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Announcing the winners of the 2021 AN Best of Design Awards

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Announcing the winners of the 2021 AN Best of Design Awards

The Amant Art Campus in North Brooklyn (Rafael Gamo)

The grand opening of the Amant Art Campus in Bushwick, Brooklyn (the 2021 AN Best of Design Awards’ Project of the Year) took place on an idyllic Saturday in July. The sun was out but the air, vibrating in the mid-70s, was mild for summer in New York City. There would be a smattering of rain showers later that evening but as the party ramped up, the light was falling across Grand Street in such a way as to lend even that snaggletoothed stretch of auto repair shops, storage facilities, and working-class rowhouses an aura of glamor. This place, intensely gentrified despite its broken-down appearance, still isn’t where one might expect to find award-winning architectural design. But there, hidden behind a subdued facade that could just as easily be the front of a poultry plant, is to be found an essay on spatial and programmatic richness, the deft handling of humble materials, and effective, meaningful formal exploration.

Surprising discoveries such as Amant are a large part of what makes AN’s awards program so rewarding to produce and share with our audience. Here is a statement on the diverse and often unexpected realms where great architecture, great designers, and great products are appearing, across the North American continent and beyond. And this year represents an even richer portfolio of surprises with the addition of our Best of Practice Awards, in which our jury evaluated design firms from across the AEC spectrum on everything from quality of work to employee work/life balance.

Additional highlights for me include The Shelter Project, a resource-packed wooden bus stop featuring a solar-powered charging station, rainwater cistern, and community message board, and the student speculative project Area 10 that locates a museum and visitor center in the bottom of a giant crater made by nuclear bomb testing in the Nevada Desert, showing a way other than depression and anxiety to engage with the more terrifying aspects of the Anthropocene. To learn more about all the winners, pick up a copy of the Best of Design magazine, out now. —Aaron Seward

JURY

Germane Barnes
Director
Studio Barnes
Anda French
Co-founder
French2D
Wonne Ickx
Partner
PRODUCTORA
Carol Ross Barney
Design Principal and Founder
Ross Barney Architects
Jason Pugh
President
NOMA
Thomas Phifer
Founder
Thomas Phifer and Partners

PROJECT OF THE YEAR

Naho Kubota
Winner
Amant Art Campus
SO­–IL
Brooklyn, New York City
“The Amant Art Campus is a place where contemporary art and discourse live. It demanded a strong architecture, abstract in its context and cloaked with direct materials that have a sense of permanence. The poetry of the facades marks the passage of time each day with a treasury of shadows and light.”Thomas Phifer
Finalists
NXTHVN
Deborah Berke Partners
New Haven, Connecticut
Loisium Hotel Expansion
Steven Holl Architects
Langenlois, Austria

PUBLIC

Joshua White
Winner
Robertson Recreation Center
“This rec center has real charm and does real work. The undulating walls and roof squeeze the program onto a tight sight while maintaining heritage trees and opening clerestories on the interior, allowing lots of daylight into the basketball court.”Aaron Seward
Honorable Mentions
Roxbury Branch of the Boston Public Library Renovation
Utile
Boston

SOCIAL IMPACT

Courtesy Somewhere Studio
Winner
The Shelter Project
“Wouldn’t it be great if our urban furniture provided real necessities as opposed to saturating us with advertisements? Here’s a bus shelter that collects rainwater for irrigating plants, harvests solar energy for a charging station, and includes a community bulletin board and pantry in addition to furnishing shade and seating.”Aaron Seward
Honorable Mentions
East Clarke Place Senior Residence
Willie Woo Woo Wong Chinese Playground and Clubhouse
Editors Picks
Leimert Park Community Fridge

URBAN DESIGN

A. Rebbeck/Courtesy Penn Group
Winner
“Rich in texture and space, this urban design project successfully blurs the line between old and new, public and private, rustic and raw.”Jason Pugh

ADAPTIVE REUSE

Chris Cooper
Winner
“An unapologetic celebration of materials—raw industrial materials, timber, masonry, and stone—that are tied seamlessly throughout the new public and private spaces with abundant natural daylight.”Jason Pugh
Honorable Mentions
Kirk Family YMCA

