On December 12, in New York City, seven jurors convened to evaluate and discuss more than 200 projects submitted to AN‘s second annual Best Of Design Awards.
The jury included Thomas Balsley, of Thomas Balsley Associates; Winka Dubbeldam, of ARCHI-TECTONICS; Kenneth Drucker, of HOK; Chris McVoy, of Steven Holl Architects; Craig Schwitter, of Buro Happold; Annabelle Selldorf, of Selldorf Architects; and Erik Tietz, of Tietz-Baccon.
This year, the jury reviewed projects submitted in nine categories, including Best Landscape, Best Fabrication Project, Best Single Family House, Best Multi-Family Residential, Best Residential Interior, Best Non-Residential Interior, Best Facade, Best Student Built Work, and Building of the Year.
In some categories the jury selected a winner and honorable mentions, in others just winners, and in one, Single Family House, they selected a tie between two winners. Over the coming days we will be posting all of the jury’s selections.
Best Of: Student Built Work
Horizon House
Hokkaido, Japan
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
“I want these GSD students to build me a house.”—Craig Schwitter
Horizon House is located on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido near the town of Taiki-cho. It was conceived as a process for embracing local and seasonal qualities of place.
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The project addresses the concept of “retreat in nature” by framing a seasonal dialogue between inhabitant and environment. The house incorporates locally harvested and salvaged wood, instead of high embodied-energy materials, such as concrete.
Inside, a continuous band of windows provides a 360-degree view to the landscape. The activities of the user shape the indoor thermal comfort envelope through radiant and ground storage systems powered by the combustion of local forest by-products.
Best Of: Student Built Work: Honorable Mention
The Armitage Pavilion, KU Field Station
Lawrence, Kansas
University of Kansas, Dirt Works Studio
This project is a structure for an education center at the KU Field Station, a system of public nature trails just out side of Lawrence maintained by the University of Kansas.
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Designed and built in phases by third year architecture students at KU, the Armitage Pavilion is a 19-by-25-foot timber canopy supported on five rammed-earth walls that shades two raised timber decks, one a speaking platform, the other a place for visitors and staff to watch the sunset. The ribbon pattern of the earthen walls is inspired by waving prairie grass and local soil formations.