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Announcing the winners of the 2020 AN Best of Design Awards

Best of the Best

Announcing the winners of the 2020 AN Best of Design Awards

University of Virginia Memorial to Enslaved Laborers designed by Höweler + Yoon. (Alan Karchmer/Courtesy Höweler + Yoon)

In their editorial accompanying last year’s Best of Design magazine, AN editor in chief Bill Menking and then-executive editor Matt Shaw observed a tendency toward muted color and understated form among the winners. They asked if this was evidence of a broader trend or if 2019 was “just a quiet year.” 

As we close out 2020, we might flip the interrogative emphasis around. Do this year’s Best of Design honorees reflect the tumultuous events of the previous 12 months? The short answer is yes: Both the Project of the Year and the first runner-up—the Memorial to Enslaved Laborers at the University of Virginia and the 1199SEIU member spaces in New York, respectively—address America’s fraught history of race, albeit in different ways. The former circumscribes a space for mournful contemplation by making an earthly incision, while the latter emanates the moral optimism of another age. 

And yet the answer could just as easily be no. The majority of the winning projects were completed in mid-to-late 2019 or early this year, just skirting the construction lockdowns of April and May and the street protests of June and July. These forces—“exogenous,” perhaps, to the AEC sectors but not to society at large—were most likely to affect the operations of the buildings and interiors compiled in the following pages, rather than their final form. 

So, if we are unable to draw any determinative aesthetic trends, what can we say about these projects? What attributes connect these 47 discrete works, representing a total of 50 categories and culled from more than 800 submissions? To begin with, the quality of the submissions has rarely been stronger or, as mentioned above, more timely. A few were especially creative in the face of current constraints, particularly Outpost Office’s Drawing Fields, the winner in the Temporary Installation category; the project employs roving robots to reimagine a performance venue for the COVID-19 era.

Meanwhile, Koning Eizenberg’s MuseumLab in Pittsburgh and Adjaye Associates’ Webster retail store in Los Angeles underscores the importance of mood to interior spaces. Marlon Blackwell Architects’ Thaden School Bike Barn, which took the top prize in the Institutional–Kindergartens, Primary & High Schools category, is the cheeriest—and, thanks to its wood slat enclosure, breeziest—project. And is there a more ideal locale for self-isolating than PRODUCTORA’s Bautista House, whose residents are shielded by a Yucatán nature reserve? 

In closing, we’d like to thank our talented cast of jurors, who gave our submissions the discerning scrutiny they all deserve. We’d also like to point the reader to the 2020 Best of Product winners. While many are particularly well suited to the new normal, they certainly aren’t constrained by it. We hope that all the work contained in this issue inspires and provokes in equal measure.

We will be updating this list over the next few days with winner and honorable mention profiles (part 1 here, part 2 here, part 3 here, part 4 here, part 5 here, part 6 here, and part 7 here). To see the complete feature, don’t miss our 2020 Best of Design Awards Annual issue, out now!

Project of the Year

Winner

Memorial to Enslaved Laborers at the University of Virginia

Höweler + Yoon Architecture in collaboration with Mabel O. Wilson, Gregg Bleam Landscape Architect, Frank Dukes, and Eto Otitigbe

Charlottesville, Virginia

Finalists

1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East
Adjaye Associates
New York City

Winter Visual Arts Building
Steven Holl Architects
Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Public & Social Impact

Winner

Memorial to Enslaved Laborers at the University of Virginia

Höweler + Yoon Architecture in collaboration with Mabel O. Wilson, Gregg Bleam Landscape Architect, Frank Dukes, and Eto Otitigbe

Charlottesville, Virginia

Honorable Mention

Conference House Park Pavilion
Sage and Coombe Architects

FDNY Rescue Company 2
Studio Gang

Javits Center Medical Station & Temporary Hospital
Di Domenico + Partners

MLK1101 Supportive Housing
Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects

Editors’ Picks

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Concourse D Annex
HOK

High Line Section 3, Phase 2
Sciame Construction
Diller Scofidio + Renfro
James Corner Field Operations

DineOut NYC
Rockwell Group

GirlsInc. Of Memphis, Urban Centers-South Park & LFT
archimania

Urban Design

Winner

The Peninsula

WXY Architecture
Body Lawson Associates
Elizabeth Kennedy Landscape Architect

The Bronx

Honorable Mentions

Eastern market Neighborhood Framework and Stormwater Management Network Plan
Utile

