Peter Miller
Lessons from the Palladio Awards Jury
The Palladio Awards competition recognizes excellence in traditional design. Refinement and appropriateness, context, material use and quality of craftsmanship are all part of the design excellence criterion.
Our esteemed jury deliberated April 1st to choose 10 outstanding projects for Palladio Awards in commercial/institutional and residential design from the following categories:
• Restoration and Renovation
• Adaptive Reuse and/or Sympathetic Addition
• New Design and Construction less than 5,000 sq.ft. (residential); less than 30,000 sq.ft. (commercial/institutional)
• New Design and Construction more than 5,000 sq.ft. (residential); more than 30,000 sq.ft. (commercial/institutional).
The jurors were divided into two teams, one judging the commercial/institutional entries and one judging the residential entries. Commercial/institutional jurors were:
Warren Cox, Hartman Cox Architects; James Shepherd, Director of Preservation and Facilities, the National Cathedral; David Bell, Bell Architects and Kevin L. Hildebrand, Executive Architect, Preservation and Architecture Branch, Design Services, Architect of the Capitol.
Residential jurors were: Michael Imber, Michael Imber Architects; Ankie Barnes, Barnes Vanze Architects; Tom Kligerman, Ike Kligerman Barkley and Wayne Good, Good Architecture. Four members of the jury have themselves won Palladio Design Awards in prior years.
Presiding over the jury and pouring the coffee was yours truly. Nancy Berry, editor of PERIOD HOMES and NEW OLD HOUSE magazines helped lay the ground rules for the jury process. James Baird of Historical Arts and Casting, makers of the Palladio Awards statue, was also in attendance. Judgment day took place April 1 at the historic Sulgrave Club on DuPont Circle in Washington DC.
The judging process begins with each judge reviewing the entry notebooks. There were more than 100 entries in all. For each category, each juror was asked to select his top five entries, and score them 1-5 (with 5 being the best grade). The top entries made the finalist batch for further review and discussion among the jurors. This is when jury members can influence their peers on the merits of each project.
Listening in, the editors scribbled notes which become quotes, quips and insight for the June TRADITIONAL BUILDING and the July PERIOD HOMES coverage of the annual Palladio Award winners. The jury’s discussion builds consensus for final decisions on who wins. At the jury’s discretion, entries can be moved from one category to another, receive a special award, or be disqualified for not following regulations. If there are no outstanding entries in a given category, the jury can decide not to give an award.
The categories with the most entries were new traditional design and construction projects, both residential (more than 5,000 sq.ft.) and commercial/institutional (more than 30,000 sq.ft.). There were very few entrants in the multi- housing category so no award was given. The residential jury gave four awards and the commercial/institutional jury team decided on six awards.
The jury’s perspective on what makes a traditional design winner was consistent across both teams. They liked contextual design. Architectural detail was appreciated especially when it showed restraint. One juror said, “Sometimes it’s not what you put in, it’s what you leave out.”
The use of appropriate materials also matters. Good scale, proper proportion and massing was important to all these experienced jurors, themselves excellent design practitioners. Where historic buildings were enlarged with new additions, the judges approved of a harmonious blend but also a clear transition between the original and the new.
May I have the envelope please?
For excellence in traditional residential design and construction... the 2015 Palladio Award winners are:
BUTTONWOOD, for a Sympathetic Addition by Peter Zimmerman Architects, Philadelphia, PA. Peter Zimmerman, AIA, principal. Rick Pinkerton, project architect. Mike Kolb, intern architect.
THE FRIST RESIDENCE for New Design and Construction under 5,000 sq.ft. by Khoury & Vogt Architects, Alys Beach, FL. Erik Vogt and Marieanne Koury-Vogt, principals.
CRICKET HILL for Restoration and Renovation by Hamady Architects LLC, Greenwich, CT. Kahlil Hamady, principal. Peter Lorenzoni, Mark Jackson and Leslie-jon Vickory, project architects.
