The grand opening of the Amant Art Campus in Bushwick, Brooklyn (the 2021 AN Best of Design Awards’ Project of the Year) took place on an idyllic Saturday in July. The sun was out but the air, vibrating in the mid-70s, was mild for summer in New York City. There would be a smattering of rain showers later that evening but as the party ramped up, the light was falling across Grand Street in such a way as to lend even that snaggletoothed stretch of auto repair shops, storage facilities, and working-class rowhouses an aura of glamor. This place, intensely gentrified despite its broken-down appearance, still isn’t where one might expect to find award-winning architectural design. But there, hidden behind a subdued facade that could just as easily be the front of a poultry plant, is to be found an essay on spatial and programmatic richness, the deft handling of humble materials, and effective, meaningful formal exploration.
Surprising discoveries such as Amant are a large part of what makes AN’s awards program so rewarding to produce and share with our audience. Here is a statement on the diverse and often unexpected realms where great architecture, great designers, and great products are appearing, across the North American continent and beyond. And this year represents an even richer portfolio of surprises with the addition of our Best of Practice Awards, in which our jury evaluated design firms from across the AEC spectrum on everything from quality of work to employee work/life balance.
Additional highlights for me include The Shelter Project, a resource-packed wooden bus stop featuring a solar-powered charging station, rainwater cistern, and community message board, and the student speculative project Area 10 that locates a museum and visitor center in the bottom of a giant crater made by nuclear bomb testing in the Nevada Desert, showing a way other than depression and anxiety to engage with the more terrifying aspects of the Anthropocene. To learn more about all the winners, pick up a copy of the Best of Design magazine, out now. —Aaron Seward
JURY
Germane Barnes
Director
Studio Barnes
Anda French
Co-founder
French2D
Wonne Ickx
Partner
PRODUCTORA
Carol Ross Barney
Design Principal and Founder
Ross Barney Architects
Jason Pugh
President
NOMA
Thomas Phifer
Founder
Thomas Phifer and Partners
PROJECT OF THE YEAR
Amant Art Campus
SO–IL
Brooklyn, New York City
“The Amant Art Campus is a place where contemporary art and discourse live. It demanded a strong architecture, abstract in its context and cloaked with direct materials that have a sense of permanence. The poetry of the facades marks the passage of time each day with a treasury of shadows and light.”—Thomas Phifer
NXTHVN
Deborah Berke Partners
New Haven, Connecticut
Loisium Hotel Expansion
Steven Holl Architects
Langenlois, Austria
PUBLIC
Robertson Recreation Center
Kevin Daly Architects
Los Angeles
“This rec center has real charm and does real work. The undulating walls and roof squeeze the program onto a tight sight while maintaining heritage trees and opening clerestories on the interior, allowing lots of daylight into the basketball court.”—Aaron Seward
Roxbury Branch of the Boston Public Library Renovation
Utile
Boston
SOCIAL IMPACT
The Shelter Project
Somewhere Studio
St. Louis
“Wouldn’t it be great if our urban furniture provided real necessities as opposed to saturating us with advertisements? Here’s a bus shelter that collects rainwater for irrigating plants, harvests solar energy for a charging station, and includes a community bulletin board and pantry in addition to furnishing shade and seating.”—Aaron Seward
East Clarke Place Senior Residence
Magnusson Architecture and Planning PC
The Bronx, New York City
Willie Woo Woo Wong Chinese Playground and Clubhouse
CMG Landscape Architecture
San Francisco
Leimert Park Community Fridge
Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects
Los Angeles
URBAN DESIGN
Ironworks at Pencoyd Landing
Penn Group in collaboration with Coscia Moos Architecture and DAVID RUBIN Land Collective
Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania
“Rich in texture and space, this urban design project successfully blurs the line between old and new, public and private, rustic and raw.”—Jason Pugh