Moscone Center Expansion
Landscape architect: CMG Landscape Architecture
Architects: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) and Mark Cavagnero Associates

Editors’ Picks

Essex market and The Market Line
SHoP Architects
Hugh A. Boyd Architects
Formactiv

Mulberry Commons
Sage and Coombe Architects

Landscape

Winner

Mill 19 at Hazelwood Green

Ten x Ten
MSR Design
R3A

Pittsburgh

Honorable Mention

Chicago Botanic Garden: Regenstein Learning Campus
Mikyoung Kim Design
Jacobs/Ryan Associates
Booth Hansen

Water Conservation Garden at Red Butte Garden
Studio Outside

Editors’ Picks

Houston Botanic Garden
West 8 Urban Design & Landscape Architecture
Clark Condon Associates
Overland Partners
Dykema Architects

The Aga Khan Garden, Alberta
Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects
DIALOG

Infrastructure

Winner

The New St. Pete Pier

Rogers Partners
ASD/SKY
Ken Smith Workshop
Booth Design Group

St. Petersburg, Florida

Honorable Mention

Brightline
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill with Zyscovich Architects

PG&E Larkin Street Substation Expansion
TEF Design

Editors’ Picks

Grand Avenue Park Bridge
LMN Architects

Adaptive Reuse

Winner

MuseumLab

Koning Eizenberg Architects
Perfido Weiskopf Wagstaff + Goettel Architects

Pittsburgh

Honorable Mention

Preserve at 620
Nelsen Partners

Rejuvenation of a Historic Powerhouse, San Francisco
Marcy Wong Donn Logan Architects

Editors’ Picks

122 Community Arts Center
Deborah Berke Partners

The Momentary
Wheeler Kearns Architects

Facades

Winner

Victorian Music Box

CCY Architects

Aspen, Colorado

Honorable Mention

215-225 West 28th Street
DXA studio

Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School Expansion
Wheeler Kearns Architects

Editors’ Picks

Willie and Donald Tykeson Hall, University of Oregon
OFFICE 52 Architecture
Rowell Brokaw Architects

Enlace New Offices
Canopy/Architecture + Design

Young Architects

Winner

Atelier Cho Thompson

San Francisco and New Haven, Connecticut

Green Building

Winner

West-Seattle Net Zero

SHED Architecture + Design

Seattle

Honorable Mention

DC Water Headquarters
SmithGroup

King Open/Cambridge Street Upper School and Community Complex
William Rawn Associates with Arrowstreet Architecture & Design
Lighting designer: HLB Lighting Design

Editors’ Picks

University of Victoria District Energy Plant
DIALOG

Wheaton College Pine Hall
SGA

Interior-Green

Winner

DPR Sacramento Headquarters

SmithGroup

Sacramento, Californi

Honorable Mention

The International WELL Building Institute
COOKFOX Architects

University of Delaware The Tower at STAR Campus
Bernardon
EcoWalls
Parker Interior Plantscape

Cultural

Winner

The Reach at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Steven Holl Architects
BNIM
Hollander Design Landscape Architects

Washington, D.C.

Honorable Mention

Burke Museum of Natural History & Culture
Olson Kundig

Jones Beach Energy & Nature Center
nARCHITECTS

Editors’ Picks

New Campus for the Rothko Chapel
Architecture Research Office
Nelson Byrd Woltz

Oklahoma Contemporary Arts center
Rand Elliott Architects

Exhibition Design

Winner

Machine Hallucination

Refik Anadol Studio

New York City

Honorable Mention

Baleinopolis
Studio Gang

The Polaroid Project: At the Intersection of Art and Technology
IKD

Editors’ Picks

Architecture Arboretum
Besler & Sons

Haus Scallop, Haus Sawtooth
MALL

Temporary Installation

Winner

Drawing Fields

Outpost Office

Lake Forest, Illinois

Honorable Mention

Chapel for Luis Barragán
Robert Hutchison Architecture

Society’s Cage
SmithGroup

Single-Unit Residential

Winner

Bautista House

PRODUCTORA

Quintana Roo, Mexico

Honorable Mention

Casa Cosmos
S-AR

Highland Park Residence
Alterstudio Architecture

Editors’ Picks

3609-13 S. Saratoga
OJT (Office of Jonathan Tate)

