April 17, 2018

LMN, Mithun, Mahlum win national AIA honors

Photo by Benjamin Benschneider [enlarge]

Mahlum's Arlington Elementary School in Tacoma

Photo by Tim Griffith [enlarge]

LMN's Voxman Music Building in Iowa

Three education projects designed by Seattle-based firms won awards from the American Institute of Architects.

The awards from the AIA's Committee on Architecture for Education recognize state-of-the-art schools and learning centers, the AIA said in a press release.

Chatham University's Eden Hall Campus in Richland Township, Pennsylvania, designed by Mithun, won an award of excellence, along with the University of Iowa's Voxman Music Building in Iowa City, designed by LMN Architects.

Arlington Elementary School in Tacoma, designed by Mahlum, won an award of merit.

The jury called the Chatham project simple, elegant and transformative in how it looks and functions.

The “smart organization and consistent language... provide the seeds for a fully sustainable campus,” the jury said.

For the Iowa Voxman project, the jury said the organization of performance, rehearsal, practice and social spaces visually and functionally connect school activities with the community beyond. “The innovative composition of forms and materials maximize daylight within an energy efficient building,” the jury said.

The jury said Arlington Elementary rethinks the concept of learning environments beyond traditional classrooms.

More information and other winners are at http://tiny.cc/pdsqsy/.

The recipients were honored at CAE's Building Community Through Education Conference in Baltimore on April 13.