ADAPTIVE REUSE
NXTHVN
“An unapologetic celebration of materials—raw industrial materials, timber, masonry, and stone—that are tied seamlessly throughout the new public and private spaces with abundant natural daylight.”—Jason Pugh
Kirk Family YMCA
LANDSCAPE
Arjay Miller Arboretum North Pond at Ford World Headquarters
“This is the type of landscape project that is not looking for formal fireworks or ostentatious originality but defines—with controlled design ambitions—a sensitive and intelligent approach to a ubiquitous problem: the mowed-lawn-next-to-highway landscape.”—Wonne Ickx
INFRASTRUCTURE
Harvard University District Energy Facility
Leers Weinzapfel Associates
Allston, Massachusetts
“Often the architecture of infrastructure is at best an afterthought. This amazing District Energy Facility shows us both how and why design is essential to a livable environment.”—Carol Ross Barney
Providence River Pedestrian Bridge
INFORM Studio
Providence, Rhode Island
Moynihan Train Hall
SOM
New York City
FACADES
Nancy and Rich Kinder Museum Building at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston
Steven Holl Architects
Houston
“The museum is a vessel of light—it contains and embodies the light of the day, amplifying the lyrical joining of art, place, and architecture. The facades capture and hold this ever-changing light. In the blink of an eye what was shadow becomes light, radically altering your physical relationship to the work.””—Thomas Phifer
cube berlin
3XN
Berlin
YOUNG ARCHITECTS
Santa Monica, California
“Nabi Boyd’s work is both precise and playful. The thoughtful approach to each project has a softness and ease with site while reimagining the terms of context and material.”—Anda French
Los Angeles
New York City
GREEN BUILDING
Harvard University Science and Engineering Complex
Behnisch Architekten
Allston, Massachusetts
Ford Calumet Environmental Center
Valerio Dewalt Train
Chicago
CULTURAL
Amant Art Campus
SO–IL
Brooklyn, New York City
Nancy and Rich Kinder Museum Building at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston
Steven Holl Architects
Houston
Taipei Music Center, Performance Hall
RUR Architecture DPC
Taipei
Coca-Cola Stage at the Alliance Theatre
Trahan Architects
Atlanta
EXHIBITION DESIGN
Chicago Comics: 1960s to Now
Norman Kelley
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
“The displays reinforce the curatorial themes and beats, making fresh a graphic medium all but eclipsed by the cinematic success of its most tedious franchises.”—Samuel Medina
Linée Occulte: Drawing Architecture
Studio Ames
Citygroup – New York City
TEMPORARY INSTALLATION
Brugge Diptych
Jon Lott/PARA Project
Bruges, Belgium
“The project has a beautifully eerie presence that seems to operate both on the level of visceral experience and conceptual clarity.”—Anda French
Outside the Lines
Bryony Roberts Studio
High Museum of Art — Atlanta
Beaux-Arts Ball on Table
NEMESTUDIO
Virtual
RESIDENTIAL—SINGLE-UNIT
Ardmore House
Kwong Von Glinow
Chicago
“This project offers both a compelling conceptual study in reassembled domestic organization and a set of thoughtful, cozy, real-life spaces.”—Anda French
Courtyard House
Lake|Flato Architects
El Paso, Texas
RESIDENTIAL—MULTIUNIT
One Hundred
Studio Gang
St. Louis
Gardenhouse
Granville1500
Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects - LOHA
Los Angeles
Interior—Residential
Divine House
Landry Smith Architect
Eugene, Oregon
RESIDENTIAL—MIXED USE
Humaniti Montréal
Lemay
Montreal
“Plenty of tower projects pay lip service to addressing human and metropolitan scales without getting either right. This one seems to find the balance between big-city verticality and the comforts of home.”—Aaron Seward
MIT Site 4
NADAAA
Cambridge, Massachusetts
RESTORATION & PRESERVATION
Grand Théâtre de Québec
Lemay + Atelier 21
Quebec City
Hall of State at Fair Park
Gensler
Dallas
BUILDING RENOVATION
Harvard Divinity School, Swartz Hall
Ann Beha Architects
Cambridge, Massachusetts
UCSF 3rd Street Garage/“Cellular Origami”
IwamotoScott
San Francisco
East Hollow
Oza Sabbeth Architects
East Hampton, New York
INTERIOR—RETAIL
Knoll D.C. Showroom & Offices
ARO
Washington, D.C.
