellesley College and a master of architecture from the Graduate School of Fine Arts at the University of Pennsylvania. Leers founded an independent practice in 1970, and in 1982 she and Jane Weinzapfel established Leers Weinzapfel Associates in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1991, she was elected to the AIA’s College of Fellows. In 1997 she was a visiting artist at the American Academy in Rome. In 2007 she was Chaire des Amériques at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.
 
She is currently an adjunct professor of Architecture and Urban Design at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and former Director of the Masters of Urban Design Program. Previous teaching posts include visiting critic at the University of Pennsylvania and Tokyo Institute of Technology, Harry S. Shure Visiting Professor at the University of Virginia, and adjunct associate professor at Yale University.  Since 1979, Leers has been involved in research and design in Japan, through which she earned an NEA/Japan U.S. Friendship Commission Design Arts Fellowship.
 
Leers is a national leader in courthouse design, teaching and Executive Education Seminar at the Harvard Graduate School of Design Since 1993.  She currently serves on the U.S. General Services Administration’s Public Buildings Service National Register of Peer Professionals and was a former member of the Architectural Advisory Board for the U.S. Department of State.  She is a member of the President’s Visiting Committee for MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning, and a Commissioner of the Boston Civic Design Commission (BCDC), the mayor’s appointed committee to review all major development and institutional projects in Boston.
 
Jack DeBartolo, FAIA
DeBartolo Architects – Phoenix, AZ
 
Jack DeBartolo Jr. FAIA (Ohio, 1938) studied architecture at the University of Houston and at Columbia University in New York, receiving the William Kinne Travelling Fellowship for honors in 1963. After working as principal with Caudill Rowlett Scott [CRS] from 1964 to 1972, DeBartolo founded Anderson DeBartolo Pan, Inc. in Tucson, Arizona with two other partners. As founder and design leader, his innovative creativity in campus planning and renowned design intelligence in high-tech research laboratory, educational and healthcare facilities resulted in over $1 billion of award winning, significant built architectural projects throughout the US and abroad.
 
With a passion to take a renewed approach to design, in 1994 DeBartolo was awarded the AIA WMR Silver Medal recognizing his contributions that have transcended local boundaries and have benefitted the profession and the citizens of the Western Mountain Region. In 1996 DeBartolo formed a new architectural practice with his son. In this new and creative environment, design excellence is achieved through integrated thinking - where they collaborate to distill the essence of the most complex problems and shape them into unique and sensitive architectural solutions that are sympathetic to the client, context and climate. DeBartolo is responsible for the design of over one hundred projects gaining national, regional and local design awards. DeBartolo’s work has been published widely in the architectural and design press and he has recently taught, lectured and served on juries in several cities throughout the United States. 
 
Arthur Andersson, AIA
Andersson • Wise Architects – Austin, TX
Arthur has practiced architecture over three decades throughout the United States in Kansas City, New Orleans and Austin. He co-founded Andersson•Wise Architects in 2001 and Moore/Andersson Architects in 1991. As design director, Arthur’s role isto provide leadership by establishing design concepts and integrating the client into the collaborative process. The Washington State History Museum and Chihuly Bridge of Glass in Tacoma, two completed works on the campus of St. Edward’s University in Austin, and the Beach Museum of Art at Kansas State University are a short list of his recently completed projects.
 
In Austin, Andersson was most recently selected to design a 400-seat theatre for Zachary Scott Theatre, and a new dormitory & student center for St. Stephen’s Episcopal School. Andersson-Wise is currently under construction on the 37-story Block 21/W Hotel in downtown Austin (completed in December) including a 2,200 seat music venue and recording studio which, when completed, will be the new home of Austin City Limits.
 
2011 DESIGN AWARDS CHAIRS & SPONSORS
The 2011 AIA San Antonio Design Awards program was jointly chaired by Xavier Gonzalez, Assoc. AIA, of RVK Architects and Adam Bush, AIA, of Overland Partners. 
Master of ceremonies was David Lancaster, Senior Director of Advocacy for the Texas Society of Architects in Austin, Texas.  
Workplace Resource is the sponsor of the Awards Banquet.
Jaster-Quintanilla San Antonio is the Sponsor of the Awards Cocktail Reception.
RKI Texas generously underwrote the wine for the event.
Major Awards sponsors include Pape-Dawson Engineers – Mayor’s Choice Award; Lucifer Lighting – Twenty-Five Year Distinguished Building Award; City of San Antonio Office of Environmental Policy in partnership with the City Architect’s Office – Sustainability Commendation; Spectrum Lighting – Juror River Barge Tour; Big Red Dog Engineering & Consulting – Studio Awards.
SpawGlass San Antonio and Austin joined AIA San Antonio as an Honor Sponsor.
Citation Sponsors for the Awards Banquet include Beldon Roofing, Bell & McCoy Lighting and Controls, Hensel Phelps Construction, and Keller Martin Construction.
This year’s student gallery sponsors are F.A. Nunnelly Company, R.M. Rodgers, Inc., The Sabinal Group, and Wrightson, Johnson, Haddon, and Williams. 
Additional donations came from Armstrong World Industries, Del Lighting and DG Publishing.

ABOUT AIA
Since 1857, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) has represented the professional interests of America's architects. As AIA members, more than 80,000 licensed architects, emerging professionals, and allied partners express their commitment to excellence in design and livability in our nation's buildings and communities. Members adhere to a code of ethics and professional conduct that assures the client, the public, and colleagues of an AIA-member architect's dedication to the highest standards in professional practice.
AIA San Antonio is committed to promoting the value of architecture to the public and unifying the membership in service to, and growth of, the architectural profession.