The 2017 AN Best of Design Awards was our most successful yet. After expanding the categories to a whopping 42, we got over 800 submissions that made the judging more difficult than ever. Projects in all shapes and sizes came from firms big and small from every corner of the country. While we were surprised by the quantity of submissions, we were not surprised by the quality of the work put forth by our trusty base of architects and designers.
There were some telling trends, however. First, the Adaptive Reuse category could have been three times as big as it was, because almost every category received some kind of reuse project. From lofts to retail spaces in disused buildings, the amount of old structures made new is astounding and speaks to larger movements in U.S. architecture. Reclaimed spaces are currently stylish and it is generally better for the environment and local culture when we reintegrate existing structures into their cities.
One surprise was that our Northeast Building of the Year, the MASS MoCA renovation by Bruner/Cott Architects, took home the prize. The massive reuse project skillfully renegotiates an old factory, which the jury found to be more successful and important than some other new buildings that might have won in the past.
Similarly, for Midwest Building of the Year, we saw a tie between two powerhouse campus projects. Studio Gang’s University of Chicago Campus North Residential Commons and WEISS/MANFREDI’s Kent State Center for Architecture and Environmental Design ignited a strong debate among the jury, and in the end they both proved worthy of the award. It is refreshing to see such good architecture being realized in the Midwest, and it says something about the state of architecture nationwide.
Our jury this year was a blast as always, with a very talented group that sparked vigorous discussions and refined the way we look at architecture. It is always good to get more people involved in the conversation, and we are constantly shifting our views on what is relevant and interesting. We hope you enjoy this selection of winners and honorable mentions, and we look forward to hearing from you next year as we keep searching out the best architecture and design to award!
William Menking, editor in chief
Matt Shaw, senior editor
We will be updating this list over the next few days with winner and honorable mention profiles. To see the complete feature, don’t miss our 2017 Best of Design Awards issue, out now!
2017 AN Best of Design Awards
Building of the Year Midwest
Winners (tie)
University of Chicago Campus North Residential Commons
Studio Gang
Chicago
Kent State Center For Architecture and Environmental Design
WEISS/MANFREDI Architecture/Landscape/Urbanism
Kent, Ohio
Building of the Year West
Winner
Point Loma Nazarene University Science Complex
Carrier Johnson + CULTURE
San Diego, California
Building of the Year Northeast
Winner
The Robert W. Wilson Building at MASS MoCA
Bruner/Cott Architects
North Adams, Massachusetts
Building of the Year Mid-Atlantic
Winner
Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University
Steven Holl Architects
Princeton, New Jersey
Building of the Year Southwest
Winner
Arizona State University Beus Center for Law and Society
Ennead Architects
Phoenix
Building of the Year Southeast
Winner
Grove at Grand Bay
Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)
Coconut Grove, Florida
Restoration
Winner
The Benacerraf House
Michael Graves Architecture & Design
Princeton, New Jersey
Honorable Mentions
ROW DTLA Produce Renovation
Rios Clementi Hale Studios
Los Angeles
Aurora St. Charles Senior Housing
Weese Langley Weese Architects
Aurora, Illinois
Adaptive Reuse
Winner
The Contemporary Austin Jones Center
Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis Architects
Austin, Texas
Honorable Mentions
New Lab at the Brooklyn Navy Yard
Marvel Architects
Brooklyn, New York
MASS MoCA, The Robert W. Wilson Building
Bruner/Cott Architects
North Adams, Massachusetts
Building Renovation
Winner
Black House
Oza / Sabbeth Architecture
Sagaponack, New York
Honorable Mentions
Billboard Building
SHULMAN + ASSOCIATES
Miami
The Beckoning Path
BarlisWedlick Architects
Armonk, New York
Lighting – Outdoor
Winner
Longwood Gardens Renovation
L’Observatoire International
Kennett Square, Pennsylvania
Honorable Mentions
University of Iowa, Hancher Auditorium
Cline Bettridge Bernstein Lighting Design
Iowa City, Iowa
City Point Mall
Focus Lighting
Brooklyn, New York
Lighting – Indoor
Winner
Second Avenue Subway
Domingo Gonzalez Associates
New York
Honorable Mention
Body Factory
BFDO Architects
New York
Civic – Administrative
Winner
Boston Emergency Medical Services
The Galante Architecture Studio
Boston
Honorable Mentions
United States Courthouse, Los Angeles
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
Los Angeles
San Diego Central Courthouse
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
San Diego
Civic – Cultural
Winner
Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art
SO-IL with Bohlin Cywinski Jackson
Davis, California
Honorable Mention
Chrysalis
MARC FORNES / THEVERYMANY
Columbia, Maryland
Civic – Educational
Winner
Elmhurst Community Library
Marpillero Pollak Architects
Queens, New York
Honorable Mentions
Lakeview Pantry
Wheeler Kearns Architects
Chicago
University of California, San Diego Jacobs Medical Center
CannonDesign
La Jolla, California
Hospitality
Winner
Broken Rice
Undisclosable
Denver
Honorable Mention
Wilshire Grand Tower Complex
AC Martin
Los Angeles
Office & Retail
Winner
Albina Yard
LEVER Architecture
Portland, Oregon
Honorable Mentions
