Congratulations to our 2020 Design + Honor Award Winners!

Honor Award - Architecture: Spectrum Design, PC | Claude Moore Education Complex

The jury valued the intervention at several scales: It is a well-crafted contribution to the historic urban fabric and social life of the community. The submission honors the historic theater with a subtle play of forms, rhythm and materials in the main façade. The design of the threshold behind the main façade allows transitions from the façade facing the city to the interior programmatic spaces indoors. The section shows a sensitivity to daylight that each classroom kitchen receives while opening the vision of the activities to the street.

The jury valued the presentation of the project, with the diversity of ingredients of the design process carefully represented in drawings and diagrams.

Honor Award - Renovation/Historic Preservation: Hill Studio | Baldwin Horton Square

One can only imagine the quality of this small urban space once it is completed and populated, but the design preserves the inherited “bones” and their capacity to generate architecture with edges and space definition. While the missing building may contribute, it is not seen as necessary - its presence is represented by a “void”-, the jury applauded the restraint of the physical and the understanding of the historical and emotional contexts at play here.

Among the various renovation submissions, the jury selected the Baldwin Horton Square project as an excellent case of sparking new urbanities. The collection of buildings and their in between spaces are integrated in a drawing that represents their present and their future as an open-ended desire that will evolve with the needs of the community.

The jury also recognized the value of two other submissions (also by Hill Studio) that preserve the memory of a place and the historic importance of the railroad system to catalyze new urban and civic relationships:

In the Foreman’s House project, the subsequent integration of the mural and the outdoor space highlights the success of the intervention.

The Bassett Depot project reveals the rich wooden structure of the original building in the renovation of main interior space.

Honor Award - Student: Albert Fajardo, Kenneth Johnston, Peyton Bright, Tyler Peterson, and Shannon Cain | RIBBON

The jury valued the design of a modular and flexible system with the capacity to invite social gathering in spontaneous forms. The axonometric representation conveys very successfully the technical, formal and social qualities of the design. The Jury wondered if it was considered to use music to influence the sequence and spacing of the objects, i.e. like a scale, lyrically.

RIBBON was a collaboration between the Virginia Tech College of Music and College of Architecture and Urban Studies at Virginia Tech questioning the typical relationship between stage, audience, and performer. By redefining the isolation between a string quartet and it’s audience, the design encourages multiple levels of engagement. Individuals consider their space requirements and adjacency as they freely move around the structure. The proposed assembly is a series of undulating platforms, called RIBBONS, that both audience and performer occupy.

The jury for the 2020 Design + Honor Awards was comprised of talented architects from around the country who graciously shared their time and insight. The jury was comprised of architect M. Kirk Train, FAIA and international architect and educator Elena Cánovas. The projects were not judged in competition with one another, but rather on the basis of the solution to the problem presented and their worthiness for an award of excellence in architecture and design. The breadth and strength of the projects presented here is a testament to the skill and passion of the practitioners and students in our region.

Due to the Covid Pandemic, we were unable to host our biannual Design + Honor Awards Gala. Awards were recognized at our Annual Member Meeting the following year.