In the 55th annual AIA Seattle Honor Awards, program, a panel of critical observers reviewed some 150 entries from Washington design professionals, offering remarks and announcing awards Monday evening November 6, 2006 before an enthusiastic assembly of nearly 700 friends and fans of architecture, at McCaw Hall, Seattle Center.

Benjamin Franklin Elementary School (Mahlum Architects)

UW College of Architecture and Urban Planning Dean Daniel S. Friedman PhD, FAIA moderated a jury comprising architects Ed Feiner FAIA, SOM (Washington, DC), Margaret Helfand FAIA, Helfand Architecture (New York); and James Timberlake FAIA, KieranTimberlake (Philadelphia). Over the preceding weekend,the jury reviewed, visited, and considered projects completed within the last five years as well as Not Yet Built work.

On stage at McCaw: Daniel Friedman PhD, FAIA moderates jury discussion.

From some 150 entries, the jury selected 13 projects for award, and also commented on overall characteristics of the work submitted, with challenges to the design community to take their work to the next level.

Weighing the merits: Timberlake, Helfand and Feiner share their observations with the audience.

Three Pecha Kucha entries, shown at the opening of the Honor Awards event, received acknowledgment in the presentation of Citations.

CLICK HERE to review full credit information for the selected projects.

HONOR AWARD (1):
·BENJAMIN FRANKLIN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (Kirkland): Mahlum Architects for Lake Washington School District
Jury comments: "This project truly speaks for itself, creating a place of learning in every rich sense of that expression, with total dedication to sustainable goals. In every aspect, it enhances the learning experience of students and visitors through thorough connection to the natural environment of the place - with nature further incorporated into the craft of the structures themselves. From the moment students approach their school and their studies, the place attracts and affects them with a natural experience. "In the richest possible expression of sustainability, the design and construction of Franklin School thoroughly manifest environmental connection - using inexpensive, non-toxic, transparent materials to deliver the highest value to students, their teachers, and the surrounding community, and at low cost."

AWARDS OF MERIT (9):
·McINTYRE PERFORMING ARTS AND CONFERENCE CENTER (Mount Vernon): LMN Architects for Skagit Valley College
Jury comments: "This cultural facility demonstrates that, through effective design, a public school can deliver a rich resource to its surrounding community - and with a tight budget. Here we see the creation of a procession of spaces that invite public participation and appreciation through an entry sequence from the street through an entry porch, on through the anteroom and lobby, and on to the performance space within. We admire the subtle horizontal shifts in this sequence, with changing ceiling heights and details."

·LEE CENTER FOR THE ARTS (Seattle): LMN Architects for Seattle University
Jury comments: "This terrific adaptive reuse offers passers-by and audiences a sense of simultaneous histories - the origins of the space redirected to the opening of new cultural experiences. It contributes to a new sense of its urban neighborhood. We commend the remarkably effective collaboration of design and client, resulting in a concentration of resources to create a special experience for visitors and neighbors alike - meeting the challenges of a constrained budget with special and stylish grace."

·MEADOW CREEK HOUSE (Seattle): Eggleston Farkas Architects for anonymous clients
Jury comments: "We found here a wonderfully serene place, embodying a clear plan for perfectly ordered living, in total harmony with its environment - 'a bento box for living.' The design creates a controlled experience of occupation, following the grain of its materials. The project offers a real lesson in detailing, and emblemizes what we identify as the best of Northwest residential design. 'So refined it makes you want to cry.'"

·WONG ECKLES RESIDENCE (North Kohala Island HI): Cutler Anderson Architects for Allene Wong & David Eckles
Jury comments: "This wonderfully shaped and detailed residence, informed by the special circumstances of its physical environment, captures the lightness and openness of the locale with a firm foundation in the land. In this way, it embodies the strength of Hawaii's indigenous design tradition, and at the same time creates a space with wings that carry it to a new level of lightness. These elements interact dynamically, supported by effective use of technology that suits the house to its place in a seismically challenging area. Adding to the design symphony, skillful siting and landscaping enhances the architecture and the experience of occupation of this beautiful place."