Three Chimney House
TW Ryan Architecture

Multi-Unit Residential

Winner

The Louisa Flowers Affordable Housing

LEVER Architects
LRS Architects

Portland, Oregon

Honorable Mention

MIRA
Studio Gang
Barcelon Jang Architecture
Magnusson Klemencic Associates

Monterrey 55
Pérez Palacios Arquitectos Asociados

Editors’ Picks

Celestina Garden and Fetters Apartments
MBH Architects
Jon Worden Architects
MidPenHousing

RISD North Hall
NADAAA

Mixed-Use Residential

Winner

Adohi Hall
Leers Weinzapfel Associates
MODUS Studio
Mackey Mitchell Studio
OLIN

Fayetteville, Arkansas

Honorable Mention

The Essex at Essex Crossing
Handel Architects

Westgate 1515
Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects

Editors Picks’

Pier 4
SHoP Architects
CBT Architects

Restoration and Preservation

Winner

Miles C. Bates House

Stayner Architects

Palm Desert, California

Honorable Mention

Mount Auburn Cemetery-Bigelow Chapel Renovation and New Addition
William Rawn Associates, Architects

SMUD HQ Rehabilitation
Dreyfuss + Blackford Architecture

Editors Picks’

Fire Island House
Andrew Franz Architects

Upper West Side Townhouse
Architecture in Formation

Renovation

Winner

Rooftop Prim

PRODUCTORA

Colonia Juárez, Mexico City

Honorable Mention

One Embarcadero Center Lobby
Gensler

The Century Project at the Space Needle
Olson Kundig

Editors’ Picks

Seattle Asian Art Museum
LMN Architects

Stanford School of medicine 1651 Page Mill Road Renewal
HOK

Interior Residential

Winner

Hill Country Wine Cave

Clayton Korte

Hill Country, Texas

Honorable Mention

16 Desbrosses Street
David Bers Architecture

Unit 2808
Vladimir Radutny Architects

Editors’ Picks

Meridian Residence
ROBERT KERR Architectural Design

Tribeca Duplex
Ted Porter Architecture

Interior Retail

Winner

Capital One Café

Leo A Daly

Washington, D.C.

Honorable Mention

BLDWN LA
Montalba Architects

Eyeconic
Perkins&Will

Retail and Mixed-Use Commercial

Winner

The Webster

Adjaye Associates
Neumann/Smith Architecture

Los Angeles

Honorable Mention

Birkenstock Abbot Kinney
TPG Architecture

Blu Dot Showroom
Waechter Architecture

Editors’ Picks

Kurlmanzutto New York
David Bers Architecture

Workplace Commercial

Winner

Sideyard

Skylab

Portland, Oregon

Honorable Mention

Catalyst Building
MGA | Michael Green Architecture
Katerra

Headspace SM Campus
Montalba Architects

Editors’ Picks

Pipefitters Local 537
SGA

Okland Construction Headquarters
WRNS Studio

Interior Workplace

Winner

1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East

Adjaye Associates

New York City

Honorable Mention

225 Polk
Hastings

Steelcase WorkLife DC
BLDGS

Editors’ Picks

Autodesk Boston Workspace Expansion
Utile

335 Madison Avenue
SHoP Architects

Institutional Interior

Winner

Schiff House Daycare Center at The City College of New York

Michielli + Wyetzner Architects

New York City

Honorable Mention

Bay Area Children Center
March Studio

King Open/Cambridge Street Upper Schools and Community Complex
William Rawn Associates with Arrowstreet Architecture & Design
Lighting designer: HLB Lighting Design

Editors’ Picks

Grace Church School Athletic Center
MBB Architects

Institutional Library

Winner

Billie Jean King Main Library

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

Long Beach, California

Honorable Mention

Hunters Point Library
Steven Holl Architects

River Center Branch Library
Schwartz/Silver Architects
WHLC Architecture

Editors’ Picks

Arizona State University Hayden Library Reinvention
Ayers Saint Gross

Columbus Metropolitan Library Martin Luther King Branch
Moody Nolan
HKI Associates

Institutional Higher Education

Winner

Winter Visual Arts Building

Steven Holl Architects

Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Honorable Mention

Beloit College Powerhouse
Studio Gang
Angus-Young Associates

Kansas City Art Institute Paul & Linda DeBruce Hall
Hufft

Editors’ Picks

Isttaniokaksini/Science Commons at University of Lethbridge
KPMB Architects
Stantec Architecture

