Washington, D.C. – January 15, 2016 – The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has selected the 2016 recipients of the Institute Honor Awards, the profession’s highest recognition of works that exemplify excellence in architecture, interior architecture and urban design. Selected from roughly 500 submissions, 18 recipients located throughout the world will be honored at the AIA 2016 National Convention in Philadelphia.

2016 Institute Honor Awards for Architecture

The 2016 AIA Institute Honor Award for Architecture jury includes: Josiah Stevenson, FAIA (Chair), Leers Weinzapfel Associates Architects; José Alvarez, AIA, Eskew+Dumez+Ripple; Brad Cloepfil, AIA, Allied Works Architecture, Inc.; Roberto de Leon, AIA, De Leon & Primer Architecture Workshop; Julie Eizenberg, FAIA, Koning Eizenberg Architecture, Inc.; Julie Engh, Assoc. AIA, Highland Associates; Elizabeth Hallas, AIA, Anderson Hallas Architects, P.C.; Danielle Jones, AIAS Representative and Christian Zimmerman, FASLA, Prospect Park Alliance.

American Enterprise Group - National Headquarters Renovation; Des Moines
BNIM

This project encompasses the nearly invisible rehabilitation of an eight-story office building designed by SOM’s Gordon Bunshaft, which received a 1967 AIA Honor Award for Architecture. Original systems were meticulously integrated with the building architecture. Rehabilitation required substantial demolition of the interior, which was obsessively reconstructed to accommodate new building and life-safety systems. The renovated space addresses human efficiency and evolving workplace standards with both systems and a minimal, modern office design that enhances human productivity while making AEG’s significant art collection an integrated part of the experience.

Asia Society Center; Admiralty, Hong Kong
Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects | Partners; Associate Architect: AGC Design Ltd.; Associated Architects Ltd.

Combining historical buildings from the British colonial period with an angular footbridge and a glass-wrapped modern pavilion, the Asia Society complex in Hong Kong spans eras, cultures and styles. They connected the three 19th-century buildings to an extant 1940s structure via a footbridge that cuts a sharp "V" line through the verdant setting, and inserted a new 11,000-square-foot pavilion behind the younger building. The zigzagging bridge through the greenery, covered like many walkways in traditional Chinese gardens, yields expansive views of the city.

Case Inlet Retreat; Lakebay, Washington
MW Works | Architecture+Design

The design brief called for a modern, low-maintenance abode that had a strong relationship with the land. The architects devised a solution whose simple forms unfold into the landscape, offering a unique interaction with the site in each room. The living space projects west into the tree canopy on a cantilevered platform, capturing views of the water and sunset. The kitchen reaches out through a sliding glass door to engage the meadow and the afternoon sun. The site permeates the building, through its ample windows and doors that bring in daylight, views of the Olympic Mountains and natural ventilation. Its concerted use of rugged, natural materials that complement what is found in the local landscape and also reinforces a sense of context and connection.

CHS Field; Saint Paul, Minnesota
Snow Kreilich Architects, Inc, Ryan A+E, Inc. and AECOM

Working with the St. Paul Saints, an independent league franchise, and the City of St. Paul, the architects slipped a 7,000-seat ballpark into a remnant site between an interstate highway, an elevated bridge, a light-rail operations facility and the historic Lowertown District on the edge of St. Paul's business core. Wherever possible, the stadium is porous, opening itself to the life of the blocks around it. The main entrance frames the termination of Fifth Street, creating a vital connection to that core via an axial view along the street to the historic St. Paul Hotel. The sleek, low ballpark offers powerful views to the surrounding structures, many of them warehouses from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Henderson-Hopkins School; Baltimore
Rogers Partners

The 125,000-square-foot K-8 partnership school run by Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, is a progressive learning environment for children and a laboratory for the next generation of educators. While most elementary schools are single buildings, the School is a cluster of “containers for learning” inspired by East Baltimore’s row houses, stoops, and social civic spaces. Through its intentionally porous, safe, urban plan, and the craftsmanship of light, materiality and performance, its design respects history and supports the future of education and of its neighborhood.

Mariposa Land Port of Entry Expansion and Modernization; Nogales, Arizona
Jones Studio

Situated amidst the high desert of southern Arizona and Sonora, Mexico, the Mariposa Land Port of Entry reimagines a border station: The public is welcomed to the U.S. by a canopy colored with reds, whites, and blues of a waving flag. Tree-lined walkways and landscape are irrigated by one-million gallons of harvested rainwater. Art and poetry are integrated within the crossing experience. Vehicular processing zones guide private vehicles and commercial vehicles, carrying 40% of produce entering the U.S., to either side of a central garden “oasis”, providing officers and staff a respite on site.

Perot Museum of Nature and Science; Dallas
Morphosis Architects; Associate Architect: Good Fulton & Farrell

The Perot Museum of Nature and Science creates a new identity for Dallas’ premier science museum, engaging a broad audience with multi-sensory, immersive learning environments. Rejecting the notion of museum architecture as a neutral background for exhibits, the building itself is designed as a didactic tool for demonstrating scientific principles at work. Various strategies are used throughout the building to inspire learning and comprehension, including revealing the building structure and mechanical systems, fore-fronting energy-saving and water-reuse technologies, and integrating local ecologies into the landscaping.

Pterodactyl; Culver City, California
Eric Owen Moss Architects

The four-story parking garage that serves as the Pterodactyl's podium predates it, but was built to withstand the load of an upward expansion. It has an open floor plan suited to contemporary office layouts, and much of its glass front is two stories high, providing an appealingly day-lit setting that a look at the exterior might not suggest. Because it is above many of the neighboring buildings, the west-facing main facade is exposed to sea breezes for passive cooling. Most glazing faces north, and south-facing sections are covered in standing-seam metal panels that reflect the hot sun away from the building.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral Conservation, Renovation & Systems Upgrade; New York City
Murphy Burnham & Buttrick Architects

Built in 1853 by architect James Renwick, Jr., St. Patrick's Cathedral has stood as a soaring icon of the spiritual life of New Yorkers. A renovation launched in 2005 touched every building surface, from the top of its 330-foot spires to the bottom, inside and out. At the same time, innovative mechanical and life-safety systems were installed, with minimal intrusion on the splendid visual pleasures of the cathedral. The work was minutely detailed, including a forensic analysis to determine the precise specifications that Renwick made for interior paint and exterior stone mortar. A new closed-loop geothermal system that will rely on below-ground temperatures to displace 240 tons of air conditioning power and participate in winter heating as well.

US Land Port of Entry; Van Buren, Maine
Snow Kreilich Architects, Inc. and Robert Siegel Architects

Set on a long, slender site on a bluff over the St. John River, the building is configured as a “Z” to provide staffers shelter from harsh winds, sleet and snow while presenting a sleek profile to visitors and passersby. The rhythmic alternation of opaque and transparent panels on the facade mimics the view between and among trees, while at the same time representing the requisite divisions between public and secure spaces that customs work demands. An exemplary outcome of the federal General Services Administration's Design Excellence Program, the Land Port of Entry skillfully couples a modern set of materials and program needs with an appreciation for regional history and landscape.

WMS Boathouse at Clark Park; Chicago
Studio Gang Architects