Announcements October 18, 2021

Chicago studio recognized with five awards at AIA Chicago Designight 2021

AIA Chicago recognized Perkins&Will with five awards, more than any other firm, at their 2021 AIA Design Excellence Awards. The annual award program honors originality and execution of design by Chicago architecture firms as well as Chicago-based projects by national and international firms.

Jessica Figenholtz, Associate Principal, Higher Education Practice Leader and AIA Chicago Board of Directors President, offered some reflections on exciting changes at AIA Chicago, including the appointment of Executive Director Jen Masengarb.

University of Virginia, University Hospital Expansion, Charlottesville, Virginia

AIA Chicago Interior Architecture Honor Award

Jury remarks:

“This facility was designed to connect people to the calming effects of nature, reducing the environmental impact, and allow for future flexibility to accommodate evolving technology and best practices. Biophilic strategies such as green roofs and planted terraces enhance wellbeing while heavy energy modelling and greywater capture strategies closed the environmental loop. Jurors were thrilled with the daylighting strategy that provides all patients, doctors and visitors with sweeping views, noting it’s contribution to healing.”

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Jury remarks:

“This new hospital wing focuses on patient experience and sustainability. The expansion extends from the existing hospital into a fluid, curvilinear massing that creates a new entrance to the University Medical Center and allows views from patient rooms to the surrounding landscape. High environmental performance features include net-zero water strategies, chilled beams, green roofs, and a metal fin façade designed to reduce glare and heat and lower energy consumption. One juror commented: ‘It’s a beautiful building, with a relationship of radius to straight lines. There’s an ease and lightness to this.’”

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University of Virginia, University Hospital Expansion, Charlottesville, Virginia

AIA Chicago Distinguished Building Citation of Merit Award

Northtown Affordable Apartments and Public Library in Chicago, Illinois

AIA Chicago Distinguished Building Citation of Merit Award

Jury remarks:

“The project co-locates affordable senior housing with a community library to encourage lifelong learning, collaboration, and exploration. Modular housing wind above from the west to the east, enlivening they typical residential corridor, while double height glazed lobbies connect the library to the senior housing inspiring community interaction between inside and outside, the public and the private. The project is targeting LEED Gold Certification, and at 71% energy use reduction, the project exceeds its goal and meets the AIA’s 2030 commitment.”

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Jury remarks:

“Jurors were impressed with how the designers employed sustainability throughout the project, including the use of plantings to make the recycling stations into social spaces. This place makes Waste Management bright and playful.”

Waste Management Houston Headquarters, Houston Texas

AIA Chicago Interior Architecture Citation of Merit Award

Northwestern University Simpson Querrey Biomedical Research Center Winter Garden Roof Truss, Chicago, Illinois

AIA Chicago Divine Detail Award

Jury remarks:

“The team employed several strategies to bundle mechanical, electrical, and fire protection systems to conceal their visual impact on the space below. Jurors called it ‘an elegant solution.’”

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Chicago studio recognized with five awards at AIA Chicago Designight 2021

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