AIA Dallas Honors Progressive Design Concepts
from Michael Friebele at AIA Dallas
Dialogue. Ideas. Opportunities.
As public discourse in Dallas becomes increasingly vital to understanding where we are as a city, and where we want to be, AIA Dallas seeks to enable continuing dialogue on important issues between the profession and the community. As part of our charge, the evolution of the Unbuilt Design Awards into an interactive event for the community continues the AIA Dallas mission to provoke new ideas by featuring the future from the architect’s perspective.
Shining a light on experimental design and celebrating progressive architectural concepts, we're launching a new chapter of our Unbuilt Design Awards program with a gallery show opening and awards ceremony on May 28.
The exhibition, featuring all of the Unbuilt Design Award entries, will be on display at Life in Deep Ellum, a cultural center promoting urban Dallas art, music, commerce, and community. To celebrate the six week exhibition, AIA Dallas is hosting an opening party that will feature an awards ceremony and a panel discussion led by nationally acclaimed jurors. Join us to peruse the gallery while mingling with the jurors and enjoying hor’dourves and music. The exhibition will feature all entries submitted this year as well as a curated showing of models from students of the University of Texas at Arlington School of Architecture.
Grotto: An Infill Prototype, NIMMO, Dallas, The prototype is designed to meet the needs and lifestyles of urban dwellers, while filling unoccupied land near downtown Dallas. Its sustainable strategies and systems are implemented with a focus on construction quality.
Dallas Holocaust Museum I Center for Education and Tolerance, Good Fulton & Farrell, Dallas, 52,230 square feet: The design features a hard-shelled vessel, wrapped by a transparent veil and entered through a garden. At the conclusion, visitors will experience a towering plane of glass containing 60,000 stars, each representing 100 souls.
B3 Plot Cultural Pavilion Concept, RTKL Associates Inc., Dubai, UAE, 38,000 square feet: Using the building’s context and cultural influence as a guide, the pavilion’s design strives to create a community hub that will add value to the region. It combines cultural traditions with modern technologies to meet the needs of a growing neighborhood.
Dalian Airport Terminal Competition,Corgan, Dalian, China, 7.3 million square feet: The terminal’s design aims to meet the needs of passengers while creating a unique experience. It is environmentally friendly, economically right-sized, and capable of generating its own power and economic revenue through passenger-oriented operations and concessions programs.
Dallas Holocaust Museum Center,Omniplan Architects, Dallas, Texas, 50,000 square feet: The building design aims to create an intuitive path for all visitors so that the focus is on the emotional experience of each exhibit with no distractions.
The awards ceremony marked the opening of the AIA Dallas Unbuilt Design Awards Exhibition. The exhibition will be on display through July 11. It will culminate with a closing reception, which will include a discussion with the winning project teams and the announcement of a People’s Choice Design Award.
2015 Unbuilt Design Awards Jury
Jenny Wu, Partner at Oyler Wu Collaborative
Jenny Wu is a founding partner of Oyler Wu Collaborative and currently teaches first year design studio at SCI-Arch. She received her undergraduate degree from Columbia and her Masters of Architecture from Harvard. The Oyler-Wu Collaborative, founded in 2004 with Dwayne Oyler, is a multi-faceted practice with a strong focus on small-scale installations and fabrication as well as the design of large projects across the world. Many projects are experimental in nature and are actually fabricated by the members of the practice themselves. This enables the design to further evolve and progress, even as it is being constructed. The practice has won numerous awards; 2013 Design Vanguard Award (from Architectural Record), 2013 Emerging Talent Award (from AIA California Council),and Taiwan’s ADA Award for Emerging Architect among others. In addition to her work at Oyler Wu, she has designed a collection of 3D-printed jewelry entitled LACE. This project applies her design sensibilities to an even smaller scale, and utilizes 3D printing to create pieces impossible to produce by any other method. Jenny has published a book, Primitives, in addition to Pendulum Plane and Trilogy: SCI-ARC Pavilions by Oyler Wu.
ElizabethWhittaker, Founder and Principal at Merge Architects
Elizabeth Whittaker, AIA, is the founder and principal of MERGE architects. Elizabeth has served on the Boston Society of Architects/AIA Board of Directors and has been nominated for the National American Institute of Architects, Young Architect’s Award. She graduated from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design with Distinction where she received numerous awards during her graduate studies including the Core Studio Prize, the Faculty Design Award, and the John E. Thayer Award for overall academic achievement. Elizabeth approaches architecture as a discipline embedded in both practice and academia. She has taught design studios in several Architecture programs including Harvard University (GSD), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Northeastern University, and the Boston Architectural College. Elizabeth currently holds a faculty position as Assistant Professor in Practice of Architecture at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design.
Adam Yarinsky, FAIA, Principal at Architecture Research Office (ARO)
Adam Yarinsky, FAIA, holds an undergraduate degree in Architecture from the University of Virginia and a Master of Architecture from Princeton University. He has served as the Eliel Saarinen Professor and as the Sanders Teaching Fellow at the University of Michigan, and as the Shure Professor at the University of Virginia. He has also taught at Harvard University, Princeton University, Yale University, Syracuse University, Parsons/The New School and Washington University in St. Louis. Adam has lectured widely throughout the United States and abroad. Recent articles by Adam have appeared in A+U, 306090, Dimensions, and Places Journal. Adam is a board member of Places Journal.
About Life in Deep Ellum
In 2006, Deep Ellum was undergoing a transition. With the apparent sudden closings of several notable local restaurants and music venues, many saw the decline of Deep Ellum as a sure thing. Many people thought Deep Ellum was dead. With streets and restaurants regularly sitting empty, there were those who feared this might be the end.
In the midst of this, there were those who refused to accept the “Death of Deep Ellum.” Believing that community strengths centered around Art, Music, Commerce, and Community, the vision for Life in Deep Ellum was born. Gifted with a once abandoned warehouse, the organization serves as a cultural center for the artistic, social, economic, and spiritual benefit of Deep Ellum. Alongside community organizations such as the Deep Ellum Community Association and the Deep Ellum Foundation, LIDE continues to fulfill its mission of impacting the greater community of Deep Ellum and urban Dallas.
Past events held at Life in Deep Ellum include Pecha Kucha, TEDX, ArtCon, RedBull Curated, and Daverse Lounge.
Remarks
"Homes were being ... replaced by massive homes that maximize the site to the brim ... with little regard for their respective surroundings. Grotto ... from Nimmo Architecture, at its very core, bucks this M Street trend with a modern design system that is sensible both inward and outward."
- Michael Friebele - American Institute of Architecture (source)
