November 12, 2021

Winners announced for AIA Honor Awards

Photo by Kevin Scott [enlarge]

Loom House was designed by The Miller Hull Partnership. Work began on the reconstruction of this 1960s Moldstad home in 2018 and was completed in 2019.

Photo courtesy of Signal Architecture + Research [enlarge]

Signal Architecture + Research describes the adaptive reuse of Fort Worden as “creating a dialogue with the past and space for the future.”

On Nov. 8, AIA Seattle hosted its 71st annual Honor Awards for Washington Architecture. These awards celebrate excellence in design. From 103 submittals, the jury chose 16 award winners from three categories: Built; Conceptual; and Research & Innovation.

The jury included Katherine Darnstadt, AIA, NOMA, LEED AP, of Latent Design; Sharon Johnston, FAIA, of Johnston Marklee; and Helena Zambrano, AIA, CPHC, of Mahlum. Co-chairs for this year's program were Ming-Lee Yuan, AIA, of Olson Kundig; and Catherine De Almeida, ASLA, UW Department of Landscape Architecture, College of Built Environments.

Two projects received an honor award, four a merit award and nine an honorable mention.

The two honor award winners were The Miller Hull Partnership and Charlie Hellstern Design for Loom House on Bainbridge Island, and Signal Architecture + Research for Fort Worden Building 305 in Port Townsend.

Loom House was profiled in the DJC in August. It is the first renovated home to become Living Building Challenge certified. This 3,200-square-foot home rests on .65-acre of landscaped bluff, nestled in a heavily forested area, overlooking Puget Sound and the Seattle skyline.

Fort Worden Building 305 is an adaptive reuse project designed and developed over seven years. Originally constructed as a turn-of-the-century military fort, Signal reshaped Fort Worden from a place for war into a space for creativity by revitalizing Makers Square, an 8-acre section of the fort facilitating gallery shows, studios and residency programs. In this first phase of the expansive project, Signal rehabilitated three buildings, creating new studio spaces and turning the fort's first structure and original Quartermaster Storehouse into an art gallery.

This was also the sixth year of the Energy in Design Award given to commend projects that have made measurable significant strides in energy reduction while also maintaining the highest qualitative design caliber. This award was given to LMN Architects for the Mukilteo Multimodel Ferry Terminal.

In addition to the main juried awards, it was the fourth year of the Young Voices Selection (YVS), a program with the aim to engage and elevate the voices of young designers through direct participation and representation in AIA Seattle's Honor Awards for Washington Architecture. The three YVS panelists — Kayla Ford, Assoc. AIA, of Integrus Architecture; Alex Ianchenko, Assoc. AIA, of The Miller Hull Partnership; and Ryan Nungester, Assoc. AIA, of Environmental Works — selected one Built project as the Young Voices Selection award winner: Fort Worden.

A recording of the event is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SXyfCMD5nE.