“Balance is not the first thing about showrooms that comes to mind. Too often, these exhibition spaces bow to the pressures of saleability or, conversely, the consumer’s self-perception. ARO’s D.C. showroom gets its exactly right.”—Samuel Medina
Google Store Chelsea
Reddymade
New York City
COMMERCIAL—OFFICE
Baylor Scott & White Health Administrative Center
Perkins&Will
Dallas
“This is a big building, but it feels approachable and workable thanks to generous views and sunlight.”—Carol Ross Barney
Lakeview Office Building
LMN Architects
Kirkland, Washington
INTERIOR—OFFICE
Nike Icon Studios LA
Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects - LOHA
Los Angeles
CME Center
Krueck Sexton Partners
Chicago
INSTITUTIONAL—LIBRARIES
Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library
Mecanoo in collaboration with Beyer Blinder Belle
New York City
Adams Street Branch Library
NADAAA
Chicago
INTERIOR—INSTITUTIONAL
Tecnológico de Monterrey Rectoria Building
Sasaki
Monterrey, Mexico
INSTITUTIONAL—HIGHER ED
Cohen Quad, Exeter College
Alison Brooks Architects
Oxford, U.K.
Morgan State University Calvin & Tina Tyler Hall
University of Pennsylvania Meeting & Guesthouse
Deborah Berke Partners
Philadelphia
INSTITUTIONAL—RELIGIOUS
Audrey Irmas Pavilion
OMA
Los Angeles
“The playful, wonky massing admirably undercuts the severity of the revivalist architecture of its neighbor. But the best bits are to be found inside.”—Samuel Medina
St. Joseph’s University Arrupe Hall
Moto Designshop
Philadelphia
INSTITUTIONAL—KINDERGARTENS, PRIMARY & HIGH SCHOOLS
Home Building at Thaden School
EskewDumezRipple
Bentonville, Arkansas
“The Home Building at Thaden School responds excellently to its context, and what a context: a stunning campus (by EskewDumezRipple, Marlon Blackwell Architects, and Andropogon) and nearby in the Ozarks the beautiful work of Fay Jones. The roof echoes the morphing sheds of Blackwell’s buildings, while the wooden slats on the facade and in the ceiling of the great hall recall Jones’s Thorncrown Chapel—a truly elevated rural vernacular.”—Aaron Seward
City Kids Educational Center
Barker Associates Architecture Office
Brooklyn, New York City
COMMERCIAL—SPORTS & STADIUMS
Hayward Field
SRG Partnership
Eugene, Oregon
Q2 Stadium
Gensler
Austin, Texas
INTERIOR—HOSPITALITY
The Waterline Club
GID in collaboration with Rockwell Group
Sag Harbor, New York
“Anchored by a spectacularly elegant stair surrounded by columnar supports that descend from a sculpted ceiling, the Waterline Club interior is a splendid display of design.”—Germane Barnes
Zeckendorf Towers Lobby
SPAN Architecture
New York City
COMMERCIAL—HOSPITALITY (RESTAURANTS & BARS, HOTELS, RESORTS)
Loisium Hotel Expansion
Steven Holl Architects
Langenlois, Austria
“The vaulted forms, material detail, and framed views make this a stellar architectural proposal.”—Germane Barnes
Mr. C Hotel
Arquitectonica
Miami, Florida
Hotel Magdalena
Lake|Flato Architects
Austin, Texas
HEALTHCARE
The City of Hope Medical and Administrative Leadership Pavilion
Gensler
Irwindale, California
“A laudatory solution to a tricky problem. The second-floor terrace and exposed circulation on the upper floors are particularly inspired.”—Samuel Medina
Michigan Animal Rescue League
Ply+ Architecture
Pontiac, Michigan
INTERIOR—HEALTHCARE
Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine of USC
RIOS
Los Angeles
ARCHITECTURAL LIGHTING—OUTDOOR
Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial
L’Observatoire International
Washington, D.C.