Cummins Indy Distribution Headquarters
Deborah Berke Partners
Indianapolis
Zurich North America Headquarters
Goettsch Partners
Schaumburg, Illinois
Facade
Winner
United States Courthouse – Los Angeles
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
Los Angeles
Honorable Mention
University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, Kate Tiedemann College of Business
ikon .5 architects, Harvard Jolly Architects
St. Petersburg, Florida
Green – Residential
Winner
Casa Querétaro
DesignBridge
Chicago
Honorable Mention
Inhabit Solar Cabana
Inhabit Solar
Queens, New York
Green – Civic
Winner
Princeton University Embodied Computation Lab
The Living
Princeton, New Jersey
Honorable Mention
United States Courthouse, Los Angeles
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
Los Angeles
Infrastructure
Winner
10th and Wyandotte Parking Garage
BNIM
Kansas City, Missouri
Interior – Residential
Winner
Chilmark House
Schiller Projects with Lisa Gray of GrayDesign
Chilmark, Massachusetts
Honorable Mention
Capsule Loft
Joel Sanders Architect
New York
Interior – Retail
Winner
Health Yoga Life
BOS|UA
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Interior – Workplace
Winner
Memphis Teacher Residency
archimania
Memphis, Tennessee
Honorable Mention
RDC-S111 Urban Office
Retail Design Collaborative
Long Beach, California
Landscape – Private
Winner
LaGrange Landscape
Murray Legge Architecture
La Grange, Texas
Honorable Mention
De Maria Garden
Gluckman Tang Architects
Bridgehampton, New York
Landscape – Public
Winner
Confetti Urbanism
Endemic (Clark Thenhaus)
San Francisco
Honorable Mentions
Farnham-Connolly State Park Pavilion
Touloukian Touloukian (Pavilion Architect) with Crosby Schlessinger Smallridge (Landscape Architect)
Canton, Massachusetts
The Meriden Green
Milone & MacBroom
Meriden, Connecticut
Mixed Use
Winner
North Main
Bates Masi + Architects
East Hampton, New York
Honorable Mention
Brickell City Centre
Arquitectonica
Miami
Residential – Multi Unit
Winner
True North
EC3
Detroit
Honorable Mentions
American Copper Buildings
SHoP Architects
New York
2510 Temple
Tighe Architecture
Los Angeles
Residential – Single Unit
Winner
Michigan Lake House
Desai Chia Architecture with Environment Architects
Leelanau County, Michigan
Honorable Mentions
Constant Springs Residence
Alterstudio Architecture
Austin, Texas
Upstate Teahouse
Tsao & McKown
Pound Ridge, New York
Urban Design
Winner
India Basin
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
San Francisco
Honorable Mentions
Atlanta’s Park Over GA400
Rogers Partners and Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects
Atlanta
The Reconstruction of Astor Place and Cooper Square
WXY
New York
Small Spaces
Winner
Five Fields Play Structure
Matter Design + FR|SCH Projects
Lexington, Massachusetts
Honorable Mention
Attic Transformer
Michael K Chen Architecture
New York
Unbuilt – Commercial/Civic
Winner
The Ronald O. Perelman Center at The World Trade Center
REX
New York
Honorable Mention
Lima Art Museum (MALI)
Young Projects
Lima, Peru
Unbuilt – Infrastructure
Winner
The Regional Unified Network
ReThink Studio
New York
Honorable Mention
Rogers Partners
Galveston Bay, Texas
Unbuilt – Landscape
Winner
Maker Park
STUDIO V Architecture
Brooklyn, New York
Honorable Mentions
The Statue of Liberty Museum
FXFOWLE
Liberty Island, New York
Pier 55
Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects
New York
Unbuilt – Residential
Winner
14 White Street
DXA studio with NAVA
New York
Honorable Mentions
Long Island City Oyster
Carlos Arnaiz Architects (CAZA)
New York
Necklace Residence
REX
Long Island, New York
Young Architects
Winner
mcdowellespinosa architects
Charlottesville, Virginia and Brooklyn, New York
Honorable Mentions
Spiegel Aihara Workshop
San Francisco
Hana Ishikawa
Chicago
Temporary Installation
Winner
Living Picture
T+E+A+M
Lake Forest, Illinois
Honorable Mentions
Big Will and Friends
Architecture Office
Syracuse, New York and Eindhoven, the Netherlands
Parallax Gap
FreelandBuck
Washington, D.C.
Representation – Analog
Winner
Cosmic Metropolis
Van Dusen Architects
Conceptual
Honorable Mention
Trash Peaks
DESIGN EARTH
2017 Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism
Architectural Representations – Digital
Winner
Three Projects
SPORTS
New York
Honorable Mentions
MIDDLE EARTH: DIORAMAS FOR THE PLANET
NEMESTUDIO
Conceptual
New Cadavre Exquis
NEMESTUDIO
Conceptual
Digital Fabrication
Winner
Under Magnitude
MARC FORNES / THEVERYMANY
Orlando, Florida
Honorable Mentions
Flotsam & Jetsam
SHoP Architects
Miami
As We Are
Matthew Mohr Studios
Columbus, Ohio
New Materials
Winner
Indiana Hardwood Cross-Laminated Timber
IKD
Columbus, Indiana
Research
Winner
Snapping Facade
Jin Young Song (University at Buffalo, Dioinno Architecture)
Conceptual
Honorable Mention
The Framework Project
LEVER Architecture with the Framework Project
Portland, Oregon
Student Work
Winner
Preston Outdoor Education Station
el dorado inc
Kansas State University, College of Architecture, Planning, and Design
Elmdale, Kansas
Honorable Mentions
Waldo Duplex
el dorado inc
Kansas State University, College of Architecture, Planning, and Design
Kansas City, Missouri
Big Vic and the Blue Furret
Rajah Bose
California College of the Arts
San Francisco, California
A special thanks to our 2017 AN Best of Design Awards Jury!
Morris Adjmi
Principal, Morris Adjmi Architects
Emily Bauer
Landscape Architect, Bjarke Ingels Group
Eric Bunge
Principal, nARCHITECTS
Matt Shaw,
Senior Editor, The Architect’s Newspaper
Nathaniel Stanton
Principal, Craft Engineer Studio
Irene Sunwoo
Director of Exhibitions, GSAPP
