November 15, 2023

AIA Seattle announces winners of 2023 Honor Awards for Washington Architecture

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Wing Luke Elementary School by NAC Architecture

The 73rd annual Honor Awards for Washington Architecture took place Nov. 6 at Town Hall Seattle. This year, the jury recognized a total of 21 projects, which were chosen from 113 submissions.

Awards were given across three categories – Built, Conceptual, and Research & Innovation. Across the broad view of project types, the jury acknowledged the strong design culture represented in our region and how the winners “collectively and beautifully express the feel and culture” of Washington.

The top prizes of the program are Honor Awards. A total of five projects received those this year. They are:

• Wing Luke Elementary School by NAC Architecture

• Winthrop Library by Johnston Architects and Prentiss Balance Wickline Architects

• The Rambler by GO'C

• Seattle Children's Building Care: Diagnostic and Treatment Facility by ZGF Architects

• Seattle Ferry Terminal (aka the new Colman Dock terminal) by NBBJ

The new Wing Luke Elementary School in South Beacon Hill replaced an old building on the same site to better serve the school's growing multicultural community. The new school building, which opened last spring, is 82,000 square feet and designed for up to 500 students in grades K - 5. NAC Architecture's design is also master planned for a future 12-classroom expansion that would increase the capacity to 650 students.

The new school includes spaces for special education, early learning, art, and music. Classrooms are arranged in clusters around an open, flexible learning commons and an enclosed small group collaboration space. This gives teachers the ability to customize their learning environments to meet a variety of student needs, from project-based group work to one-on-one instruction. Additional informal collaboration spaces are distributed throughout the building in the hallway, under the stairs, and in alcoves. The awards jury appreciated NAC's attention to detail and craftsmanship which it says led “to every space being meant for curiosity and engagement for the attendees of the school.”

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Winthrop Library by Johnston Architects and Prentiss Balance Wickline Architects

The new Winthrop Library by Johnston Architects and Prentiss Balance Wickline Architects opened last summer and has totally transformed the library experience for the community of Winthrop, which was previously underserved by a small library with inadequate access to resources and services.

The new library is 7,300 square feet and can hold a collection of over 20,000 materials. It also houses study tables, casual counter seating, lounge seating and window seats, a maker space with a 3D printer and other hands-on technology and art options, and a divisible, public meeting room that is accessible after hours. The library's design is inspired by the features, scale, and beauty of the natural environment of Washington's Methow Valley and open-air agrarian buildings and barns in the region, in particular. It includes broad overhangs, open roof trusses, and a visible interior structure. The jury appreciated the beautiful simplicity of the project and “felt it was a restoration of civic spirit and a space that allowed the mind to expand.”

The Rambler by GO'C is a modestly sized single-family home located in Indianola, northwest of Seattle on the Kitsap Peninsula. The 1,700-square-foot residence was built with the support of the local community, with over thirty local makers involved in its design and construction.

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The Rambler by GO’C

The homeowner is a musician. GO'C's vision for the home was that it should be “an instrument that bolsters the musical activities in her life” which include writing, playing, and teaching music, and sharing music at social gatherings. The architecture is inspired by the home's surrounding heavily wooded natural environment and is designed to ‘tuck into' the existing landscape.

The three-bedroom two-bath house has a solid rectangular volume, like a typical one-story rambler, which runs east to west across the project site. A singular vertical element, a site-cast fireplace and chimney, disrupts this massing and provides a centerpiece at the heart of the main living space where the family gathers and where music is written. The jury appreciated the project's elevation, revealing of the creative process, and preservation of the landscape while also celebrating the community it provides for neighbors.

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Seattle Children’s Building Care: Diagnostic and Treatment Facility by ZGF Architects

Seattle Children's Building Care: Diagnostic and Treatment Facility by ZGF Architects is phase two of a one-million-square-foot expansion outlined in Seattle Children's Major Institution Master Plan, bringing the hospital one step closer to maximizing development capacity on its Laurelhurst campus amid historic and anticipated growth.

The expansion, which was completed last June, adds eight above-ground floors and three levels of underground parking to the Laurelhurst campus and serves as the hospital's new front door. It delivers eight new operating suites, two catheterization labs, 20 flexible inpatient rooms, a new outpatient clinic specializing in cancers and blood disorders, two pharmacies, and numerous laboratories.

A key design driver was to create horizontal connections across campus, allowing high-acuity patients to be transported from treatment spaces to inpatient beds via the shortest distance possible. The jury appreciated the use of light, wayfinding and gracious gathering spaces that allowed for a sense of peace in a place that is for families going through a hard time.

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Seattle Ferry Terminal (aka the new Colman Dock terminal) by NBBJ

Seattle Ferry Terminal by NBBJ replaced the decades-old Colman Dock terminal with a new passenger building and entry building along Alaskan Way. The terminal is part of the $489 million Colman Dock replacement project that also comprised a new concrete and steel trestle and an elevated pedestrian walkway.

The Seattle Ferry Terminal is the first public building to open west of Alaskan Way on the waterfront since the demolition of the Alaskan Way viaduct. Celebrating the historic Washington State Ferries system and the beauty of the Pacific Northwest, the terminal reconnects the urban fabric with a new transportation gateway that once again connects the city to Puget Sound. The jury appreciated the project for its elevation of an infrastructure experience which it says “gave well-proportioned clarity to a project with multiple layers of complexity.”

The other 2023 Honor Awards for Washington Architecture winners are:

Energy in Design Award:

• Inspire Apartments by Public47 Architects

Awards of Merit:

• Dockside by Cone Architecture

• 800 Fifth Avenue by Olson Kundig

• North Campus Housing by KieranTimberlake

• Health Sciences Education Building, University of Washington by The Miller Hull Partnership, LLP

• Grand Avenue Park Bridge by LMN Architects

• Modular Mass Timber Homes by atelierjones

Honorable Mentions:

• Seattle Convention Center Summit Building by LMN Architects

• Basalt Canyon Shelter by Workshop AD

• Courtyard Residence by mwworks

• Quinalt Wellness Center by Rice Fergus Miller

• Fishermen's Terminal Innovation District by The Miller Hull Partnership, LLP

• Mary's Place Family Center by Graphite Design Group

• Crow (Apsáalooke) Dance Arbor by 7 Directions Architects/Planners

• Mural Restoration and Installation by Todd Lawson A+D

• Orenda at Othello Square by Weber Thompson

In addition to the main juried awards, the 2023 program marked the sixth year of the Young Voices Selection, a program with the aim to engage and elevate the voices of young designers through direct participation and representation in the Honor Awards for Washington Architecture.

The Modular Mass Timber Homes by atelierjones also took home that award. That project was profiled in the DJC earlier this month.

The full list of winners and winner's gallery can be viewed at: https://tinyurl.com/2023AIASeattleHonorAwards