A Peek Behind the Palladio Award Adjudication Curtain

We've recently announced the winners for the 2019 Palladio Awards, produced by Traditional Building and Period-Homes.com. Judging took place in late February and awards will be presented during the Traditional Building Conference July 16-17, 2019 in Garrison, New York.

The 18th annual Palladio Awards competition recognizes 16 firms for outstanding work in traditional design, seven in the commercial, institutional, and public architecture category and nine for residential work. All winners enhance the beauty and humane qualities of the built environment through creative interpretation and adaptation of classical and traditional design principles. It should be noted that submissions this year were at record-breaking numbers. 

This competition is the only national design awards program honoring achievement in traditional architectural design. It was created in 2002 by Clem Labine, founder of TRADITIONAL BUILDING, PERIOD HOMES and OLD HOUSE JOURNAL magazines. “In 2001, I decided that TRADITIONAL BUILDING and PERIOD HOMES magazines should launch an annual awards program to honor excellence in traditional design,” says Labine. “Up to that point, nearly all architectural design competitions were controlled by juries under the sway of modernist ideology. The result was that designers of new classical and historically inspired buildings received virtually no professional recognition.” 

The awards are named in honor of Andrea Palladio, the Renaissance architect who created modern architecture for his time while using models from the past for inspiration and guidance. The program applies the same criteria that Palladio used in his own work—projects should meet all of the functional needs of contemporary usage while applying lessons learned from previous generations to create enduring beauty.

Residential
David Andreozzi of Andreozzi Architecture
Kahlil Hamady of Hamady Architects
Jacob D. Albert of Albert Righter & Tittmann Architects

Commercial
William Young of Epsilon Associates, Inc.
Jean Carroon of Goody Clancy
Paul Kuenster of The Association for Preservation Technology International

Read more about the 2019 Palladio Award Jury.

This year, adjudication took place at The Harvard Club, in Boston, Massachusetts, with a group of esteemed architects. The panel was split between residential and commercial submissions, and judges were not granted access to projects until they arrived that day. Each juror carefully and silently inspected all submissions and ranked projects accordingly; this took nearly six hours. Each project was scored 1-5, with 5 being the highest, to whittle the entries down to semi-finalists, which were then deliberated verbally later in the day.

In order to win a Palladio Award, projects must meet the highest of standards. The competition is fiercely competitive, always, and this year was no exception. The jury is unaware of which firms submitted entries during the blind competition. Naturally, firms who do not win often feel discouraged, but they shouldn't! We keep all entries on file for future consideration for publication and often publish near-misses in the subsequent issues of TRADITIONAL BUILDING. The labor-intensive entry process can pay off, even if it's not in the award itself. 

Residential

New Design & Construction—more than 5,000 square feet
Stukes Residence, Nequette Architecture & Design

New Design & Construction—less than 5,000 square feet
West River House, Jones & Boer Architects

Restoration and Renovation
Lake Shore Drive, HBRA Architects

Adaptive Reuse and/or Sympathetic Addition (TIE)
Gothic Revival Chapel Residence, John Milner Architects, Inc.

Southern Farmhouse, Jeffrey Dungan Architects

Exterior Spaces: Gardens and Landscapes
Historic Farm in Fairfield, Connecticut, Doyle Herman Design Associates

Craftsmanship
Beaux-Arts Estate, Harrison Design with Arte 2000 and Traditional Cut Stone

Commercial

New Design & Construction—more than 30,000 square feet
E. Bronson Ingram Residential College at Vanderbilt University, David M. Schwarz Architects and Hastings Architecture 

New Design & Construction—less than 30,000 square feet
Chapel of the Holy Cross, Duncan G. Stroik Architect

Restoration & Renovation
Restoration of the Rotunda at the University of Virginia, John G. Waite Associates, Architects, PLLC

Adaptive Reuse
Lodge at the Presidio, Architectural Resources Group

Interior Design
Cellars at the Pearl, Donald B. McDonald, Architect

Craftsmanship
Luzerne County Courthouse, John Canning & Co., LTD

To view photos of the winning projects and to learn more, click here.