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Awards

Interview with AIA Gold Medal Winner James Polshek

On
by Deane

James Polshek, winner of the 2018 AIA Gold Medal, served as design director for The Newseum in Washington, D.C.

“I thought it was a robocall,” James Polshek says about answering the phone to news that he’d won the 2018 American Institute of Architects (AIA) Gold Medal. “It was a chilly day, and I was walking up 6th Avenue after leaving a chronologically required hearing test, when the phone rang.” Polshek is 87, but could hear the news just fine: “At that point, I kind of lost my breath,” he says. “I was laughing and sobbing simultaneously, with enjoyment, pleasure, and some disbelief.”

A 1955 M.Arch. graduate of Yale University, Polshek founded his eponymous firm in 1963, which evolved through the years to become Ennead Architects in 2010, five years after his retirement. He spoke with RECORD by phone after learning about the AIA award.

Architectural Record: Which projects are you proudest of, and why?

James Polshek: You know the saying, “If you have many children . . .” The most obvious one is perhaps the most nationally prestigious: the Clinton Library. But my two favorites came in succession in 1969 and 1972 and gave me the confidence to pursue the way I wanted to practice. The first was the New York State Bar Association in Albany, which won the 1972 AIA Honor Award for merging a historic building in a historic district with a modernist interpretation. The second is called the Five County Consulting Center in Columbus, Indiana, which solved environmental and ecological problems, as the building is a bridge over a creek that flooded severely. We used some of the foundation budget to stop the Army Corps of Engineers from simply widening the creek. Those two together—and the various themes that connect to later projects—were seminal.

For more about Polshek’s advice for young architects, his firm’s evolution, and ethical codes embedded in his work, read the full story at Architectural Record. 

Winter Winners: A Pair of Washington Museums in ArchitectureDC

On
by Deane

The Winter 2017 issue of ArchitectureDC Magazine

The Winter 2017 issue of ArchitectureDC–the quarterly publication of the Washington, D.C., chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA|DC)–features winners of its 2017 Design Awards. It was my honor to write about two projects that earned Awards of Excellence from AIA|DC: The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) and the Smithsonian National Gallery East Building Renovation and Expansion. Both are projects that have been enormously influential in challenging the status of architecture in Washington.

The Winter 2017 issue of ArchitectureDC Magazine

Excerpts on each winning project are below, but be sure to pick up a copy of the ArchitectureDC Winter Issue at the District Architecture Center, which will host its 2017 Awards Show from Dec. 11-Jan. 26.

National Gallery of Art East Building Renovation and Expansion:

Restoring internationally acclaimed architecture–and expanding it from within–is no easy task, but that’s exactly the assignment Hartman-Cox Architects received from the National Gallery of Art for its 1978 East Building. Read the full story at ArchitectureDC. 

NMAAHC:

Occupying what may be the last buildable site on Washington’s Mall, the new Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) mediates the ground between museums and memorials by itself serving both purposes through a program that celebrates culture while recalling the painful history of slavery. Read the full story at ArchitectureDC.

 

Cooper Hewitt National Design Award winners embrace the creative spirit

On
by Deane

Winners of the 2017 Cooper Hewitt National Design Awards discuss the impact of design. L-R: Susan Chin, Mary Ping, Susan Szenasy, and Caroline Baumann.

Members of the design community welcomed three of the winners of the 2017 Cooper Hewitt National Design Awards to the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery in Washington, DC, for a panel discussion on the importance and impact of design.

The awards program, now in its 18th year, honored 11 winners, including panelists Susan S. Szenasy, editor-in-chief of Metropolis Magazine, who won the Director’s Award; Mary Ping, founder of New York-based label Slow and Steady Wins the Race, for fashion design; and the Design Trust for Public Space, for corporate and institutional achievement, represented by executive director Susan Chin, FAIA.

The National Design Awards underscore the significance of design in an era where arts funding is increasingly at risk. According to Smithsonian Secretary David Skorton, the awards program is “a chance for solutions or optimism at a time when optimism toward seemingly intractable problems seems elusive.”

Elaborating upon that sentiment, Szenasy spoke of design and architecture as acts of hope: “Whatever you put out there is about future use of something,” she said. “The creative spirit in human beings is the most important spirit alive.”

Read the full story at Topic Architecture. 

Institute Honor Awards: Architecture

On
by Architect Magazine: Articles by Deane Madsen, Assoc. AIA

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Ehrlich Architects Wins the 2015 Architecture Firm Award

On
by Architect Magazine: Articles by Deane Madsen, Assoc. AIA

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