Welcome to the online home for AIA Seattle's 2007 Honor Awards. In order to view a summary of this year's awarded projects as well as general comments by the jury, click here.
As always, we greatly value your insights and ideas. To that end, we invite you to share your thoughts on this year's Honor Awards below.
can there be a limit
on the number of times a project can be submitted?
seriously, the soma house was submitted as the easton residence the previous 2 years.
5 YEARS
I believe the AIA submittal form says you are allowed to submit a project up to 5 years after the completion date.
sounds good
but maybe a limit to how many times in that 5 years? perhaps 2 times in 5 years would be appropriate. it appears as though one is starved for attention and recognition, otherwise. if the work is good, it will speak for itself. if it's a good project, the accolades will come. why the need to raise funds to honor strong projects?
or to quote bruce mau's incomplete manifesto:
26. don't enter awards competitions. just don't. it's not good for you.
architecture competitions, on the other hand, are a desirable and admirable pursuit. it's unfortunate the selection process in the states doesn't encompass them. it almost always produces stronger architecture.
Sterling Residence/Queen Anne Award
I am not an architect but I do live in the neighborhood where this home was built. I find it disappointing that the architectural community is spilling out so many structures that violate every connection with their environment.
This home may be appropriate in an different context but in a community/neighborhood of early 20th century homes (mostly bungalows) this home is a stark and unwelcome contrast. I have not encountered a single person (except perhaps the homeowners) who actually find this home to be inviting in any way. It is made fun of constantly and is referred to as the giant Kleenex box littering the street.
I thought a key ground rule in architecture was to build buildings that are in harmony with their environment. If it is not a rule, perhaps it should be.
This home is just plain ugly and I am frightened for the future of architecture if this is considered an award winner.
bungalows?
early 20th century homes do not define the style of queen anne, the community defines the style of queen anne. as the community evolves, so will the architecture.
you are contradicting yourself when you say build within the context of a community and then say only build within the style of almost 100 years ago.
I would be much more frightened of queen anne architecture's future if you were an architect
does it really make sense
for architects in this day and age to be pounding out projects that looked like they were built 100 years ago?
this is one of a handful of younger firms doing really interesting work. variety is a good thing. it is possible to harmonize without looking exactly the same. for instance, look at roger diener's project for the swiss embassy in berlin: the fenestration harmonizes, but the addition to the 1870 palace is very modern.
the quality of light in that project is phenomenal. it would be great to see projects just as strong all over seattle. to be honest, the "cutler"-esque sheds are getting boring.
sterling
I am not an architect either, but when I see a project taking a different approach in understanding "harmony with its environment" I am relieved we live in a democracy. The Queen Anne neighborhood, while sometimes seeming to be its own small town on a hill, remains a neighborhood in a diverse urban experience.
you don't need an architect.....
go buy a quadrant home. The Sterling Residence is exactly what Queen Anne needs. Finally someone had the balls to build a house that embodies the aesthetic and construction methods of the time. Building another bungalow there would just be flat out dishonest. People live differently than they did when your nostalgic bungalows were built. This home very much is in harmony with its enviornment.....urban living in 2007. The facade of this building recognizes that every other, neighborhood friendly home, with more windows on the street has there curtians drawn all of the time. Welcome to the new millenium....we have television. Like it or not, there are also those of us out there that make fun of you for spending your money on a falling down home full of asbestos and structural shortcomings. I would much prefer to live in a Kleenex Box than retire each evening to my parlor and cry into my dirty old hankerchief.
nostalgia?
...it is no longer the early 20th century therefore buildings including your neighbors Kleenex box are not trying to appear as something they are not. (thankfully not all of them) Do you wish your computer looked like your parents (maybe your) old 50's television set just to be "in harmony" with your antique wooden desk? ... based on your reasoning I guess you do.
Face the fact that as different as this building reads on the surface, this Kleenex box address a pressing issue in modern life; land values are high and families are often at odds when trying to stay close. This Box utilizes density to gain economy and brings together a family in a bloated residential market. This is a model for addressing the pressing forces that all neighborhoods in seattle are facing. Although it does not draw on visual nostalgia, its virtue is present.
If superficially the "harmony" is your concern, step into the social realities at hand and maybe loosen-up. Go say hi to your neighbor and take'em a kleenex box...just for a laugh. If you (and the owner) can't laugh about it- you both have bigger problems then what buildings do or do not receive AIA awards.
ground rule number one- build building that address the issues- FLW's "harmony" is only relevant when Cuttler does his thing.
"Sterling Residence/Queen Anne Award" reply.....
