The American Institute of Architects, San Francisco chapter (AIASF) has announced the award recipients of its 2019 AIASF Design Awards program. This year, the group is honoring projects located throughout the San Francisco Bay Area as well as in other parts of the country in architecture and interior design categories with special awards highlighting projects that excel in historic preservation, community infrastructure, urban transformation, and other areas. 

Included in the list of winners this year are Aidlin Darling Design's In Situ restaurant at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Saint Mary's Student Chapel by Mark Cavagnero Associates, and the Rain installation in Washington, D.C., by Thurlow Small Architecture + NIO architecten, among many others.

The 2019 AIASF Design Awards program was juried in New York City in partnership with the AIA New York. The jury deciding the awards program includes Katherine Chia of Desai Chia Architecture, Stefan Knust of Ennead Architects, Jason Long of OMA, Susan T. Rodriguez, and Kim Yao of Architecture Research Office.

See below for a full list of winners:

Architecture

Honor Monterey Conference Center Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP

Ridge House Mork Ulnes Architects

Roseland University Prep Aidlin Darling Design

Saint Mary's Student Chapel Mark Cavagnero Associates

Merit

The Amador Apartments jones | haydu

Tree House Aidlin Darling Design

Citation

Kua Bay Walker Warner Architects

SoMA Residence, Artist Gallery + Studio Dumican Mosey Architects

The O'Donohue Family Stanford Educational Farm CAW Architects

University of California, Merced, Pavilion at Little Lake Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

Interior Architecture

Merit In Situ Aidlin Darling Design

Citation

Confidential Financial Services Firm Gensler

Studio Dental II Montalba Architects

El Pípila Schwartz and Architecture

Commendations

Commendation for Historic Preservation

Lodge at the Presidio Architectural Resources Group

Commendation for Urban Design

Hunters Point Shoreline envelope A+D

Commendation for Social Responsibility

El Pípila Schwartz and Architecture

Special Commendation for Commitment to Community Spaces

901 Fairfax Avenue Paulett Taggart Architects + David Baker Architects

Special Commendation for Sustainable Community Infrastructure

Half Moon Bay Library Noll & Tam Architects

Special Commendation for Urban Infrastructure Enhancement

Rain Thurlow Small + NIO architecten Special Commendation for Urban Transformation 1100 Ocean Avenue Supportive Family and Transitional-Aged Youth Housing Herman Coliver Locus Architecture

On June 7th, 2018, The Architect’s Newspaper will once again bring the Facades+AM conference to San Francisco. AN has put together a stellar lineup of speakers and presenters for the day-long event that promises to give a granular view of some of the most exciting developing technologies in the realm of high-performance facade design that have emerged in recent years, as building integration, resilient buildings, and sustainable design have taken a deeper hold in the architecture, engineering, and construction industry. The day’s program will be opened with a welcome by Emilie Hagen, associate director of Atelier Ten. Hagen helps lead Atelier Ten’s San Francisco team and is a member of the Facade Tectonics Steering Committee. Atelier Ten is currently at work on a slew of high-tech, globally-significant projects, including the forthcoming Google headquarters in London with BIG and Thomas Heatherwick, and has previously worked on the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art expansion with Snøhetta. The opening remarks will be followed by a panel discussion titled “Beyond Little Boxes: Innovations in Facade Design and Delivery” that will focus on the radical transformations occurring within the Bay Area’s building stock, as the city densifies and builds out new residential, medical, and college campuses. The panel will feature Stanley Saitowitz, principal of Natoma Architects; Shruti Kasarekar, associate at Atelier Ten; and Mark Cavagnero, founding partner of Mark Cavagnero Associates.  That discussion will be followed by a deep dive into the design of SHoP’s new headquarters in San Francisco’s Mission Bay for carshare company Uber. The 423,000-square-foot project, focused around the delivery of an iconic and operable façade, will include an 11-story tower as well as a shaded patio overlooked by operable walls, among other components. AN has organized a panel featuring Alex Cox, development manager at Permasteelisato; Karen Brandt, senior principal at Heintges; Ryan Donaghy, senior associate at SHoP; Sameer Kumar, director of enclosure at SHoP; and Thilo Wilhelmsen, tender leader at Josef Gartner, to discuss how the design team has redefined conventional facade performance characteristics for the project.  Next, the conference will delve into some of the Bay Area’s newest premier projects—like the Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects-designed Salesforce Tower and Transbay Terminal and the Manica Architecture-designed Golden State Warriors Arena—in a panel titled “Signature San Francisco: Delivering the Bay Area’s Next Generation of Facades.” The discussion will include Mirjam Link, senior project manager at Boston Properties; Sanjeev Tankha, director at Walter P Moore; and Daniel J. Dupuis, principal at Kendall Heaton. The conference will also include a pair of “extra credit” lunch-and-learn presentations focused on perimeter fire barrier systems and on laminated glass railing design led by industry leaders STI Firestop and Trosifol. For more information, see the Facades+AM website.

The San Francisco Academy of Sciences has okayed a small new dining pavilion designed by Mark Cavagnero, to sit adjacent to its Renzo Piano-design museum, reports the San Francisco Chronicle's John King. The 12-foot-tall, 1,450 square foot space will be located in a corner of the museum's west garden, replacing an unused aviary. The project is still in conceptual stages, but so far it looks as though it would be rectilinear, lightweight, and glassy, with a large cantilevered flat roof providing shade. Museum guests can bring food out to the pavilion, or just use the space for relaxation. The rather minimal construction should make a good counterpoint to Piano's dynamic, undulating one. "When cultural facilities hire star architects to attract attention and set a new tone, the follow-through is as important as the first-year buzz," pointed out King.