LANDSCAPE

John D’Angelo Photo
Winner
Arjay Miller Arboretum North Pond at Ford World Headquarters
“This is the type of landscape project that is not looking for formal fireworks or ostentatious originality but defines—with controlled design ambitions—a sensitive and intelligent approach to a ubiquitous problem: the mowed-lawn-next-to-highway landscape.”Wonne Ickx
Honorable Mentions
Waterline Square
MNLA
New York City
Editors Picks
1 Hotel West Hollywood
RIOS
Los Angeles

INFRASTRUCTURE

Brad Feinknopf
Winner
Harvard University District Energy Facility
Leers Weinzapfel Associates
Allston, Massachusetts
“Often the architecture of infrastructure is at best an afterthought. This amazing District Energy Facility shows us both how and why design is essential to a livable environment.”Carol Ross Barney
Honorable Mentions
Providence River Pedestrian Bridge
INFORM Studio
Providence, Rhode Island
Editors Picks
Moynihan Train Hall
SOM
New York City

FACADES

Richard Barnes
Winner
Nancy and Rich Kinder Museum Building at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston
“The museum is a vessel of light—it contains and embodies the light of the day, amplifying the lyrical joining of art, place, and architecture. The facades capture and hold this ever-changing light. In the blink of an eye what was shadow becomes light, radically altering your physical relationship to the work.””Thomas Phifer
Honorable Mentions
cube berlin
3XN
Berlin

YOUNG ARCHITECTS

Caitlin Atkinson
Winner
Santa Monica, California
“Nabi Boyd’s work is both precise and playful. The thoughtful approach to each project has a softness and ease with site while reimagining the terms of context and material.”Anda French
Honorable Mentions
Los Angeles
Editors Picks
New York City

GREEN BUILDING

Brad Feinknopf
Winner
Harvard University Science and Engineering Complex
Behnisch Architekten
Allston, Massachusetts
Honorable Mentions
Ford Calumet Environmental Center

CULTURAL

Naho Kubota
Winner
Amant Art Campus
SO–IL
Brooklyn, New York City
Honorable Mentions
Nancy and Rich Kinder Museum Building at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston
Taipei Music Center, Performance Hall
Editors Picks
Coca-Cola Stage at the Alliance Theatre

EXHIBITION DESIGN

Nathan Keay/Courtesy MCA Chicago
Winner
Chicago Comics: 1960s to Now
Norman Kelley
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
“The displays reinforce the curatorial themes and beats, making fresh a graphic medium all but eclipsed by the cinematic success of its most tedious franchises.”Samuel Medina
Honorable Mentions
Linée Occulte: Drawing Architecture
Studio Ames
Citygroup – New York City

TEMPORARY INSTALLATION

Stijn Bollaert
Winner
Brugge Diptych
Jon Lott/PARA Project
Bruges, Belgium
“The project has a beautifully eerie presence that seems to operate both on the level of visceral experience and conceptual clarity.”Anda French
Honorable Mentions
Outside the Lines
Bryony Roberts Studio
High Museum of Art — Atlanta
Editors Picks
Beaux-Arts Ball on Table
NEMESTUDIO
Virtual

RESIDENTIAL—SINGLE-UNIT

James Florio Photography
Winner
Ardmore House
“This project offers both a compelling conceptual study in reassembled domestic organization and a set of thoughtful, cozy, real-life spaces.”Anda French
Honorable Mentions
Courtyard House
Lake|Flato Architects
El Paso, Texas

RESIDENTIAL—MULTIUNIT

Tom Harris
Winner
One Hundred
Studio Gang
St. Louis
Honorable Mentions
Editors Picks
Granville1500

Interior—Residential

Jeremy Bitterman
Winner
Divine House

RESIDENTIAL—MIXED USE

Adrien Williams
Winner
Humaniti Montréal
Lemay
Montreal
“Plenty of tower projects pay lip service to addressing human and metropolitan scales without getting either right. This one seems to find the balance between big-city verticality and the comforts of home.”Aaron Seward
Honorable Mentions
MIT Site 4
NADAAA
Cambridge, Massachusetts

RESTORATION & PRESERVATION

Stephane Groleau
Winner
Grand Théâtre de Québec
Honorable Mentions
Hall of State at Fair Park
Gensler
Dallas

BUILDING RENOVATION

Connie Zhou
Winner
401 Repositioning
Elkus Manfredi Architects
Boston
Honorable Mentions
Harvard Divinity School, Swartz Hall
Ann Beha Architects
Cambridge, Massachusetts

UCSF 3rd Street Garage/“Cellular Origami”
IwamotoScott
San Francisco
Editors’ Picks
East Hollow
Oza Sabbeth Architects
East Hampton, New York

