The WMAIA Design Awards program is held every two years, in even-numbered years. This awards program alternates with the Green Giants Award program, which is held every two years in odd-numbered years.
In 2020, the WMAIA received 14 entries. Two Honor Awards – the highest award category – were presented; two Merit Awards were given, and two Citation Awards were presented. The Chapter also held an informal Architects’ Choice runoff during the Annual Meeting; one project was given that award.
The entries and winners are shown below, and can be sorted.
The competition was open to any building type or landscape project anywhere in the world completed at any time in the last seven years (after January 1, 2013), if the architecture firm/architect-of-record or landscape architect currently has its principal office in Western Massachusetts, which is defined for the purposes of this program as Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden and Hampshire counties or if the architect having a lead project role (i.e., Project Principal, Project Designer, Project Architect, Project Manager) is a member of WMAIA. The sole criterion of the program is design excellence.
WMAIA 2020 Design Awards
The WMAIA 2020 Design Awards program was held in conjunction with the Western Massachusetts Section of the Boston Society of Landscape Architects, and was sponsored by Pella Products and Keiter Builders.
This year’s awards were juried by members of neighboring chapters in the AIA New England region: Susan Phillips-Hungerford AIA is Principal of Susan Philips-Hungerford Architects in Peterborough NH; Susan has also been on the faculty of the BAC. She is active in the AIA New Hampshire Chapter and is chair of the AIANH Awards Committee. Susan received her MArch from the University of Colorado and her BS in Environmental Design from UMass/Amherst. She also studied at the University of Copenhagen Royal Danish School of Architecture. Andrew Schlatter AIA is Vice President for Facilities Management and Planning at Bennington College and is treasurer of AIA Vermont. Previously Andrew worked as an associate and project architect at KieranTimberlake in Philadelphia. He received his MArch and MLA from the University of Pennsylvania. Kathryn Wise AIA is Manager of Architectural Services for LLBean and is Vice-President AIA Maine. Kathryn is a graduate of the UMass/Amherst MArch program and, while a student, served as the AIAS member of the WMAIA Board.
Student Scholarships
This is the 11th year that we have been able to offer scholarships to local students, with the support of AIA National and Pella.
Submissions are judged for design excellence, clarity of presentation and community and/or University engagement by the applicant.
The 2020 WMAIA/AIA National Student Scholarships were presented to two UMASS Amherst students in the M. Arch program: to Micaela Goodrich (below right), honoring her design for renovation and addition to the American Museum of Tort Law in Connecticut, and to Brenden Baitch (below left) for his design of a U.S. Consulate Building for Rio de Janeiro.
Honorary Memberships
Every two years the WMAIA awards an honorary membership to a person who otherwise would not be eligible for membership, but who has made significant contributions to architecture, design and/or environmental causes in Western Massachusetts.
This year, honorary memberships were presented to Joseph Krupczynski (below left), Director / Civic Engagement & Service-Learning at UMass/Amherst, for his many years of work in engaging local communities with the architectural world; and Dennis O’Rourke (below right), (recently retired) Representative for Pella Products, for his long-term support of, and work with, the WMAIA and the architectural community.
Louttit Site Redevelopment
WMAIA 2020 Design Awards HONOR AWARD - Architecture Truth Box Architects, Providence, RI The redevelopment of the former Louttit Laundry site at 95 Cranston Street in Providence, RI is an innovative model for sustainable [...]
Village of Sidney Green Infrastructure Streetscape
WMAIA 2020 Design Awards HONOR AWARD - Landscape PLACE Alliance, Amherst, MA Following devastating flooding from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee in the Village of Sidney, New York, PLACE Alliance helped lead recovery [...]
Teen Housing
WMAIA 2020 Design Awards MERIT AWARD Jones Whitsett Architects, Greenfield, MA This four unit microhousing project for DIAL/SELF Youth and Community Services provides a needed option to young adults living in Northampton who might [...]
Takahashi-Harb Loft and Library
WMAIA 2020 Design Awards MERIT AWARD Naomi Darling Architecture, LLC, MA The Takahashi-Harb Loft and Library is an interior renovation and conversion of an existing ground floor walk-out basement and two-car garage into one-bedroom [...]
Solar Time – Temporary Installation
WMAIA 2020 Design Awards CITATION AWARD Naomi Darling Architecture, LLC, MA with Darrell Petit, LLC On the Fine Arts Center Plaza at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Solar Time transformed a standard 20’ shipping [...]
New Valley Bank & Trust
WMAIA 2020 Design Awards CITATION AWARD ArchitectureEL, East Longmeadow, MA New Valley Bank & Trust approached ArchitectureEL for the design of their first branch bank, and first new bank in the Pioneer Valley in [...]
Back to the Country
WMAIA 2020 Design Awards ENTRY Burr & McCallum Architects, Williamstown, MA As a college student, our client lived in a cabin on a hill with a spectacular view of the valley and Mount Greylock. [...]
Furcolo Hall – UMASS
WMAIA 2020 Design Awards ENTRY Kuhn Riddle Architects, Amherst, MA The Furcolo Lecture Hall comprises a 3,700 SF renovation and accessibility upgrade that includes reconfiguration of the auditorium entry to provide a welcoming new [...]
Village of Port Chester – Streetscape
WMAIA 2020 Design Awards ENTRY PLACE Alliance, Amherst, MA Despite being just outside of Manhattan and boasting a vibrant food and entertainment scene, The Village of Port Chester, NY has a surprising lack of [...]
Ravens’ Roost
WMAIA 2020 Design Awards ARCHITECTS' CHOICE Fitch Architecture & Community Design, Amherst, MA Raven’s Roost was shaped by the residents’ deep love for Alaska’s beauty; by a fluid relationship to environment, seasons and light; [...]
Low Impact High End
WMAIA 2020 Design Awards ENTRY c&h architects, Amherst, MA This home was built on the foundation of an existing underperforming and poorly constructed house. The existing structure was not worth saving, but reusing the [...]
Elms College Gaylord Mansion
WMAIA 2020 Design Awards ENTRY Kuhn Riddle Architects, Amherst, MA The historic Gaylord Mansion project sits at the gateway of the Elms College campus in Chicopee, Massachusetts. Originally built by mill owner Emerson Gaylord [...]
Stockade Historic District Flood Mitigation Strategy
WMAIA 2020 Design Awards ENTRY PLACE Alliance, Amherst, MA The Stockade Historic District, in northwest Schenectady, NY along the Mohawk River, has been subject to seasonal and catastrophic flooding throughout its long and varied [...]