The Commons at Tulane university
WEISS/MANFREDI
Waggonner & Ball

Institutional Religious

Winner

14th Shamarpa Reliquary Building

Poon Design

Natural Bridge, Virginia

Honorable Mention

Cathedral of the Holy Cross
Elkus Manfredi Architects

Mount Auburn Cemetery Bigelow Chapel Renovation and new Addition
William Rawn Associates, Architects

Institutional K-12

Winner

Thaden School Bike Barn

Marlon Blackwell Architects

Bentonville, Arkansas

Honorable Mention

Little Tiger Chinese Immersion School
Murray Legge Architecture

Editors’ Picks

Deerfield Academy Athletics Complex
Sasaki

Lisle Elementary School
Perkins&Will

The Barn at Belmont Day School
Utile

Commercial Sports

Winner

Bromont Summit Chalet

Lemay

Bromont, Quebec, Canada

Honorable Mention

Chase Center
Pure + FreeForm

Commercial Hospitality

Winner

The Society Hotel Bingen

Waechter Architecture

Bingen, Washington

Honorable Mention

CO-OP Ramen
Marlon Blackwell Architects

Comedor Restaurant
Olson Kundig
McKinney York Architects

Editors’ Picks

Bay Point Landing
OFFICEUNTITLED
Woods Architects
JHL Design

Verve Roastery Del Sur
Design, Bitches

Interior Hospitality

Winner

Asset

Bates Masi + Architects

New York City

Honorable Mention

1700 Broadway Club
Fogarty Finger Architecture

W Montreal Common Spaces
Sid Lee Architecture

Editors’ Picks

Politan Row Houston
Bell Butler Design and Architecture
ASD|SKY

Tilda California Natural Wine
Stayner Architects

Healthcare

Winner

Tribeca Pediatrics Bushwick

OPerA Studio Architecture

Brooklyn, New York

Honorable Mention

Center for Health & Wellbeing
Duda Paine Architects

Curative Project Kiosk
One Hat One Hand

Editors’ Picks

OrthoSouth
Archimania

University of Virginia, University Hospital Expansion
Perkins&Will

Interior Healthcare

Winner

Norwegian American Hospital, First-Floor Transformation

JGMA

Chicago

Honorable Mention

Beverly Clinic
Merge Architects

Cedars-Sinai Advanced Health Sciences Pavilion Outpatient Surgery
CO Architects

Editors’ Picks

Modern Animal
Design, Bitches

Yale Child Study Center
Svigals + Partners

Architectural Lighting – Outdoor

Winner

Constellations

FUTUREFORMS

Pensacola, Florida

Honorable Mention

Belvedere Castle Renovation, Central Park
Central Park Conservancy
Cline Bettridge Bernstein Lighting Design

PG&E Larkin Street Substation Expansion
TEF Design
Horton lees Brogden Lighting Design

Architectural Lighting – Indoor

Winner

Catoptric Surface

Open Source Architecture

St. Louis

Honorable Mention

Goldring/Woldenberg Complex Expansion, Tulane University School of Business
Pelli Clarke Pelli
Manning
Cline Bettridge Bernstein Lighting Design

Hunters Point Library
Steven Holl Architects
L’Observatoire International

Editors’ Picks

King Open/Cambridge Street Upper Schools and Community Complex
William Rawn Associates with Arrowstreet Architecture & Design
Lighting designer: HLB Lighting Design

Digital Fabrication

Winner

Stereoform Slab

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

Chicago

Honorable Mention

Hobbs State Park Monument Trail Campsite and Trailhead Structures
Hufft

London Timber Pavilion
Schiller Projects and Novak Hiles Architects

Editors’ Picks

Rocke Mortgage Field House in Cleveland
Gensler
Eventscape

Research

Winner

New River Train Observation Tower

Virginia Tech

Radford, Virginia

Honorable Mention

The DW (The Dwelling on Wheels)
Modern Shed

Fetch House
CallisonRTKL

Editors’ Picks

GET WELL! Educational Design Ideas for the Post-Pandemic Era
Lubrano Ciavarra Architects

Immersive Space Series
Office of Things

Student Work – Group

Winner

Volland House No. 1

Design+Make Studio, a partnership between El Dorado and Kansas State University College of Architecture, Planning & Design 

