The American Institute of Architects has selected the six recipients of the 2013 Housing Awards. The AIA’s Housing Awards Program, now in its 13th year, was established to recognize the best in housing design and promote the importance of good housing as a necessity of life, a sanctuary for the human spirit and a valuable national resource.
The jury for the 2013 Housing Awards includes: Kathleen Dorgan, AIA, Chair, Dorgan Architecture & Planning; John Isch, AIA, RWA Architects, Inc.; R. Thomas Jones, AIA, California Polytechnic State University; Stephen Sharpe, Hon. AIA and Charles L. Travis, AIA, The Housing Studio, P.A.
The jury recognized projects in four award categories: One/Two Family Custom Housing, One/Two Family Production Housing (none selected this year), Multifamily Housing and Special Housing.
Here's a recap of the winners (all images and descriptions courtesy AIA):
Multifamily Living Category
Via Verde - The Green Way; Bronx, New York
Dattner Architects and Grimshaw Architects
This mixed-use complex provides healthy, affordable urban living for low- and middle-income residents of the South Bronx. Built on a former brownfield site, the project comprises three building types: a 20-story tower, a 6- to 13-story midrise duplex apartment component, 2- to 4-story town houses, 222-unit complex includes.
Large windows, typically on two exposures, allow cross-ventilation and provide abundant daylighting. The garden begins as a courtyard on grade and steps up through a series of south-facing roof terraces. The terraces, many of which are accessible to residents, feature a small apple orchard and plots for growing vegetables while also providing storm water control, enhanced insulation, and mitigation of the urban heat island effect. Rainwater is collected and recycled for irrigation.
Specialized Housing Category
West Campus Housing - Phase I; Seattle
Mahlum Architects
Providing housing for 1,650 students in five buildings this project is the first phase of a student housing expansion for the university. The project has created a new walkable, transit-oriented neighborhood. To ensure the project is woven into the fabric of the city, it includes a number of publicly accessible spaces, including a 116-seat restaurant, 7,000-square-foot grocery store, café, conference center, academic support center, health and wellness center, and two retail spaces.
The exterior material palette was kept simple and economical: imperial-sized brick, white vinyl windows, wood, and weathering steel. Interior materials—mostly recycled, with no VOC content—were selected on the basis of reducing the energy required for shipping and manufacture.
One/Two Family Custom Housing Category
Eagle Ridge; Eastsound, Washington
Gary Gladwish Architecture
This project consists of a combined kitchen-dining-living area, study, master suite, art studio, and storage area, with the flexibility to add bedrooms or an apartment. To meet the client’s requirement that the house be highly efficient, it is constructed of structural insulated panels (SIPS). This method allows for a faster construction time, less waste generation, tighter construction, and better insulation. All the windows and doors are designed to surpass energy code requirements, and all of the lighting is either LED or compact fluorescent to reduce energy consumption. The siting and design of the house maximize passive solar benefits to reduce the energy load.
Halls Ridge Knoll Guest House; San Francisco
Bohlin Cywinski Jackson
The building is carefully detailed in stone, timber, and glass to respond to the site’s rolling topography, a forest of ancient live oaks and manzanita, and panoramic views of the San Clemente Mountains and Los Padres National Forest beyond. A stone wall anchors the building to the sloping site and screens the house and pool. A simple timber-framed shed roof springs from the stone wall, supporting naturally weathered zinc roofing over cedar-clad volumes. Expansive windows provide natural lighting throughout the house, and a broad overhanging roof provides shade from the intense summer sun. Sliding doors and operable hopper windows throughout the house use the prevailing winds for natural ventilation, while also providing expansive views of the mountain range.
House in the Mountains; Colorado
GLUCK+
Roof planes appear as native mountain meadows, making the structure practically invisible from the road above. These green roofs not only provide a super-insulated envelope but also preserve and highlight the original view from the existing house. Continuous clerestory windows wrap around the interior, screening out the road and revealing a spectacular mountain panorama. This clerestory creates a completely daylit space, with lighting necessary only at night. Solar panels are incorporated in the building façade. A retaining wall, clad in Cor-ten steel and cement board, slices diagonally across the site, capturing one side of the solar courtyard and, on the other, forming a private sunken court adjacent to the main living area.