“The memorial, whose scheme appears slightly ponderous by day, really comes alive at night, thanks to the lighting design.”—Samuel Medina
ARCHITECTURAL LIGHTING—INDOOR
Audrey Irmas Pavilion
L’Observatoire International
Los Angeles
“Masterful lighting that successfully accentuates program and space, both inside and out.”—Jason Pugh
Ramen Bar
TM Light
Bentonville, Arkansas
RESEARCH
Homegrown
After Architecture
Knoxville Museum of Art
“The vaulted forms, material detail, and framed views make this a stellar architectural proposal.”—Germane Barnes
STUDENT WORK—GROUP
Ash Street House
STUDIO 804 (School of Architecture, University of Kansas)
Lawrence, Kansas
“Although simple in their design, this house and accompanying ADU provided students with an excellent, mostly unparalleled opportunity. Not only did they engage with matters of construction, but also of zoning and sustainability.”—Samuel Medina
STUDENT WORK—INDIVIDUAL
Area 10
Sophie Ribeiro (Savannah College of Art and Design)
Yucca Flat, Nevada
“[It shows] a way other than depression and anxiety to engage with the more terrifying aspects of the Anthropocene.”—Aaron Seward
UNBUILT—EDUCATION
University of Manitoba Desautels Concert Hall
Teeple Architects and Cibinel Architecture
Winnipeg, Manitoba
“One of the great challenges of making theater buildings good neighbors is finding ways to wrap the program with an architectural expression that doesn’t overwhelm the surroundings with looming blank walls. This project does that admirably—the curved entryway and shifting planes of the envelope come together to create an eminently approachable and seductive building.”—Aaron Seward
University of Chicago Center in Paris
Studio Gang
Paris
The Chapel of St. Ignatius and the Gayle & Tom Benson Jesuit Center
Trahan Architects
New Orleans
UNBUILT—GREEN BUILDING
Honeybee Discovery Center
HMC Architects
Orland, California
Brooklyn Mass Timber House
Schiller Projects
Brooklyn, New York
UNBUILT—RESIDENTIAL
Assemble Chicago
Studio Gang
Chicago
“An endearing riff on the Chicago School, but form aside, the project’s underlying premise—to supply truly affordable housing in the heart of the Loop—deserves special attention.”—Germane Barnes
Homegrown Courts
Utile
Los Angeles
UNBUILT—CULTURAL
Pink Thermal Baths
FORMA Architects
Biskra Palms, California
“Stark vertical geometries are a highlight of this very pink project, where the interior and exterior color palette provide a pleasant contrast with the natural scenery.”—Germane Barnes
Princeton University Art Museum
Adjaye Associates
Princeton, New Jersey
Luther George Park
Trahan Architects
Springdale, Arkansas
UNBUILT—PUBLIC
Inhale, Exhale, Sag, Flex
d.esk
Los Angeles
“It’s impressive how this outré proposal conjures so many distinct atmospheres with so few materials. Whatever its eccentricities (the designer details the use of “water bladders”), the project is a serious exploration in the life cycle of a building.”—Germane Barnes
Sunset Strip Gateway
RIOS
Los Angeles
Memorial Bell Tower
Endemic Architecture
Somers, Wisconsin
UNBUILT—COMMERCIAL
Innovation Center
UNBUILT—LANDSCAPE
Brisbane Baylands Master Plan
OJB Landscape Architecture
Brisbane, California
Hypernature 066
Lemay
Montreal
UNBUILT—MASTER PLAN
NAVY BLUE
Utile
Boston
“This study should be commended for its forward-thinking approach toward coastline development. One can imagine this scheme being repurposed as an affordable housing prototype.”—Samuel Medina
UNBUILT—URBAN DESIGN
Beyond the Street
ODA
New York City
“Projects that dare to think beyond lot lines and that are willing to take on larger urban issues, codes and regulation, often sound a bit utopian or fantastical. On the contrary, ODA’s Beyond the Street brings a strong proposal to the table, backed up by a meticulous production and smart communication.”—Wonne Ickx
Markham Square Housing District
University of Arkansas Community Design Center
Conway, Arkansas