Volland, Kansas

Honorable Mention

The Bend
Kent State University

Kaw Pavillion and Trail Markers
University of Kansas Architecture

Student Work – Individual

Winner

Clearlake Wellness Retreat

Samuel Bager, Savannah College of Art and Design

Clearlake, California

Honorable Mention

The Asheville Museum of Algorithmic Art
Amanda Ridings, Savannah College of Art and Design

Recovery
Sam Bager, Savannah College of Art and Design

Unbuilt Educational

Winner

John Deutsch University Centre, Queen’s University

HDR + MJMA

Kingston, Ontario, Canada

Honorable Mention

The Lawrenceville School Tsai Dining and Athletics Center
Sasaki

University of Pennsylvania Meeting and Guest House
Deborah Berke Partners

Editors’ Picks

University of Hawaii Value-Added Agricultural Product Development Center
University of Arkansas Community Design Center with urban Works Architecture

Wonderland ES Kindergarten Classroom Building
John Friedman Alice Kimm Architects

Unbuilt Green Building

Winner

Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Hoover Street Power Yard

HDR

Los Angeles

Honorable Mention

Orange County Sanitation District Headquarters Complex
HDR

Suburban Transformations: The Community Solar Farm market
John Amatruda

Unbuilt Residential

Winner

Urban Awning

Gensler

Los Angeles

Honorable Mention

East Vancouver Integrated Health and Social Housing
HDR

House Five
Studio Ames

Editors’ Picks

Hawaii Residence
Stayner Architects

Plum Creek Valley Farmhouse
Clark Thenhaus/Endemic Architecture

Unbuilt Interior

Winner

Next Workspace

West of West

Honorable Mention

Illume: looking to the Future of Restaurant Design
Aria Group Architects

Innovation Center
Leers Weinzapfel Associates

Unbuilt Cultural

Winner

Lauritzen Gardens Horticulture Complex

HDR

Omaha, Nebraska

Honorable Mention

San Diego State University | Main Stage, Second Stage, and Amenities Pavillion
HGA

Silo City
Studio V Architecture

Editors’ Picks

Helsinki Hamam
Büro Koray Duman Architects
Persak & Wumfeld Marine

Unbuilt Commercial

Winner

Houston Endowment Headquarters

Kevin Daly Architects with PRODUCTORA

Houston

Honorable Mention

New England Mixed-Use Development
Trahan Architects

Terminal Warehouse
COOKFOX Architects

Editors’ Picks

2105 Keith Drive
DIALOG

Canadian Nuclear Laboratories Business Innovation Hub
HDR

Unbuilt Public

Winner

Mental Health Cloister

Studio Ames

New Haven, Connecticut

Honorable Mention

Frisco Public Library
Gensler

Make the Road New York Community Center
TEN Arquitectos with Andrea Steele Architecture

Editors’ Picks

Nunavik’ Multifunctional WArehouse for Housing
Blouin Orzes Architectes

Mystic River Boathouse
Anmahian Winton Architects

Unbuilt Landscape

Winner

Railyard Park

Ross Barney Architects
AFHJ Architects

Rogers, Arkansas

Honorable Mention

Downtown Cary Park
OJB Landscape Architecture
Machado Silvetti

Greenwood Community Park
Sasaki

Editors’ Picks

Red Fence Pastoral, Tri-Point Industrial Park and Food Processing Center
Cliff Garten Studio

TMC 3 Innovation park
Mikyoung Kim Design
Elkus Manfredi Architects

Unbuilt Master Plan

Winner

La Brea Tar Pits and Page Museum Master Plan

WEISS/MANFREDI

Los Angeles

Honorable Mention

L.A. River
Ballman Khapalova

Buffalo Bayou Master Plan East
Buffalo Bayou Partnership and Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates

Editors’ Picks

Estuary Commons: Resilient by Design
CMG Landscape Architecture
All Bay Collective
AECOM
David Baker Architects

The Phoenix Co-op
Elizabeth Golden

Unbuilt Urban Design

Winner

The Great Bridge: Path to Equilibrium

DXA Studio

New York City

Honorable Mention

Double Park: Reimagining NY’s Flatiron & NoMad District as a Network of Open Streets and Parks During the COVID Period
OSD Outside and Project for Public Spaces

The Washington Alley Project
EL Studio and UrbanSEED

Editors’ Picks

Greater Corktown Neighborhood Framework Plan
Perkins&Will

Lake Street Corridor
Habitat Workshop

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