Lake View Residence; Austin, Texas
Alterstudio Architecture LLP
The 5,900-square-foot house emphasizes views and a dynamic spatial sequence. A rich palette of materials on the interior, including mahogany cabinetry and longleaf pine floors, combines to create a warm environment. Oriented for optimal cross-ventilation and protection from the sun without eschewing the view westward, this project also features geothermal HVAC systems, a photovoltaic array, reflective TPO roofing, cellular foam insulation, tankless water heaters, and FSC-certified and reclaimed woods. The house also takes advantage of the tree canopy to provide additional shading, and carefully placed skylights bring diffused daylight to the interior and help reduce reliance on electric lighting.
Related Stories
Steel Buildings | Apr 6, 2023
2023 AISC Forge Prize winner envisions the gas station of the future
Forge Prize winner LVL (Level) Studio envisions a place where motorists can relax, work, play, shop, or perhaps even get healthcare while their vehicles charge.
Architects | Apr 6, 2023
New tool from Perkins&Will will make public health data more accessible to designers and architects
Called PRECEDE, the dashboard is an open-source tool developed by Perkins&Will that draws on federal data to identify and assess community health priorities within the U.S. by location. The firm was recently awarded a $30,000 ASID Foundation Grant to enhance the tool.
Architects | Apr 6, 2023
Design for belonging: An introduction to inclusive design
The foundation of modern, formalized inclusive design can be traced back to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990. The movement has developed beyond the simple rules outlined by ADA regulations resulting in features like mothers’ rooms, prayer rooms, and inclusive restrooms.
Market Data | Apr 6, 2023
JLL’s 2023 Construction Outlook foresees growth tempered by cost increases
The easing of supply chain snags for some product categories, and the dispensing with global COVID measures, have returned the North American construction sector to a sense of normal. However, that return is proving to be complicated, with the construction industry remaining exceptionally busy at a time when labor and materials cost inflation continues to put pricing pressure on projects, leading to caution in anticipation of a possible downturn. That’s the prognosis of JLL’s just-released 2023 U.S. and Canada Construction Outlook.
Cladding and Facade Systems | Apr 5, 2023
Façade innovation: University of Stuttgart tests a ‘saturated building skin’ for lessening heat islands
HydroSKIN is a façade made with textiles that stores rainwater and uses it later to cool hot building exteriors. The façade innovation consists of an external, multilayered 3D textile that acts as a water collector and evaporator.
Market Data | Apr 4, 2023
Nonresidential construction spending up 0.4% in February 2023
National nonresidential construction spending increased 0.4% in February, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data published by the U.S. Census Bureau. On a seasonally adjusted annualized basis, nonresidential spending totaled $982.2 billion for the month, up 16.8% from the previous year.
Sustainability | Apr 4, 2023
ASHRAE releases Building Performance Standards Guide
Building Performance Standards (BPS): A Technical Resource Guide was created to provide a technical basis for policymakers, building owners, practitioners and other stakeholders interested in developing and implementing a BPS policy. The publication is the first in a series of seven guidebooks by ASHRAE on building decarbonization.
Sustainability | Apr 4, 2023
NIBS report: Decarbonizing the U.S. building sector will require massive, coordinated effort
Decarbonizing the building sector will require a massive, strategic, and coordinated effort by the public and private sectors, according to a report by the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS).
Education Facilities | Apr 3, 2023
Oklahoma’s Francis Tuttle Technology Center opens academic center for affordable education and training
Oklahoma’s Francis Tuttle Technology Center, which provides career-specific training to adults and high school students, has completed its Francis Tuttle Danforth Campus—a two-story, 155,000-sf academic building. The project aims to fill the growing community’s rising demand for affordable education and training.
Sports and Recreational Facilities | Mar 30, 2023
New University of St. Thomas sports arena will support school's move to Division I athletics
The University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul, Minn., last year became the first Division III institution in the modern NCAA to transition directly to Division I. Plans for a new multipurpose sports arena on campus will support that move.
