The 2020 AN Best of Design Awards winners, part 1 – The Architect’s Newspaper

2020 Best of Design Award for Public & Social Impact: Memorial to Enslaved Laborersat the University of Virginia

Designer: Hweler + Yoon Architecture in collaboration with Mabel O. Wilson, Gregg Bleam Landscape Architect, Frank Dukes, and Eto OtitigbeLocation: Charlottesville, Virginia

The Memorial to Enslaved Laborers at the University of Virginia (UVA) honors the lives, labor, and perseverance of the community of enslaved African Americans who built UVA and sustained the daily life of faculty, students, and administrators at the university. Nearly a decade in the making, the memorial was designed by Hweler + Yoon in collaboration with historian and designer Dr. Mabel O. Wilson of Studio&, Gregg Bleam Landscape Architect, community facilitator Dr. Frank Dukes, and artist Eto Otitigbe. The sites formal dedication has been postponed because of the ongoing COVID-19 health crisis, but in the interim, the memorial has been spontaneously inaugurated as a gathering place for group and individual contemplation during the national protests against racialized violence.

Honorable Mentions

Project Name: Conference House Park PavilionDesigner: Sage and Coombe Architects

Project Name: FDNY Rescue Company 2Designer: Studio Gang

Editors Picks:

Project Name: Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Concourse D AnnexDesigner: HOK

Project Name: High Line Section 3, Phase 2Construction manager: Sciame ConstructionArchitect: Diller Scofidio + RenfroLandscape architect: James Corner Field Operations

Honorable Mentions

Project Name: Javits Center Medical Station & Temporary HospitalDesigner: di Domenico + Partners

Project Name: MLK1101 Supportive HousingDesigner: Lorcan OHerlihy Architects [LOHA]

MLK1101 Supportive Housing. Designer: Lorcan OHerlihy Architects [LOHA] (Paul Vu)Editors Picks:

Project Name: DineOut NYCDesigner: Rockwell Group

Project Name: Girls Inc. of Memphis, Urban CentersSouth Park & LDTDesigner: archimania

2020 Best of Design Award for Urban Design: The PeninsulaDesigner: WXY architecture + urban design and Body Lawson Associates with Elizabeth Kennedy Landscape ArchitectLocation: The Bronx, New York City

WXY architecture + urban design, in partnership with Body Lawson Associates, was commissioned by the New York City Economic Development Corporation to develop a master plan to transform the 4.75-acre site of the former Spofford Juvenile Detention Center into a mixed-use community with five new buildings containing affordable housing; commercial, retail, and community facilities; light-industrial space; and recreational space. Material choices for the buildings were guided by the residential and industrial context of the Hunts Point neighborhood, with apartments predominantly brick and commercial spaces concrete, steel, and glass. A network of publicly accessible open spaces connects the buildings with the neighborhood. The landscape blends native plants and includes salvaged rock that recalls local natural ledge formations.

Honorable Mentions

Project Name: Eastern Market Neighborhood Framework and Stormwater Management Network PlanDesigner: Utile

Project Name: Moscone Center ExpansionLandscape architect: CMG Landscape ArchitectureArchitects: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) and Mark Cavagnero Associates

Editors Picks:

Project Name: Essex Market and The Market LineDesigner: SHoP ArchitectsAssociate architects: Hugh A. Boyd Architects and Formactiv

Project Name: Mulberry CommonsDesigner: Sage and Coombe Architects

2020 Best of Design Award for Landscape: Mill 19 at Hazelwood GreenDesigner: TEN x TENDesign architect: MSR DesignAssociate architect: R3ALocation: Pittsburgh

Nested within the armature of a former steel mill along Pittsburghs Monongahela River, three new mixed-use buildings are integrated in the shadows of trusses clad with a photovoltaic array. The quarter-mile-long structure celebrates the history of labor and the potential of a revitalized future while creating new landscapes from industrial remnants. An event plaza, a stormwater channel, disturbance-adapted gardens, and a public loggia with salvaged steel furniture define a reimagined public realm that embraces the past.

Mill 19, an LEED v4 Goldcertified project, lays the groundwork for a new type of regional economic hub that celebrates Pittsburghs industrial legacy, initiates renewal, and rebuilds a healthy relationship between the community, the site, and the river.