·DELTA SHELTER (Winthrop): Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects for an anonymous client
Jury comments: "This simple and graceful treehouse extends the experience of its woodsy setting into a collection of residential spaces. It transparently reflects the living experience of human interaction with the architecture, and through that with the natural surround. Openness to the four seasons shapes the relationship of spaces and the choice of materials -- for instance, the use of steel to achieve apertures that connect with yet protect from the extremes of weather. Together, the form and materials elegantly support the basic thesis of the design of this place."

·TYEE RIVER CABIN (Skykomish): Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects for an anonymous client
Jury comments: "In this 'high-class tent,' the design manifests an economy of means, with a desirably robust and tactile combination of materials. A striking structure throws the cabin completely open to the landscape, creating an unbarriered yet intimate experience. The space offers total comfort, without in any way distancing the experience of the place from the rugged climate."

·156 WEST SUPERIOR BOULEVARD (Chicago IL): Miller|Hull Partnership, for Ranquist Development Inc.
Jury comments: "Here, on a scale of development that will become increasing universal in cities across the US and the world, architects direct their client's resources wisely in the creation of an infill apartment block. Overcoming the constraints that typically condition such projects, the design here presents a light and hospitable face to the neighborhood. We appreciate the perversity of the cross-bracing at the street level."

·HOME PLATE (Not Yet Built, for a site in Seattle's SoDo neighborhood): Mithun, for Gull Industries
Jury comments: "Here we see a very good precursor to the very good regeneration of an urban neighborhood that respects the tradition of the place while bringing new vitality and interactivity to business and community functions. With a vibrant mix of uses, Home Plate offers a positive addition. We especially remark the creation here of a system that rolls all around the block - a large mass, but strongly reflecting the human scale of its various uses. Skillful urban moves, to create a readily inhabitable city place"

·NORTON SOUND REGIONAL HOSPITAL (Not Yet Built, for a site at Gold Hill, Nome AK): Mahlum Architects, for Norton Sound Health Corporation
Jury comments: "This remarkable sculpture reflects and shapes the stark and inhospitable terrain of its surroundings, relating more to the natural environment than to the habitation of this remote town – much in the way of the Mayan pyramids. Working with a very challenging program, the architects took a holistic approach to create an innovative and appropriate structure manifesting a spiritual and emotional response to the land and the unique from of Northern civilization. A great challenge bravely met."

COMMENDATIONS (3):
·BALLARD LIBRARY AND NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICE CENER (Seattle): Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, for The Seattle Public Library
Jury comments: "This structure draws richly from the qualities of its urban waterfront-related neighborhood, with sweeping welcome gestures that invite neighborhood interest and use. The front arcade opens an embrace that wraps the whole building, including its topographical green roof - offering a visual and functional reservoir of green in the neighborhood commercial center. Its beautiful transparency draws interest to the interior, where an elegant allocation of furnishings makes intimate environments for library users."

·DUKE ENERGY CENTER (Cincinnati OH): LMN Architects, for the City of Cincinnati
Jury comments: "Architects know that to innovate at this scale offers a real challenge, to integrate a major civic structure with its urban surround. Here the exterior expresses a sense of the city, with a sunscreen that literally reflects the urban neighborhood and relates it to the riverfront. The interiors present a fresh way of elevating the discourse among very large spaces, that usually have very little character or articulation. The Center animates the street, while offering a civic presence that crosses the river."

·ZIG ZAG HOUSE (Bellevue): David Coleman/Architecture, for anonymous clients
Jury comments: "The plan for this residential structure creates a dynamic series of interior spaces, using an austere palate of materials to further emphasize the concept of the place and to order movement through the composition. We note the effective application of an industrial aesthetic, in concept and execution."

A second jury reviewed entries for this year's Pecha Kucha category, bringing forward expression in a format originated at Klein Dytham architecture (Tokyo) that manifests the intention to draw creative people together, and centers around the importance of blurring the boundaries between design disciplines to broaden, engage, and inspire.

CITATION/Pecha Kucha (3):
·100 Pencil Drawings So Far: Li Tao
·Dynamic Proprioception: Trevor Dykstra
·flux: Todd Matthes & Ayako Sakurai

According to Honor Awards Committee Chair Steve McConnell AIA, the Honor Awards program offers the occasion to celebrate design excellence, and to consider the role of architecture in changing lives and enriching human experience. "We appreciate the creative participation of all entrants and observers in shaping and observing the process of living change."

AIA Seattle Members and friends celebrate with Honor Award recipients at the Holiday Party December 6.