Seattle, unfortunately, is a changing landscape and for those of us who embrace change that could be a positive force within any community. Unfortunately, there are some of us who want to continue to live in the early 20th century, not only in their 20th Century home but with their 20th century thought processes. I'd rather live in a giant "Kleenex box" than a falling apart bungalow and furthermore I'd rather live in a neighborhood where people have more things to do with their lives than meet at the local Starbucks and complain about a house. In terms of actually knowing what is or is not good for the environment maybe one should look at their own 20th Century Bungalow with poor insulation, dripping pipes and faucets and oil heating tanks before they comment on a house that was built using energy efficient systems and renewable resources. I still thought education and change were important elements of a conscience society and if not I am "frightened for the future" of humanity that these people, who are trying so hard to hold onto something so outdated, still try and influence the masses. As for the house winning an AIA award I would tend to think they have a little more perspective regarding architecture than the average joe. I am at an utter loss for words.....
out of town architect
The Olympic Sculpture Park's design was lead by an out of town architect with a cast of local designers that collaborated on the design. It is in the end a very Northwest Project. Especially since the landscape is all Northwest as are the views and context. The pavilion is a small part of a bigger picture and maybe that should have been reviewed as a separate entitiy. Afterall, the park is really more about urbanism and landscape architecture than it is architecture, an important trend where good collaboration between designers is essential.
Sterling
I live a block away and 100% of the residents on QA I have talked with are stunned by the harsh white blank walls of this home. Many people comment on this eye-sore! The interior might be wonderful but the glaring exterior absolutely does not fit in this neighborhood. It is unfriendly and boring--certainly does not promote "community". What were you thinking to award such a building an award? It gives architecture a very bad name.
Out of town architects award
Out of town architects award project by out of town architects; chide locals.
Whose Agenda?
As you would responsibly do when selecting a doctor, please consider the bedside manner of future jury members. I'm not sure who has the bigger ego, Rafael Vinoly (remember that one?) or Joshua Prince (should have been King), but their forced agenda on our awards program takes all the enjoyment out of attending.
us vs. them ?
Where did this "us" vs. "them" attitude come from? "their agenda, our awards"? As someone from outside the NW working in Seattle, this attitude seems to be pervasive among the architecture community here. It probably explains why NW architects in general practice with such an idiosyncratic rationale that is in part a reaction (or fear) to any sort of departure from what traditionally identifies the NW. I commend the jury for bringing the prevalent local idiom to light and in a somewhat contradictory way none the less- awarding some residential projects that exemplify the "grammar" of the NW. There is nothing more irritating to a NW architect than to be criticized in a perceived-to-be contradictory way.
note too: Both “Outpost” and the Montecito residence did go beyond just the “grammar” the jury mentioned. So, just because they are high-end houses does not necessarily mean they were destined to be good buildings. If you need proof of this take a quick survey of the rest of Montecito. wealthy client ≠ good architecture
As for many people's beef with Joshua Prince-Ramus's character- grow up! He was invited here for his outstanding merits, accomplishments and unique perspective: being an intelligent, prominent, American architect who has worked on one of the most significant (like it or not) public projects in Seattle's history and originally from the area...so what that he doesn’t have the polite passive-aggressive ways of the NW. God forbid Seattle recognize Prince-Ramus as "one of us".
From someone simply tired of all the defensive reactions to this years jury and project selections.
please- no more “us vs them”
Honor Awards 2007
Every year I look forward to the AIA Seattle design awards. Please allow me to share my impressions of last night's awards event and some questions I would like to pose in regards to future awards programs.
While I commend the awarded projects for their merit and high quality, I felt that many aspects of excellent design were vastly underrepresented, and as such I would suggest that the values we hold as Seattle architects were also underrepresented. Though I have carried theses criticisms throughout the years, this year's awards were especially biased toward the sculptural aspect of design and a project type typically associated with an extraordinary budget, a simple client and simple site. The message this sends to the professional community is that the architects with the "dessert" projects receive the design awards and the rest might as well pack up their toys and leave the sandbox. Furthermore, I fear the more we continue to disacknowledge projects with merits in other aspects of design, innovation and impact on the public good, the further we segregate architects from the community, promoting the stereotype of architects as elitists.
By [one] definition, an architect promotes the health, safety, and welfare of the community and environment with successful design: So why can we not reward BOTH the sculptural second home AND projects responding to other design issues such as sustainability, site relationships, social justice, public space, connection to the community, and so on....
If the design awards program represents OUR opinion of excellence in our profession, we ought to think very carefully about our guidelines for what we deem is excellent work in our professional community. So I pose the following questions for consideration:
1. How do we, as Seattle architects and the community, define "good design"?
2. How is the design awards program exhibiting and representing the values of our community and profession
3. How do we reward projects which address the many complexities of design (i.e. form, function, beauty)
Let's embrace the awards program as an opportunity to promote excellent urban design, public and private space, and architecture to be enjoyed by all. Let's work together to establish criteria for design awards that represent our values of good design as a professional community in Seattle!
The world is watching!
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