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Awards: The Latest Architecture and News

11 Projects Win Modernism in America Award

Eleven buildings have been announced as winners of Docomomo US' 2015 Modernism in America Awards (#ModernismAwards), of which includes the Frederick Dunn-designed Lewis and Clark Branch Library that is currently scheduled to be demolished. Each awarded project is "emblematic of the work going on all over the country and represent buildings and building typologies of postwar society in the United States." It is hoped that these awards will shed light on the importance of preserving modern architecture. Take a look at the winners, after the break.

AIA Names Top 10 Most Sustainable Projects of 2015

Ten projects have been named the top examples of sustainable and ecological design by the AIA and its Committee on the Environment (COTE) for the year 2015. Now in its 19th edition, the COTE Top Ten Awards program recognizes projects that adhere to the highest integration of natural systems and technology to produce spaces that positively impact their surroundings and minimize their environmental footprints.

All of the projects will be honored at the 2015 AIA National Convention and Design Exposition in Atlanta. See this year's top ten sustainable designs, after the break.

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Winners of the 2015-2016 Rome Prize Announced

Now in its 119th year, the recipients of the 2015-2016 Rome Prize have been announced by the American Academy in Rome (AAR). The prestigious prize is granted annually to around thirty artists, designers, and scholars who display exceptional promise in their professional fields, enabling them to undertake creative projects with a public element for an average of eleven months in Rome. The winners were selected by eight interdisciplinary juries, and will be rewarded with accommodation in Rome as well as project funding of up to $28,000 per year, depending on the length of their stay.

Check out the 2015-2016 recipients in Architecture, Historic Preservation and Conservation, and Landscape Architecture after the break.

Open Call: Prize Searches for World's Best Public Library

Applications are once again open for world’s best public library award. As part of the Danish Agency for Culture's Model Program for Public Libraries project, the prize aims to generate new ideas about how the design of public libraries can change to meet the changing needs of today’s society. Considered libraries must "take digital developments and local culture into consideration" and "welcome a diversity of population groups with an open and functional architectural expression in balance with its surroundings and a creative use of IT to improve user experiences." Learn more about the prize (here) and submit a library, here. Candidates for the “Public Library of the Year Award” have until June 15, 2015 to apply.

AIA Names 10 Most Impressive Houses of 2015

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) have announced the recipients of the 2015 Housing Awards. Currently in its 15th year, the awards are designed to “recognize the best in US housing design” and “promote the importance of good housing as a necessity of life, a sanctuary for the human spirit and a valuable national resource.” This year, the jury awarded ten designs in three categories. See them all, after the break.

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Tall Wood Building and Self-Supported Steel Structure Win RAIC's Innovation Award

The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) has awarded two British Columbia projects with the 2015 Innovation in Architecture award for their use of wood and steel: Michael Green Architecture's Wood Innovation Design Center in Prince George has been deemed to be an exemplar for tall timber buildings, while Patkau Architects' origami-inspired One Fold research project illustrates the structural potential of folding steel sheets. A closer look at both projects, after the break.

Nasher Sculpture Center Announces New $100,000 Prize

The Nasher Sculpture Center has announced the new $100,000 Nasher Prize, an international prize that will be awarded annually to living artists worldwide for "work that has had an extraordinary impact on the understanding of sculpture." The inaugural winner will be announced in Fall of 2015.

"The Nasher Sculpture Center is one of a few institutions worldwide dedicated exclusively to the exhibition and study of modern and contemporary sculpture," says the center. "As such, the prize is an apt extension of the museum’s mission and its commitment to advancing developments in the field. By recognizing those artists who have influenced our understanding of sculpture and its possibilities, the Nasher Sculpture Center will further its role as a leading institution in enhancing and promoting this vital art form."

AIA Names 6 US Libraries as 2015's Best

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has revealed six libraries they believe to be the year's best. In collaboration with the American Library Association (ALA), the AIA/ALA Library Building Awards are intended to promote and honor exceptional designs in library architecture. Taking into account the evolving role of the library, these six award recipients are believed to have elevated the institution to one of congregation and community-specific programs.

See the winning designs after the break.

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“Drylands Resilience Initiative” Awarded AIA Latrobe Prize

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has selected a team led by Woodbury University's Arid Lands Institute for its “Drylands Resilience Initiative: Digital Tools for Sustainable Urban Design in Arid and Semi-Arid Urban Centers” to receive the 2015 Latrobe Prize.

The Latrobe Prize, named for architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe, is awarded biennially by the AIA College of Fellows for a two-year program of research leading to significant advances in the architecture profession. The $100,000 award will enable the Arid Lands Institute (ALI) and its cross-disciplinary partners to further develop and test a proprietary digital design tool, known as “Hazel,” that eventually will enable arid communities anywhere to design and build the infrastructure needed to capture, retain and distribute stormwater runoff.

See All 24 Projects Shortlisted for RIAS' 2015 Awards

The Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) has shortlisted 24 projects for its 2015 awards, the single most important recognition of architectural achievement in Scotland. This year’s judging panel, chaired by Iain Dickson PPRIAS, will now visits all 24 sites to determine which projects are “worthy” of an award, only choosing those in which they feel “best address the key role of architecture: to improve the quality of people’s lives.”

See all 24 shortlisted projects, after the break. 

