AIA selects 17 recipients of the 2009 Housing Awards

Washington, D.C. – April 17, 2009 – The American Institute of Architects has announced the 17 recipients of the 2009 Housing Awards. The AIA’s Housing Awards Program, now in its ninth year, was established to recognize the best in housing design and promote the importance of good housing as a necessity of life, a sanctuary for the human spirit and a valuable national resource.

The jury for the 2009 Housing Awards include: Jury chair, Kenneth H. Workman, AIA, RWA Architects, Inc.; Rainy Hamilton Jr., AIA, Hamilton Anderson Associates, Inc.; Jane Kolleeny, Architectural Record Magazine and GreenSource Magazine; and Jeff Oberdorfer, FAIA, First Community Housing.

The jury recognized projects in four award categories: One/Two Family Custom Housing, One/Two Family Production Housing, Special Housing, and Multifamily Housing.

The descriptions below give a brief summary of the projects. To obtain detailed information regarding these projects or to obtain images contact Matt Tinder.

One/Two Family Custom Housing
The One and Two Family Custom Residences award recognizes outstanding designs for custom and remodeled homes for specific client(s).

Chuckanut Drive Residence – Bellingham, Washington
The Miller | Hull Partnership
This 1400 square foot main house and guest house/ garage is located on a heavily wooded cliff site with views out over the San Juan Islands of Washington State. The plan orients to major views south down the coast line and west out to the islands while being careful to stay outside of the drip line of the dominate Douglas-fir trees.

House on Hoopers Island – Church Creek, Maryland
David Jameson Architect
The house is used with various degrees of frequency and intensity depending on the weather and the number of guests. For this reason, the house is composed of several separate cabins that can be locked down or conditioned and inhabited as needed. Although the cabins are individual buildings, they are linked visually by the exterior metal cladding and coplanar sloped roofs.

Laidley Street Residence – San Francisco, California
Zack / de Vito Architecture
The goal of the project was to create a modern, eco-sensitive, urban retreat that was kid tough and kid friendly. Materials, details and connections are visible expressions of the design and construction. This is exemplified in the intricate staircase where water jet-cut steel stringers support translucent acrylic treads and risers. The house was designed and built using sustainable design principles. Energy efficiency, low consumption and low toxicity were key ideas.

Cinco Camp – Brewster County, Texas
Rhotenberry Wellen Architects
The owner desired a retreat that was economically and quickly constructed, which would cause a minimal impact on the chosen building site. Recycled shipping containers were chosen as the primary building component for their compact size and ready availability. Occasional passing trains are typically loaded with shipping containers, providing a subtle yet intermittently obvious contextual reference for the use of containers as a primary building component of the compound.

Montecito Residence – Montecito, California
Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects
Montecito Residence is a single-family home set in the fire-prone Toro Canyon. The owners wanted a house that minimized its use of scarce natural resources and recognized the challenging environmental conditions of the area. The raised roof functions as an umbrella to shield the house from the sun, while the long central hallway allows naturally cool offshore breezes to move through the space. The hallway also creates an axis dividing the private from the public.

Outpost – Bellevue, Idaho
Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects
Set in the remote and harsh high desert landscape of Idaho, Outpost is an artist live/work studio and residence for making and displaying art. Outpost’s compactness limits site impact and reinforces the desire to be outside. The architects chose a readily available construction material – concrete block – for the primary structure; commercial builders were able to quickly and cheaply assemble the building. Interiors are exposed and unfinished; there is no waste in coatings and low to no VOCs.