AIA names its best small projects

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has selected its recipients for the 2016 Small Project Awards. The program, now in its 13^th year, was established to recognize small-project practitioners for high-quality work and to promote excellence in small-project designs. The jury recognized projects, objects, works of environmental art, or architectural design elements.

Four projects were named in the first category, which included projects up to $150,000 in construction cost.

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh Studio Hive (GBBN Architects)
The Studio Hive is part of the Teen Zone in the East Liberty Branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. Made of wood and sound-absorbent industrial material, it has contributed to a 350 percent increase in attendance at the library’s teen programs and events. The design team developed a 3D digital model of the Hive, which allowed designers to tune the form and refine it to minimize material waste. The connection to both the remaining library space and to the street provides teens with a sense of social context and environment while occupying a space that is uniquely personal.

Deployable Smocked Porch (substance architecture)
A simple wooden frame defines the small space and supports two porch swings for this project in Winterset, Iowa. The smocked screening creates curtains for easy access and provides shade and enclosure. A rectangular-opening in the roof allows a defined shaft of daylight to enter the space. This opening is echoed in the small turf area cut into the floor. The project was designed and constructed adjacent to the courthouse square in Winterset as a pro-bono effort to support Iowa Preservation Alliance. The wood was salvaged from a demolished home, and the labor to sew, fabricate, and construct the space was provided by the design team. As a result, the budget for the project was $900.

wa_sauna (goCstudio)
A floating sauna in Seattle, this project was funded through the support of a crowdfunding campaign it functions as a boat and can be moored at a marina or private property or taken out on the open water as needed. The interior space is heated by a simple efficient wood burning stove. As a mobile piece of architecture, wa_sauna is able to reach people living aboard boats and houseboats as well as larger communities of boaters, kayakers, paddle boarders, and rowers. Using a pre-manufactured aluminum frame and floatation system for the deck, it can be seen quietly exploring Seattle’s lakes on a regular basis.

Weihnacht Huts; Bethlehem (NAD)
This pro-bono design is for 35 craft exhibit huts for an authentic German Weihnachtsmarkt (open-air Christmas market) in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The huts feature a steeply sloped roof designed for snowfall and a ridge line borrowed from traditional Moravian design. A limited budget for materials ($286 per unit), paired with the necessity for the structures to be taken apart and stored every year, meant a polycarbonate roof that is easy to disassemble and allows for a large amount of light and warmth inside during the day. During the night, the huts are illuminated from within and emit a lovely glow to add to the magical Christmas atmosphere of the city’s historic district.

For the second category, up to $1.5 million in construction cost, there were five winners.

Girl Scouts Camp Prairie Schooner (el dorado inc.)
Camp Prairie Schooner located in Kansas City, Missouri, features a dining hall, five permanent units, two buildings for troop use, a 12-m (40-ft) rappel tower, an archery range, a swimming pool, and a zip line. The load bearing walls of the structures are constructed of 50 x 152-mm (2 x 6-in.) wood studs, supporting a series of common and scissor trusses. The envelope is clad with corrugated metal panels, complementing wood and aluminum-clad windows and skylights. The end of the bunkhouses is a combination of fluted polycarbonate glazing and painted concrete board over a rainscreen system. All mechanical systems are concealed within the trusses. The pendant lights are custom fixtures designed and built by a former girl scout.

Linear Cabin (Johnsen Schmaling Architects)
The Linear Cabin is a small family retreat, its low-slung body sitting in a small clearing in Wisconsin’s North Woods. The Alma Lake building consists of three identically-sized, nearly-opaque boxes tied together with a continuous thin roof plane. The voids between the boxes serve as picture frames, allowing for unobstructed views through the building from the outside and into the landscape from within. The interior is clad in knotty pine, and tempered by its crisply detailed joints and simple lines of lacquered millwork throughout. The outside of the cabin is wrapped in blackened cedar.

St. Pius Chapel & Prayer Garden (Eskew+Dumez+Ripple)
Designed as a quiet refuge and intimate sanctuary for sacred reflection and contemplation, the new St. Pius chapel is a subtle addition to its New Orleans neighborhood. The sanctuary, which complements the modernist character of the adjacent church (circa 1963), is small but tall, keeping occupants close, while inspiring reverence. Beyond a few pieces of furniture and religious items, the space’s power and purpose is enhanced by its very simplicity, allowing occupants quiet worship and contemplative solitude.

Studio Dental (Montalba Architects)
For this San Francisco project the challenge was to create a spacious interior while packing Studio Dental’s required program for its mobile unit, which travels to businesses offering convenient dentistry. The 7-m (26-ft) trailer features a waiting area, sterilization room, and two operatories. The sterilization room is hidden behind millwork panels that wrap around to form the patient waiting bench. A centralized, double-sided millwork panel houses equipment for both operatory and gestures measuring up to 3 m (11 ft) ceilings with translucent skylights. The materials reinforce Studio Dental’s identity with natural wood millwork, bright white surfaces, and a custom perforation pattern.

Village Health Works Staff Housing (Louise Braverman, Architect)
Embedded in the mountainside of an off-the-grid rural village in Burundi, this 18-bed staff housing is a bridge between East African elemental aesthetics and inventive sustainability. Cutting a skewed line in the terrain, the 557-m² (6000-sf) dormitory captures breathtaking mountain views. The same moves that establish its visual presence – such as airflow-enhancing porches – also advance its sustainability. Rebuilding after many years of civil strife, the villagers hope this housing will create a model for the sustainable future of both the community and the country.

The jury for the 2016 Small Project Awards includes: chair Marika Snider (Snider Architecture), Will Bruder (Will Bruder Architects), Mira Locher (Kajika Architecture), Elizabeth Ranieri (Kuth Ranieri) and Jonathan Tate (Office Jonathan Tate).

For more on the winners, click here.