The Department of State’s Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) announced yesterday its shortlist of design firms to rehabilitate the Walter Gropius-designed US Embassy building in Greece, known as the Athens Chancery. The four firms were selected out of an applicant pool of 56 submissions, and include: Ann Beha Architects, DesignLab Architects, Machado Silvetti / Baker, and Mark Cavagnero Associates. “The shortlisted submissions presented projects that were well-conceived and well-executed, displaying a sophisticated understanding of the issues involved in renovating historically significant buildings and experience with rehabilitations of complex modern structures,” the OBO said in a statement. While in keeping with a modernist aesthetic, the building, completed in 1961, is also a nod to the Parthenon with its white columns and marble facade. Following the selection, the four firms will be expected to establish their technical teams and provide more detailed information on their work and experience for the next phase of consideration.

Here’s one thing we know: No matter how gigantic convention centers and airports grow, they’re never big enough. Now we've heard through the grapevine that San Francisco will be the latest to loosen its belt a couple notches with the help of SOM and Mark Cavagnero Associates. The city is jumping on the expansion bandwagon with the addition of 200,000 to 450,000 square feet to the Moscone Convention Center in the South of Market neighborhood. The original center opened in 1981 and its first expansion, Moscone West, followed in 2003. This latest expansion would include a Third Street addition, a six-story, 260,000 square-foot building to the east of the current facilities; the Howard Street Connection, a roughly 11,000 square-foot underground facility between the current Moscone North and South facilities; and Moscone East, a 4-story, 240,000 square-foot, partially-subterranean building also to the east of the current facilities. An official announcement about the project is expected on Thursday. Cavagnero recently took home the AIA California Council's Firm Award and newly renovated and expanded the Oakland Museum of California. SOM, of course, is finishing up One World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan and on the west coast just opened up a new design studio in Los Angeles.

On Thursday, the architecturati were at the War Memorial Performing Arts Center's Green Room to see who won in this year's AIA SF Awards. This year only saw 27 awards presented, half the number of last year's 54--perhaps an indication of how hard the economic downturn has hit this area. But despite the shorter program, there was no shortage of distinctive projects. Taking home top honors in the Architecture category was Ogrydziak Prillinger's Gallery House (photo at top), which impressed the jury for its "reinterpretation of the San Francisco bay window," among other things. Alas, the  images that were shown while the virtues of the house were being described were of HOK's Merit-winning library in Saudi Arabia,  the one glitch in the evening. Interestingly, the other Honor winner for Architecture was EHDD's Marin Country Day School, which is not only a graceful building rendered in wood and steel, it is also net-zero-energy and LEED Platinum. Since EHDD got the nod for Architecture, as opposed to Energy + Sustainability, it's a indication that the profession is starting to value design and sustainability together as a package. Mark Cavagnero's sensitive additions to the Oakland Museum of California and Perkins+Will's careful restoration of the Presidio Landmark were singled out in the historical preservation category. This category is a recent addition to the awards lineup, but one that should continue to have some great entries. In interiors, an amused murmur went up in the crowd when they learned about Sand Studios' medical marijuana dispensary, SPARC, which took home a Citation award.  But the biggest laugh of the evening came when the picturesque Honor winner for unbuilt work was announced: Anderson Anderson Architecture's Lips Tower, described as a "thirsty urban utility, sucking water and solar energy from the sky."

In the future, will there be a Brutalist Revival? Decked out with stainless steel trimmings by Mark Cavagnero Associates, the Oakland Museum of California is getting ready to usher in a Brutalist appreciation. Or at least a bit of nostalgia for a time when architects couldn't get enough of the monolithic purity of craggy concrete, before they realized what the environmental costs of melting down rock and reforming it were. The 1969 complex is undergoing the first phase of a $58 million retrofit and will reopen in May 2010. Most of the building and the gardens will continue just as they were. The original architect, Kevin Roche (who took over the project after Eero Saarinen's sudden death), effectively created a new topography spanning four city blocks. In a design that puts today's hoopla over green roofs into perspective, the low terraced buildings are subsumed under the the rooftop gardens and planters in Dan Kiley's landscape design, with foliage trailing down the tops of walls. But the low profile of the building, dubbed "the bunker" by locals, doesn't lend itself to displaying art. (The art gallery is on the top level, with California history below, then natural science--complete with fish tanks--below it, bringing the whole range of museum-going experience together.) In this first phase of the renovation, two courtyards have been transformed into light-filled, white-walled galleries. (The building's embrace of the outdoors resulted in a few patios that languished in obscurity). At twice the height of the main level, the spaces are a welcome escape from the low (11-foot) concrete ceilings. The remainder of  the floor has similarly been outfitted with white walls, so that the paintings no longer have a concrete backdrop--a move that curator Philip Linhares is grateful for. Mark Cavagnero's office, which has racked up several civic wins recently, also had to figure out how to cover the central stairway, exposed to the sky. To complement the concrete, they first considered a canopy of zinc, rejected because it was softer and not as durable as their final choice, stainless steel.  According to architect John Fung, the stainless steel is brushed in a "non-directional" way, so that it appears to glow rather than glint. Interestingly, the day after the press tour, another museum in the neighboring city of Berkeley was in the news. The Berkeley Art Museum lost its new home, which was going to be designed by conceptual master Toyo Ito, due to lack of funding. But it's definitely moving out at some point, and the fate of the 1970 Mario Ciampi building, another Brutalist classic, is undetermined.  That space is quite lofty, but that openness comes at the price of stability, apparently. Fortunately, the Oakland Museum of California has raised nearly all of the funds necessary to complete its renovation.