INTERIOR—RETAIL

Elizabeth Felicella
Winner
Knoll D.C. Showroom & Offices
ARO
Washington, D.C.
“Balance is not the first thing about showrooms that comes to mind. Too often, these exhibition spaces bow to the pressures of saleability or, conversely, the consumer’s self-perception. ARO’s D.C. showroom gets its exactly right.”Samuel Medina
Honorable Mentions
Google Store Chelsea
Reddymade
New York City

COMMERCIAL—OFFICE

James Steinkamp Photography
Winner
Baylor Scott & White Health Administrative Center
“This is a big building, but it feels approachable and workable thanks to generous views and sunlight.”Carol Ross Barney
Honorable Mentions
Lakeview Office Building
LMN Architects
Kirkland, Washington

INTERIOR—OFFICE

Iwan Baan
Winner
Nike Icon Studios LA
Honorable Mentions
CME Center

INSTITUTIONAL—LIBRARIES

John Bartelstone/Courtesy NYPL
Winner
Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library
Honorable Mentions
Adams Street Branch Library
NADAAA
Chicago

INTERIOR—INSTITUTIONAL

Paco Alvarez/The Raws
Winner
Tecnológico de Monterrey Rectoria Building
Sasaki
Monterrey, Mexico

INSTITUTIONAL—HIGHER ED

Courtesy Alison Brooks Architects
Winner
Cohen Quad, Exeter College
Honorable Mentions
Morgan State University Calvin & Tina Tyler Hall
Editors Picks
University of Pennsylvania Meeting & Guesthouse

INSTITUTIONAL—RELIGIOUS

Jason O’Rear
Winner
Audrey Irmas Pavilion
OMA
Los Angeles
“The playful, wonky massing admirably undercuts the severity of the revivalist architecture of its neighbor. But the best bits are to be found inside.”Samuel Medina
Honorable Mentions
St. Joseph’s University Arrupe Hall
Moto Designshop
Philadelphia

INSTITUTIONAL—KINDERGARTENS, PRIMARY & HIGH SCHOOLS

Timothy Hursley
Winner
Home Building at Thaden School
EskewDumezRipple
Bentonville, Arkansas
“The Home Building at Thaden School responds excellently to its context, and what a context: a stunning campus (by EskewDumezRipple, Marlon Blackwell Architects, and Andropogon) and nearby in the Ozarks the beautiful work of Fay Jones. The roof echoes the morphing sheds of Blackwell’s buildings, while the wooden slats on the facade and in the ceiling of the great hall recall Jones’s Thorncrown Chapel—a truly elevated rural vernacular.”Aaron Seward
Honorable Mentions
City Kids Educational Center

COMMERCIAL—SPORTS & STADIUMS

Kevin Scott
Winner
Hayward Field
SRG Partnership
Eugene, Oregon
Honorable Mentions
Q2 Stadium
Gensler
Austin, Texas

INTERIOR—HOSPITALITY

Evan Joseph
Winner
The Waterline Club
“Anchored by a spectacularly elegant stair surrounded by columnar supports that descend from a sculpted ceiling, the Waterline Club interior is a splendid display of design.”Germane Barnes
Honorable Mentions
Zeckendorf Towers Lobby
SPAN Architecture
New York City

COMMERCIAL—HOSPITALITY (RESTAURANTS & BARS, HOTELS, RESORTS)

Hertha Hurnaus
Winner
Loisium Hotel Expansion
Steven Holl Architects
Langenlois, Austria
“The vaulted forms, material detail, and framed views make this a stellar architectural proposal.”Germane Barnes
Honorable Mentions
Mr. C Hotel
Arquitectonica
Miami, Florida
Editors Picks
Hotel Magdalena

HEALTHCARE

Ryan Gobuty/Courtesy Gensler
Winner
The City of Hope Medical and Administrative Leadership Pavilion
Gensler
Irwindale, California
“A laudatory solution to a tricky problem. The second-floor terrace and exposed circulation on the upper floors are particularly inspired.”Samuel Medina
Honorable Mentions
Michigan Animal Rescue League
Ply+ Architecture
Pontiac, Michigan

INTERIOR—HEALTHCARE

Art Gray
Winner
Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine of USC
RIOS
Los Angeles

