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1999 AIA AWARDS
New England's Best
AIA's New England Design Awards cite four Connecticut architects
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Business New Haven
1/10/2000
By: Fiona Phelan
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Each year the America Institute of Architects bestows design awards to leading New England architectural firms. This year, four of the 13 prestigious AIA/New England Annual Design Awards went to firms in the Nutmeg state.
AIA/Connecticut announced the award winners - five honor awards and 8 merit awards - at the annual AIA/New England conference. The three jurors for the competition were architects from Washington, D.C.
The winning firms from Connecticut were Cesar Pelli & Associates of New Haven; Mahdad Saniee Architect, Greenwich; Centerbrook Architects & Planners in Essex; and Roger Ferris & Partners, Architects, Westport.
Internationally renowned Cesar Pelli & Associates received an AIA/New England Honor Award for its design of the new North Terminal at Washington National Airport. The one million-square-foot facility features 35 gates and a 1,600-foot concourse designed to accommodate more than 16 million passengers annually.
Construction of the North Terminal was part of a $1 billion capital development program undertaken by the airport authority. The design is based on a 45-by-45-foot repetitive structural steel bay that establishes scale, flexibility and architectural proportions. Each bay is a dome with a central glass oculus.
According to the company's design statement, the dome is one of the most ancient symbols of shelter and also serves to establish a connection with the civic architecture of the nation's capital.
In its design statement, Cesar Pelli & Associates notes that "The design for the new terminal is sympathetic with the context of the historic 1941 South Terminal. As in the South Terminal, we placed the functional elements toward the land side and created large expanses of glass to see the federal monuments (the Federal Core and the Mall) beyond."
The North Terminal consists of three levels: ticketing on the upper level; the main concourse in the middle; and baggage claim and arrivals on the lower level. From the middle level passengers can leave the terminal and pass through an enclosed bridge to the Metro, parking garages and the South Terminal.
The design, according to Pelli, allows most passengers to move efficiently in and out of the building without the need for escalators or stairs.
Greenwich-based architect Mahdad Saniee received an AIA/New England Honor Award for his design of a riding center. The Marshland Farm Equestrian Center is a state-of-the-art, 32,000-square-foot facility featuring a 100-by-200 foot indoor riding ring with seating for up to 120 spectators.
The stable portion of the center can house up to 17 horses and includes wash stalls and a variety of other necessary features for horses and their riders. The flooring is made from recycled tires.
In judging the design of the facility, jurors noted "the mix of industrial (the steel) and wood are very well done. It is a very attractive resolution of a big utilitarian building."
The exterior of the building is covered with cedar siding, which gives the center a very rich feel. Down the center of the building is a hallway that rises above the roof level of the center and is roofed with translucent panels that provide soft light to the interior.
"I studied a lot of Japanese buildings before designing this and I also looked at five other riding centers," says Saniee. "The owner wanted something unusual and I liked the lines of Japanese design." Although he previously designed a ten-stall stable for the same equestrian center, Saniee notes that this is the first riding arena he has designed.
The facility, he adds, makes use of a lot of natural light and ventilation. The doors on either end of the center hallway can be opened to allow outdoor air to circulate and provide additional lighting.
The building also takes advantage of clerestory windows that can be opened to provide natural air conditioning and light. According to Saniee, the building is well insulated and very comfortable in both summer and winter - an important benefit for riders using the indoor ring year-round.
"The details throughout are straightforward, traditional, utilitarian, but very sophisticated," the judging panel noted.
In the Merit Awards division, Roger Ferris & Partners of Westport was one of two recipients from Connecticut. Ferris won the award for his design of a unique contemporary single-family home in Weston.
The real estate listing might read: "Unique three-floor, 4,500-square-foot home situated on gently-sloping, lakefront, two-acre lot. Features include four bedrooms, exercise room, study and top floor master bedroom suite with sitting room, decks overlooking lake, and three-car garage."
What makes the house unusual are its curves, which are created with the grey stucco and Cypress exterior. The curve of the house creates a retaining wall between the lake and the land, according to Roger Ferris. "This house is on a narrow lot that made it a challenge to design something truly unique and non-traditional."
In conferring the award, AIA/Connecticut noted that "The jury appreciates the building for the sculptural aspect of the house. It is an energetic object in a nice setting without associative reference but to itself. The energy of the exterior gives way to the calm interior. Simple but similar materials unify the inside and outside."
According to Ferris, the interior of the house is separated into public and private spaces, with the public spaces facing the road and the private spaces facing the lake. A deck off the living area appears to be a continuation of the house with the use of a curved stucco wall with openings that resemble windows. The wall also provides shade to the room off the deck, as well as privacy from the lake.
Also receiving an AIA Merit Award was Centerbrook Architects & Planners of Essex. Mark Simon, FAIA, received the honor for his design of a home on Martha's Vineyard.
"Nice adaptation of the traditional house," the jurors noted. "A very good linear plan; a very simple idea, one strong concept very well-handled. All the moves such as the enrichment of the eyebrow dormer reinforce the scheme. The interior and exterior have the same elegance and simplicity."
A seven-acre-plus lot covered with wetlands severely limited the location of the two buildings that make up the 4100-square-foot "Island Home." Due to these constraints, the main house needed to be long (76 by 18 feet) and separate from an additional square building that includes the garage and a guest room.
The main house is symmetrical and features distinctive flared white cedar shingle walls that serve to direct water away from the basement walls. The large overhang of the cedar shake roof creates an almost hat-like appearance to what could have been a long roof line.
The generous overhang is designed to protect the second-floor ribbon windows from storms. Additional storm protection is provided by rolling storm doors on the east side over the central doors most exposed during inclement weather.
The main house encompasses three large spaces that connect with parallel halls along the exterior walls. A central vaulted ceiling space serves as both entryway and formal dining room. On one side of the entry is the kitchen and on the other, the living room.
Upstairs, the band of windows circling the perimeter of the house offer views over scrub forests and fields, to the bay and sea beyond. At one end of the upstairs is the master bedroom suite and a guest room at the other end. Both bedrooms feature windows on three sides.
"This was a design that really fits the site well," says Centerbrook's Genie Devine.
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