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Share Your Ideas for a Livable City with the Walking Visionaries Awards

Walk21 Vienna has launched its Walking Visionaries Awards, a challenge that invites people from around the globe to explore the many ways walking can be implemented into our daily lives to support sustainable and livable cities. Submit a solution now through April 30, 2015 for a chance to participate in the Walk21 Conference in Vienna, Austria in October 2015. 30 winners will receive a free ticket to the conference and given the chance to meet leading professionals and share their ideas with other visionaries through mediums such as lectures, round table discussions, and workshops. Additionally, the winners' solutions will be published in the conference documentation. Selected by both public opinion and a jury vote, winning submissions will be announced in June 2015. For more information or to submit an idea, visit walk21vienna.com.

Shortlist Announced For 2015 RIBA Yorkshire Awards

A total of eleven projects have been shortlisted for RIBA Yorkshire 2015 Awards, featuring buildings by Populous, HLM, and Studio Gedye. All shortlisted buildings will now be assessed by a regional jury. Regional winners will then be considered for a RIBA National Award in recognition of their architectural excellence, the results of which will place some projects in the running for the 2015 .

See the complete list of shortlisted projects after the break.

Peter Stutchbury Awarded Australian Institute of Architects' Gold Medal

The 2015 Australian Achievement in Architecture Awards have been allocated by the Australian Institute of Architects in Melbourne. The prestigious awards honor emerging and seasoned architects, students, and academics whose interdisciplinary designs have excelled in embracing the possibilities of the profession. Granting 14 awards in 9 categories, the recipients’ work spans a wide range of subject matter and addresses various aspects of architecture’s inherent influences both locally and globally.

The highest award, the Gold Medal, was awarded to Peter Stutchbury, whose lifelong commitment to architecture has spanned education, professional practice, and involvement in organizations. His international work consistently speaks to its specific cultural and site conditions, while adhering to sustainable design principles.

See all the 2015 award winners, after the break.

Shortlist Announced For 2015 RIBA North West Awards

A total of 15 projects have been shortlisted for RIBA North West 2015 Awards, featuring buildings by John McAslan + Partners, Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, MUMA and Carmody Groake. All shortlisted buildings will now be assessed by a regional jury. Regional winners will then be considered for a RIBA National Award in recognition of their architectural excellence, the results of which will place some projects in the running for the 2015 RIBA Stirling Prize. The 2014 RIBA Stirling Prize was won by Haworth Tompkins for the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool, a project which was shortlisted by this branch of the RIBA. Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios' Manchester School of Art also made it to the national finals.

See the complete list of shortlisted projects after the break.

Frei Otto Posthumously Named 2015 Pritzker Laureate

Frei Otto has just been named the 40th recipient of the Pritzker Prize - two weeks prior to the expected official announcement. The abrupt news has been released early due the unfortunate passing of the German architect and structural engineer, who was best known for the 1972 Munich Olympic Stadium. The pioneering tensile structure, which stood in considerable contrast to the strict, authoritarian stadium that was its predecessor, was meant to present a different, more compassionate face for Germany.

"Throughout his life, Frei Otto has produced imaginative, fresh, unprecedented spaces and constructions. He has also created knowledge. Herein resides his deep influence: not in forms to be copied, but through the paths that have been opened by his research and discoveries," says the Jury.

"His contributions to the field of architecture are not only skilled and talented, but also generous. For his visionary ideas, inquiring mind, belief in freely sharing knowledge and inventions, his collaborative spirit and concern for the careful use of resources, the 2015 Pritzker Architecture Prize is awarded to Frei Otto."

Though he sadly passed away before the award ceremony, Otto was informed of his win by the Pritzker Prize's Executive Director Martha Thorne, who traveled to his home in Warmbronn to inform him of his prize. Speaking shortly after her visit, he said: "I am now so happy to receive this Pritzker Prize and I thank the jury and the Pritzker family very much. I have never done anything to gain this prize. My architectural drive was to design new types of buildings to help poor people especially following natural disasters and catastrophes... You have here a happy man."

Read the Jury’s full citation after the break… 

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2015 Civic Trust Award Winners Announced

The winners of the 2015 Civic Trust Awards have been announced. Recognizing design excellence in all aspects of the built environment since 1959, the Civic Trust Awards span three categories and are granted to designs around the world. From the King's Cross Station renovation in London to the Via Verde in New York, this year's recipients represent a mix of ultra-modern structures, prized cultural sites, and innovative landscapes. See all the 2015 recipients, here.

Shortlist Announced For 2015 RIBA London Awards

A total of 68 buildings have been shortlisted for RIBA London 2015 Awards, featuring buildings by AHMM, dRMM, John McAslan + Partners and Grimshaw, to Níall McLaughlin Architects, Eric Parry Architects, and Rogers Stirk Harbour. Winning projects from last year included three Stirling Prize shortlisted projects, as well as another by Haworth Tompkins who ultimately took the prize in 2014 for the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool. All shortlisted buildings will now be assessed by a regional jury. Regional winners will then be considered for a RIBA National Award in recognition of their architectural excellence, the results of which will place some projects in the running for the 2015 RIBA Stirling Prize.

See the complete list of shortlisted projects after the break.

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KANVA Wins RAIC 2015 Emerging Architectural Practice Award

A Montreal-based practice known for their experimental material use and building methods, KANVA has been selected to receive the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada’s (RAIC) 2015 Emerging Architectural Practice Award. The 10-person collective was lauded by the jury for “always looking to the future” and being “continually and consistently innovative.”