2019 Best of Design Award for Cultural: Menil Drawing Institute
Designer: Johnston Marklee
Location: Houston
The Menil Drawing Institute, sited within the 30-acre Menil Collection campus, is the first freestanding museum building in the United States dedicated to the exhibition, study, storage, and conservation of modern and contemporary drawings. The project mandated space for the care, study, and display of works on paper with strict conservation requirements as well as flexible space for conferences and intimate rooms for research and exhibition. The low-lying profile distinguishes the structure, which is integrated within the campus fabric of buildings and gardens. Under extended canopies, the two courtyard entrances create a cooling garden threshold between the institute and the campus that, together with branching trees and porous ground cover, diffuses sunlight in and around the building.
Landscape Architect: Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates
Structural Engineer: Guy Nordenson and Associates with Cardno Haynes Whaley
MEP Engineer: Stantec
Lighting Engineer: George Sexton Associates
Civil Engineer: Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam
Honorable Mentions
Project Name: NY State Equal Rights Heritage Center
Designer: nARCHITECTS
Project Name: Ruby City
Designer: Adjaye Associates
Editors’ Picks
Project Name: The Evans Tree House at Garvan Woodland Gardens
Designer: modus studio
Project Name: St. Mary Chapel
Designer: PLY+
