The 2016 winners of the inaugural AAP American Architecture Prize have been announced. The AAP recognizes the most outstanding architecture worldwide across three disciplines: architecture, interior design, and landscape architecture.
Architectural Design of the Year
Shanghai Tower
Lead Designer: Dan Winey
As the tallest building in China Shanghai Tower, designed by Gensler, has had an immediate and profound impact on the country’s perceptions of how a skyscraper can contribute to a city, a country, and a culture. Not only does it rise over Shanghai as a new symbol for its modern emergence on the global stage, but also points the way forward for technical innovation accomplished within the parameters of a Chinese cultural identity. Powerful in form yet delicate in appearance, Shanghai Tower would be a graceful addition to any skyline, but its function, identify, and symbolism are firmly rooted in the needs of its specific site.
Interior Design of the Year
The Infinity Centre, Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School
Lead Designer: McBride Charles Ryan
The Infinity Centre, the new campus for Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School senior students, is derived from the initial idea that the library is central to the school. The building reflects the ethos of the school in delivering spaces for heightened educational outcomes with an image that strongly reflects its identity. At a practical level, the Infinity Centre provides all the structured areas required of such a facility: arts, sciences, mathematics, languages, a library, a formal lecture theatre, administration and staff facilities. Beyond this, the building is developed as an abstraction of the infinity symbol; an emblem that appears on the school’s logo. The symbol represents the school’s approach to continued learning, as well as the interconnectedness of activities within its organisation. Importantly, the key quality of the symbol is its connectivity; a recognisable topology that allows its meaning to withstand formal deformation. At the centre of the infinity plan, where all the wings cross over, is the library: it is itself an infinite resource, a place to which one continually arrives and returns. Concepts of fluidity and connectivity are evident in the building’s exterior form. Clad in gloss-black-and-silver-banded brickwork, the Infinity Centre rises like a medieval walled city. Sweeping ‘gateways’ maintain the continuity of this form and provide access into the school’s sheltered inner courtyards; one for formal and the other for informal gathering. The consistency of this external architectural treatment is in direct contrast to the richly expressive variety of internal spaces. Internal materials and colours provide the discipline-precincts with identity and diversity within the continuous form of the building. The coexistence of these contrasts is emblematic of the school’s pedagogical approach. With the Infinity Centre, PEGS has a tangible manifestation of their unique identity in which structure and individuality work in concert and optimism is the product.
Landscape Architecture of the Year
Sydney Park Water Re-use Project
Lead Designer: Turf Design Studio & Environmental Partnership with Alluvium, Turpin + Crawford Studio, Dragonfly Environmental and Partridge
Much has been achieved over the past two decades to transform the Sydney Park site from its former post-industrial history and waste disposal, into 44 hectares of parkland and a vital asset for the growing communities of Sydney’s southern suburbs. This project forms City of Sydney’s largest environmental project to date, built in partnership with the Australian Government through the National Urban Water and Desalination Plan. It is an integral component of Sustainable Sydney 2030; targeting 10% of water demand to be met through local water capture and re-use in the park. The City seized a once in a lifetime opportunity to use what was essentially an infrastructure project to breathe new life into the park - as a vibrant recreation and environmental asset for Sydney. The City engaged a design team led by landscape architects Turf Design Studio and Environmental Partnership who orchestrated an intense and multi-disciplinary collaboration intersecting design, art, science and ecology - in a ‘roundtable’ of creatives shared between water experts Alluvium, artists Turpin + Crawford Studio, ecologists Dragonfly Environmental, engineers Partridge and the City’s own Landscape Architects. The result is an interwoven series of community infrastructures and ‘made’ systems - water re-use, recreation, biodiversity and habitat all integrated within the physical fabric of Sydney Park. The bio-retention wetlands not only capture and clean the equivalent measure of 340 Olympic-sized swimming pools worth per annum, but will successfully improve local water quality, habitat and reduce potable water consumption in the area. Sydney Park now offers an enhanced recreational experience to the Sydney community, going beyond the picturesque; creating instead a revitalised, multi- faceted waterscape that celebrates the connection between people and place.
In addition to the Architects of the Year, many other projects were awarded titles of Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Honorable Mention across 41 categories. Projects were evaluated based on characteristics of form, function and innovation.
For a full list of the 2016 winners, click here.
Related Stories
Green | Apr 8, 2024
LEED v5 released for public comment
The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has opened the first public comment period for the first draft of LEED v5. The new version of the LEED green building rating system will drive deep decarbonization, quality of life improvements, and ecological conservation and restoration, USGBC says.
Codes and Standards | Apr 8, 2024
Boston’s plans to hold back rising seawater stall amid real estate slowdown
Boston has placed significant aspects of its plan to protect the city from rising sea levels on the actions of private developers. Amid a post-Covid commercial development slump, though, efforts to build protective infrastructure have stalled.
Sustainability | Apr 8, 2024
3 sustainable design decisions to make early
In her experience as an architect, Megan Valentine AIA, LEED AP, NCARB, WELL AP, Fitwel, Director of Sustainability, KTGY has found three impactful sustainable design decisions: site selection, massing and orientation, and proper window-to-wall ratios.
Brick and Masonry | Apr 4, 2024
Best in brick buildings: 9 projects take top honors in the Brick in Architecture Awards
The Ace Hotel Toronto, designed by Shim-Sutcliffe Architects, and the TCU Music Center by Bora Architecture & Interiors are among nine "Best in Class" winners and 44 overall winners in the Brick Industry Association's 2023 Brick in Architecture Awards.
Retail Centers | Apr 4, 2024
Retail design trends: Consumers are looking for wellness in where they shop
Consumers are making lifestyle choices with wellness in mind, which ignites in them a feeling of purpose and a sense of motivation. That’s the conclusion that the architecture and design firm MG2 draws from a survey of 1,182 U.S. adult consumers the firm conducted last December about retail design and what consumers want in healthier shopping experiences.
Healthcare Facilities | Apr 3, 2024
Foster + Partners, CannonDesign unveil design for Mayo Clinic campus expansion
A redesign of the Mayo Clinic’s downtown campus in Rochester, Minn., centers around two new clinical high-rise buildings. The two nine-story structures will reach a height of 221 feet, with the potential to expand to 420 feet.
Sports and Recreational Facilities | Apr 2, 2024
How university rec centers are evolving to support wellbeing
In a LinkedIn Live, Recreation & Wellbeing’s Sadat Khan and Abby Diehl joined HOK architect Emily Ostertag to discuss the growing trend to design and program rec centers to support mental wellbeing and holistic health.
Architects | Apr 2, 2024
AE Works announces strategic acquisition of WTW Architects
AE Works, an award-winning building design and consulting firm is excited to announce that WTW Architects, a national leader in higher education design, has joined the firm.
Office Buildings | Apr 2, 2024
SOM designs pleated façade for Star River Headquarters for optimal daylighting and views
In Guangzhou, China, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) has designed the recently completed Star River Headquarters to minimize embodied carbon, reduce energy consumption, and create a healthy work environment. The 48-story tower is located in the business district on Guangzhou’s Pazhou Island.
K-12 Schools | Apr 1, 2024
High school includes YMCA to share facilities and connect with the broader community
In Omaha, Neb., a public high school and a YMCA come together in one facility, connecting the school with the broader community. The 285,000-sf Westview High School, programmed and designed by the team of Perkins&Will and architect of record BCDM Architects, has its own athletic facilities but shares a pool, weight room, and more with the 30,000-sf YMCA.