ARCHITECTURAL LIGHTING—OUTDOOR

Halkin Manson Photography
Winner
Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial
“The memorial, whose scheme appears slightly ponderous by day, really comes alive at night, thanks to the lighting design.”Samuel Medina

ARCHITECTURAL LIGHTING—INDOOR

Jason O’Rear
Winner
Audrey Irmas Pavilion
“Masterful lighting that successfully accentuates program and space, both inside and out.”Jason Pugh
Honorable Mentions
Ramen Bar
TM Light
Bentonville, Arkansas

RESEARCH

Courtesy After Architecture
Winner
Homegrown
After Architecture
Knoxville Museum of Art
“The vaulted forms, material detail, and framed views make this a stellar architectural proposal.”Germane Barnes

STUDENT WORK—GROUP

Corey Gaffer Photographer
Winner
“Although simple in their design, this house and accompanying ADU provided students with an excellent, mostly unparalleled opportunity. Not only did they engage with matters of construction, but also of zoning and sustainability.”Samuel Medina

STUDENT WORK—INDIVIDUAL

Sophie Ribeiro
Winner
“[It shows] a way other than depression and anxiety to engage with the more terrifying aspects of the Anthropocene.”Aaron Seward

UNBUILT—EDUCATION

Teeple Architects and Cibinel Architecture
Winner
University of Manitoba Desautels Concert Hall
“One of the great challenges of making theater buildings good neighbors is finding ways to wrap the program with an architectural expression that doesn’t overwhelm the surroundings with looming blank walls. This project does that admirably—the curved entryway and shifting planes of the envelope come together to create an eminently approachable and seductive building.”Aaron Seward
Honorable Mentions
University of Chicago Center in Paris
Editors Picks
The Chapel of St. Ignatius and the Gayle & Tom Benson Jesuit Center

UNBUILT—GREEN BUILDING

Courtesy HMC Architects
Winner
Honeybee Discovery Center
HMC Architects
Orland, California
Honorable Mentions
Brooklyn Mass Timber House
Schiller Projects
Brooklyn, New York

UNBUILT—RESIDENTIAL

Courtesy Studio Gang
Winner
Assemble Chicago
“An endearing riff on the Chicago School, but form aside, the project’s underlying premise—to supply truly affordable housing in the heart of the Loop—deserves special attention.”Germane Barnes
Honorable Mentions
Homegrown Courts
Utile
Los Angeles

UNBUILT—CULTURAL

Courtesy FORMA Architects
Winner
Pink Thermal Baths
FORMA Architects
Biskra Palms, California
“Stark vertical geometries are a highlight of this very pink project, where the interior and exterior color palette provide a pleasant contrast with the natural scenery.”Germane Barnes
Honorable Mentions
Princeton University Art Museum
Adjaye Associates
Princeton, New Jersey
Editors Picks
Luther George Park
Trahan Architects
Springdale, Arkansas

UNBUILT—PUBLIC

Courtesy d.esk
Winner
Inhale, Exhale, Sag, Flex
d.esk
Los Angeles
“It’s impressive how this outré proposal conjures so many distinct atmospheres with so few materials. Whatever its eccentricities (the designer details the use of “water bladders”),  the project is a serious exploration in the life cycle of a building.”Germane Barnes
Honorable Mentions
Sunset Strip Gateway
RIOS
Los Angeles
Editors Picks
Memorial Bell Tower
Endemic Architecture
Somers, Wisconsin

UNBUILT—COMMERCIAL

Courtesy Leers Weinzapfel Associates
Winner
Innovation Center

UNBUILT—LANDSCAPE

Courtesy OJB Landscape Architecture
Winner
Brisbane Baylands Master Plan
OJB Landscape Architecture
Brisbane, California
Honorable Mentions
Hypernature 066
Lemay
Montreal

UNBUILT—MASTER PLAN

Courtesy Utile
Winner
NAVY BLUE
Utile
Boston
“This study should be commended for its forward-thinking approach toward coastline development. One can imagine this scheme being repurposed as an affordable housing prototype.”Samuel Medina

UNBUILT—URBAN DESIGN

Courtesy ODA
Winner
Beyond the Street
ODA
New York City
“Projects that dare to think beyond lot lines and that are willing to take on larger urban issues, codes and regulation, often sound a bit utopian or fantastical. On the contrary, ODA’s Beyond the Street brings a strong proposal to the table, backed up by a meticulous production and smart communication.”Wonne Ickx
Honorable Mentions
Markham Square Housing District
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