Sticks & Stones
Honor Awards event Monday evening 11/7, from 6pm at Benaroya Hall, Seattle. Tickets available at the door.

The AIA Seattle 2005 Honor Awards for Washington Architecture, planned by the Honor Awards Committee and Chair Jon Taylor AIA, will culminate in an interactive session with jury members on Monday evening November 7, at Benaroya Hall in downtown Seattle.

The Completed and Not yet Built categories welcome entries of any project – including buildings of all types and at any scale, interiors, urban design, and other designed development – for whom the team includes a Washington architect.

In a special feature this year, a Design Challenge: "A Place of Remembrance" invited entries from designers and observers of all disciplines, to bring forward visions for memorializing those who die homeless within our communities – honoring and advancing the work of WHEEL, Women in Black, Real Change News, and other entities seeking an end to homelessness. Visitors may view entries online or at AIA Seattle Gallery during the month of November 2005, and share the jury's critical consideration of entries as part of the Honor Awards for Washington Architecture event on November 7. The Mayor's Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs will host an exhibit of these entries at Seattle City Hall, beginning November 15, with possible future displays where viewing the entries might stimulate further thought and action toward ending homelessness.
Reference: Carol Smith in Seattle P-I 4/21/05: 'Ingored in life, indigent are remembered, at last, in death'

A guiding notion for this year's design consideration derives from Lewis Mumford's 1924 work Sticks & Stones, A Study of American Architecture and Civilization. In a journey through the history of American architecture from pre-colonial times to the turn of the 20th century, Mumford berates "architecture for photographers" that rarely relates to the people occupying it. "We will ask the jury to examine our work and thought in the context of experiments and innovations that extend the value of architecture to both its users and to society," notes Jon Taylor. "We look forward to the annual opportunity to examine the quality of our work both in individual projects and their combined effect on the landscape of our communities."

The jury:
* Brian Carter, Dean, School of Architecture and Planning and Professor of Architecture, University at Buffalo (Moderator)
Brian Carter completed architecture studies at Nottingham School and the University of Toronto, and worked as an architect in the UK, on projects with Arup in London (1970-1994). He came to the US to pursue teaching and scholarship, and among other academic posts around the US, chaired the University of Michigan Department of Architecture 1994-2001 before coming to Buffalo.
His scholarly work focuses on design research through practice and the consideration of modernism in contemporary architecture. His publications include All American, Innovation in Architecture (2002, with Annette LeCuyer), an earlier work Johnson Wax Administration Building and Research Tower, as well as studies of the works of Patkau Architects, Brian MacKay-Lyons, and Rafael Moneo.

* Shirley Blumberg FRAIC, Assoc. AIA
KPMB Architects, Toronto
Born in Cape Town, South Africa, Shirley Blumberg studied there and at the University of Toronto. From 1977-87, she worked with Barton Myers in Toronto before founding the firm of Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg with her partners.
Acknowledged for her refined design sensibility, she has directed many award-winning projects for KPMB's corporate, institutional, high tech, and retail clients in Canada and the US. Current and recent projects under her direction include the renovations at Toronto's Gardiner Museum and the James Stewart Centre for Mathematics at McMaster University, and new buildings for Centennial College and the National Ballet School. She teaches at the University of Toronto, and has lectured at Kent State University and elsewhere. In 1994, she became the first woman appointed to the Hyde Chair for Excellence in Architecture at the University of Nebraska.
Reference: The Architecture of Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg, ed. Phyllis Lambert et al.

* Brian Healy AIA
Brian Healy Architects, Boston
Following his education at Penn State, Yale, and the University of Florence, with fellowships at the American Academy in Rome, The MacDowell Colony, and Dorland Mountain Arts Colony and work in the offices of Cesar Pelli and Richard Meier, Brian Healy established his firm in Boston in 1986.
Early recognition included his selection to participate in the New York Architectural League Emerging Voices Series.
While sustaining a practice producing notable design, he has studied and taught extensively at Penn, Yale, Dartmouth, Michigan and other schools, regularly at MIT, and currently at Washington University in St. Louis, as the Ruth and Norman Moore visiting professor.
Establishing a portfolio of design success, Brian Healy Architects has won numerous design competitions, including a 1st Place award for design of a Children's Chapel and Community Cultural Center for the Korean Church of Boston. In late October 2005, Brian Healy Architects won an NEA design competition to design the $22 million Mill Center for the Arts, in Hendersonville, North Carolina.

* Julie Snow FAIA
Julie Snow Architects, Minneapolis
In 1998 the New York Architectural League selected Julie Snow as an Emerging Voice. Her work ranges from industrial facilities and cultural institutions to private residences – and even a dog collar.
Many have noted the work of Julie Snow Architects, Inc. published in numerous journals, nationally and internationally – from early work in Progressive Architecture and later in Architecture and Architectural Record. Publication in Business Week and Dwell magazines introduced her work to larger audiences. In May of 2005, Princeton Architectural Press released a monograph of the firm's work: Julie Snow Architects: New Voices in Architecture.
Julie Snow has taught as an Associate Professor in Architecture at the University of Minnesota. She has participated in many architectural juries including the AIA Honor Awards, the Business Week/ Architectural Record Awards, the US Design Excellence, GSA Peer Review, and the Dupont Benedictus Awards.

… and for review of Design Challenge entries
* Steve Badanes Associate AIA, Howard S. Wright Professor of Architecture at the University of Washington
Steve Badanes has become known for his work with Jersey Devil, a design firm whose work perpetuates the tradition of medieval craftsmen, as recorded in numerous projects and publications. He attended Wesleyan University for undergraduate studies, and took the MArch at Princeton University. He has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, as well as a Fellowship from the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture.
As a teacher, he has led design/build learning adventures all over the world. He has conducted design/build workshops at the University of Technology in Helsinki, Finland, the University of Oregon, the University of Washington, the University of Miami, Ball State University, the University of California at San Diego, Florida A&M University, Miami University in Ohio North Dakota State University, and the University of Wisconsin.
Most recently, he served on the juries for AIA Colorado Design Awards and for the DEA Solar Decathlon.
Reference: Devils' Workshop: 25 Years of Jersey Devil Architecture

* Shannon Nichol ASLA
Gustafson Guthrie Nichol Ltd., Seattle
Shannon Nichol spent her early years in sparsely-populated areas near the Washington-BC border, where the natural environment had a strong influence on her design sensibility. She studied landscape architecture at the University of Washington and at Liverpool.
As a founding partner of the renowned firm of Gustafson Guthrie Nichol, with offices in Seattle and London, Shannon Nichol has designed contextually driven landscapes in cities throughout North America. Many have experienced the environments designed by GGN under the direction of Shannon Nichol, in such projects as Boston's North End Parks, the much-admired McCaw Hall at Seattle Center, and the San Ysidro US-Mexico Border Station project – the subjects of local, national, and international praise and publication. She lectures and volunteers extensively in cities around the US.
Reference: Moving Horizons: The Landscape Architecture of Kathryn Gustafson and Partners

Dates to note:
09/05 Entry open
9/22 Design Challenge/Place of Remembrance Entry Information Session, 4-5:30pm at Josephinum Library (1902 Second Avenue, Seattle)
9/29 Entry application/fees due (non-refundable)
10/13 Submission deadline
11/07 Awards presentation, Benaroya Hall, Seattle