Honorable Mentions

Project Name: Chicago Botanic Garden: Regenstein Learning CampusLandscape architect: Mikyoung Kim DesignLocal landscape architect: Jacobs/Ryan AssociatesArchitect: Booth Hansen

Project Name: Water Conservation Garden at Red Butte GardenDesigner: Studio Outside

Editors Picks:

Project Name: Houston Botanic GardenLandscape architects: West 8 urban design & landscape architecture and Clark Condon AssociatesArchitects: Overland Partners and Dykema Architects

Project Name: The Aga Khan Garden, AlbertaLandscape architect: Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape ArchitectsLocal landscape architect and architect: DIALOG

2020 Best of Design Award for Infrastructure: The New St. Pete PierDesign architect: Rogers PartnersExecutive architect: ASD/SKYDesign landscape architect: Ken Smith WorkshopExecutive landscape architect: Booth Design GroupLocation: St. Petersburg, Florida

Beyond simply replacing an aging icon, Rogers Partners new St. Pete Pier constructs the basis for a sustainable relationship between the natural and built environments. The 12-acre pier extends the urban and recreational features of St. Petersburg into the bay through a multitude of flexible programs and amenities, including an education center, a tilted event lawn, dining venues, and places for fishing, kayaking, boating, and swimming. Along a naturalized shore edge, a breakwater and coastal thicket improve the water quality and marine animal and shorebird communities. By enhancing existing renewable coastal resources and providing flood-resistant infrastructure, the St. Pete Pier improves coastline resiliency and models the future for sustainable bayside city living.

Honorable Mentions

Project Name: BrightlineDesigner: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in association with Zyscovich Architects

Project Name: PG&E Larkin Street Substation ExpansionDesigner: TEF Design

Editors Picks:

Project Name: Grand Avenue Park BridgeDesigner: LMN Architects

2020 Best of Design Award for Adaptive Reuse: MuseumLabDesigner: Koning Eizenberg ArchitectsArchitect of record: Perfido Weiskopf Wagstaff + Goettel Architects (PWWG)Location: Pittsburgh

A historic Carnegie librarys legacy of educational innovation and access is reinvented as the MuseumLab. Opened in 1890, the library was one of the first free public libraries in the United States. It fell into disrepair after lightning struck the librarys clock tower and caused a three-ton piece of granite to crash through the roof. The library closed in 2006. Renovated in 2018, it now offers experimental art and technology programs for youth, a Title I charter middle school, and space for community events. Expedient interior alterations from the 1970s were stripped away to reconnect spaces, reintroduce daylight, and reveal the bones of the historic architecture. The resulting beautiful ruin has challenged conventions for both preservation and educational settings.

Honorable Mentions

Project Name: Preserve at 620Designer: Nelsen Partners

Project Name: Rejuvenation of a Historic Powerhouse, San FranciscoDesigner: Marcy Wong Donn Logan Architects

Editors Picks:

Project Name: 122 Community Arts CenterDesigner: Deborah Berke Partners

Project Name: The MomentaryDesigner: Wheeler Kearns Architects

2020 Best of Design Award for Facades: Victorian Music BoxDesigner: CCY ArchitectsLocation: Aspen, Colorado

This family compound marries a restored Victorian with a music-inspired modern addition affectionately called the Music Box, designed to accommodate guests as well as music recitals. A single material, Galvalume, bent with four-inch exposures, covers the Music Boxs roof and walls in a continuous, perforated, thin aluminum envelope. This skin was inspired by Frdric Chopins Nocturne in E-flat Major, op. 9, no. 2. The perforated aluminum stands off the structure through a batten/rain screen system that allows light to pass through but maintains privacy for those inside. The design team broke down Chopins composition into its discrete elements to create a pattern that daylight superimposes on the buildings elevations.

Honorable Mentions

Project Name: 215225 West 28th StreetDesigner: DXA studio

Project Name: Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School ExpansionDesigner: Wheeler Kearns Architects

Editors Picks:

Project Name: Willie and Donald Tykeson Hall, University of OregonDesign architect: OFFICE 52 ArchitectureArchitect of record: Rowell Brokaw Architects

Project Name: Enlace New OfficesDesigner: Canopy/Architecture + Design

2020 Best of Design Award for Cultural: The REACH at the Kennedy Center for the Performing ArtsDesigner: Steven Holl ArchitectsAssociate architect: BNIMLandscape architect: Hollander Design Landscape ArchitectsLocation: Washington, D.C.

As a living memorial for President John F. Kennedy, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts takes an active position among the great presidential monuments in Washington, D.C. Through public events and stimulating art, the Kennedy Center offers a place where the community can engage and interact with artists across the full spectrum of the creative process. The REACH expansion, designed by Steven Holl Architects, adds much-needed rehearsal, education, and varied, flexible indoor and outdoor spaces to allow the center to continue to play a leadership role in providing artistic, cultural, and enrichment opportunities. The design for The REACH merges architecture with the landscape to expand the dimensions of this living memorial.

Honorable Mentions

Project Name: Burke Museum of Natural History & CultureDesigner: Olson Kundig

Project Name: Jones Beach Energy & Nature CenterDesigner: nARCHITECTS

Editors Picks:

Project Name: A New Campus for the Rothko ChapelArchitect: Architecture Research OfficeLandscape architect: Nelson Byrd Woltz

Project Name: Oklahoma Contemporary Arts CenterDesigner: Rand Elliott Architects

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The 2020 AN Best of Design Awards winners, part 1 - The Architect's Newspaper