LONGWOOD FARM for New Design and Construction, more than 5,000 sq.ft. by Curtis & Windham Architects Inc., Houston, TX. Russell Windham and Bill Curtis, principals. Hill Swift, Brian Davis, Joel Lowery and Marion Evans, project architects.
For excellence in traditional commercial/institutional design and construction….the 2015 Palladio Award winners are:
THE KANSAS STATEHOUSE for Restoration and Renovation by Treanor Architects, Topeka, KS. K. Vance Kelley, AIA, principal.
OZARK HALL, University of Arkansas for a Sympathetic Addition by Robert A.M.Stern Architects,LLP, New York, NY. Robert Stern, principal. Gary Brewer, project partner. Eric Silinsh, project manager. Matthew Blumenthal, project assistant.
WILLIAMSBURG SAVINGS BANK for Adaptive Reuse by David Scott Parker Architects LLC, Southport, CT. David Scott Parker AIA, preservation architect. Jorge Bosch, Bosch Architecture, architect of record.
FORD ASSEMBLY PLANT for Adaptive Reuse by Marcy Wong, Donn Logan Architects, Berkeley, CA. Marcy Wong and Donn Logan principals. Kent Royle, Ketki Shah, Cari Jelen and Justin Tang, design team members.
PROVIDENCE COLLEGE for New Design and Construction more than 30,000 sq.ft. by The S/L/A/M Collaborative, Boston, MA. Richard Polvino AIA, LEED AP, principal in charge. Daniel Kantor, project executive. Loren Belida, AIA, LEED AP, project manager.
PARK HOUSE FOR WASHINGTON SQUARE for New Design and Construction, less than 30,000 sq.ft, by BKSK Architects, New York, NY. George Schieferdecker, AIA, LEED AP, partner in charge. Harpreet Dhaliwal, AIA, LEED AP, project architect.
The 2015 Palladio jury was confident in its selection of these exemplary traditional building projects. The judges often cited simple, creative solutions to complex design challenges when scoring the winners. Palladio winners and the jurors alike, make hard choices look easy.
Congratulations to this year’s Palladio Award winners and thanks again, to our all-star jury. Watch for June TRADITIONAL BUILDING and July PERIOD HOMES for full four color coverage of this year’s Palladio Award projects.
Peter H. Miller, Hon. AIA, is the publisher and President of TRADITIONAL BUILDING, PERIOD HOMES and the Traditional Building Conference Series, and podcast host for Building Tradition, Active Interest Media's business to business media platform. AIM also publishes OLD HOUSE JOURNAL; NEW OLD HOUSE; FINE HOMEBUILDING; ARTS and CRAFTS HOMES; TIMBER HOME LIVING; ARTISAN HOMES; FINE GARDENING and HORTICULTURE. The Home Group integrated media portfolio serves over 50 million architects, builders, craftspeople, interior designers, building owners, homeowners and home buyers.
Pete lives in a classic Sears house, a Craftsman-style Four Square built in 1924, which he has lovingly restored over a period of 30 years. Resting on a bluff near the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., just four miles from the White House, Pete’s home is part of the Palisades neighborhood, which used to be a summer retreat for the District’s over-heated denizens.
Before joining Active Interest Media (AIM), Pete co-founded Restore Media in 2000 which was sold to AIM in 2012. Before this, Pete spent 17 years at trade publishing giant Hanley Wood, where he helped launch the Remodeling Show, the first trade conference and exhibition aimed at the business needs and interests of professional remodeling contractors. He was also publisher of Hanley Wood’s Remodeling, Custom Home, and Kitchen and Bath Showroom magazines and was the creator of Remodeling’s Big 50 Conference (now called the Leadership Conference).
Pete participates actively with the American Institute of Architects’ Historic Resources Committee and also serves as President of the Washington Mid Atlantic Chapter of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art. He is a long-time member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and an enthusiastic advocate for urbanism, the revitalization of historic neighborhoods and the benefits of sustainability, including the adaptive reuse of historic buildings.
