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Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Architecture The AIA Awards and Olson Kundig Architects

Posted by Charles Mudede on Tue, Oct 25, 2011 at 11:17 AM

The big winners of the 2011 Honor Awards for Washington Architecture are Art Stable by Olson Kundig Architects...

Image by Benjamin Benschneider and Used With Permission from Olson Kundig Architects

and...

Vancouver Community Library by The Miller Hull Partnership. Jurors appreciated its “monumental presence” and felt the “public, semi-private, and private spaces worked well together.”
Wood Block Residence by chadbourne + doss architects. Jurors felt this remodel, building on a Fred Bassetti original, “made smart choices between original structure and new elements.”
LOTT Clean Water Alliance Regional Services Center by The Miller Hull Partnership. Juror’s were impressed that both client and project team succeeded in making a utilitarian project a “resolute work of architecture.”

More information about the awards can be found here.

Comments (15) RSS

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Wow, a glass and steel box! Will the groundbreaking innovation never cease?

Posted by WFM on October 25, 2011 at 11:51 AM

Why would I want the entire contents of my home visible from the street?

Posted by Lumpmoose on October 25, 2011 at 12:04 PM

Congratulations to Capitol Hill's own Rockbox who received a Merit award.

http://2011honorawards.aiaseattle.org/no…

Posted by M. Wells on October 25, 2011 at 12:08 PM

I've never so wished I were a resourceful cat burglar. The high prices for these units, giant "art access" windows and built-in crane shout "there be treasure here - we dare you".

Posted by gloomy gus on October 25, 2011 at 12:11 PM

I think it's lovely. The entire contents of your home aren't really visible from the street, only a fraction of it is, depending on the floor your home is on and the side of the street where the viewer stands below. However, the entire contents of the street are visible from your home if you stand in the right spot. Weird how that works.

Posted by blip on October 25, 2011 at 12:31 PM

I'd probably have to break my habit of staggering to the kitchen in the altogether first thing in the morning to make my coffee. I'd frighten the children.

Posted by Geni on October 25, 2011 at 12:33 PM

Dammit. Unit 600 sold two months ago. It was a bargain at just $1,565,000.

Posted by DOUG.

on October 25, 2011 at 12:56 PM

8 Comment Pulled (Spam) Comment Policy

Actually that building is amazing. It uses a very efficient and completely ground breaking (for Seattle, anyway) geothermal system that loops through the structural pilings.

I've been in it. Charles is right. It's super cool.

Posted by tkc on October 25, 2011 at 3:55 PM

huh, interesting, I didn't realize geothermal was available in Seattle:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SExxXRO-a…

Posted by Andy_Squirrel on October 25, 2011 at 5:09 PM

meanwhile, people who design this crap live in beautifully restored hundred year old houses...the future is bullshit.

Posted by LEE.

on October 25, 2011 at 5:40 PM

Andy dear, Geothermal is possible - King Street Station has 36 wells - but our small lots and tendency towards hidden boulders makes things problematic.

Or so I've been told.

Posted by Catalina Vel-DuRay

on October 25, 2011 at 8:27 PM

Geothermal or a ground source heat pump? The latter is reasonable in Seattle. Is there any real geothermal in town?

Posted by unsteamed on October 25, 2011 at 10:47 PM

The most important thing about this building is that it is a slim, human-scaled "infill" project in an area (South Lake Union) otherwise dominated by formulaic megaprojects, in a city that has practically forgotten the meaning of human-oriented street frontage.

I happen to find it aesthetically pleasing, but even if it were butt ugly, its dimensions would still represent a tiny step forward after the streetscape massacres of the last couple decades.

@6: If you live in a city, occasionally strangers will see you naked. It's just not that big of a deal.

Posted by d.p. on October 25, 2011 at 10:55 PM

As for that Vancouver (WA) library, Google Maps reveals that this interesting old multi-family house was razed to make way for the new library's parking lot.

At that point, I don't care what else the architects did. The project is officially asinine.

Posted by d.p. on October 25, 2011 at 11:03 PM