The American Institute of Architects Announces the 2007 Recipients of Education Honor Awards

By AIA
Washington, D.C., March 9, 2007 — The American Institute of Architects (AIA) awarded the recipients of the 2007 AIA Education Honor Awards for excellence in course development and architectural teaching. The Education Honor Awards program, now in its 18th year, recognizes collegiate faculty achievements and contributions to education and the discipline of architecture. The awards were officially announced today during the ACSA Awards Ceremony at its annual meeting in Philadelphia. The awards will be presented to the 2007 recipients in May during the AIA National Convention in San Antonio.

The following are the recipients of this year’s Education Honor Awards: ecoMOD, University of Virginia; SCI-TECH I-IV, Iowa State University; and Visioning Rail Transit in Northwest Arkansas: Lifestyles and Ecologies, University of Arkansas + Washington University in St Louis.

The jury looked for evidence of exceptional and innovative courses that dealt with broad issues, particularly in cross-disciplinary collaboration and/or within the broader community, contributed to the advancement of architecture education, had the potential to benefit and/or change practice, and promoted models of excellence that could be appropriated by other educators. “All of the Award winners took on something new, were innovative models of architectural education, and used technology to facilitate their process,” said jury members.

The 2007 AIA Education Honors Award Winners:

ecoMOD
University of Virginia
Development team: John Quale, ecoMOD Project Director and Assistant Professor of Architecture University of Virginia School of Architecture; Paxton Marshall, ecoMOD Engineering Director and Professor, University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

ecoMOD is a research and design / build / evaluate project that aims to create a series of ecological, prefabricated and affordable housing prototypes. The goal of this architecture and engineering school partnership is to demonstrate the environmental and economic potential of prefabrication, and to challenge the modular housing industry to explore this potential.

Jury comments: “The project took on several topics: ecology, modular construction, and affordable housing. It put them together in a variety of prototypes that can be customized by the user.”

SCI-TECH I-IV
Iowa State University
Development team: Jason Alread, AIA, Assistant Professor; Thomas Leslie, AIA
Associate Professor, Director of Graduate Education (interim), Iowa State University Department of Architecture

SCI-TECH is an intensive, four course sequence designed to rapidly familiarize graduate students in a first professional degree program with building technology’s fundamental principles and applications. The sequence encourages connections between technology, studio, and history/theory by adopting practice as its basis.

Jury Comments: “SCI-TECH pulls together challenging subjects in a core curriculum for students in a first professional degree program. This sequence of courses is an excellent example for architectural programs that want to integrate building technology into the curriculum.”

Visioning Rail Transit in Northwest Arkansas: Lifestyles and Ecologies
University of Arkansas + Washington University in St Louis
Development team: Stephen Luoni, Director, University of Arkansas Community Design Center; Aaron Gabriel, Assistant Director, University of Arkansas Community Design Center, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture; Jeffrey Huber, LEED AP, Project Designer, University of Arkansas Community Design Center; Eric Kahn, AIA, Professor, SCI-Arc, Fay Jones Visiting Professor of Architecture, University of Arkansas, Principal, Central Office of Architecture, Los Angeles; William Conway, AIA
Associate Professor, University of Minnesota, Visiting Professor of Architecture, University of Arkansas, Principal, Conway + Schulte Architects, Minneapolis; Dr. Tahar Messadi, Assistant Professor, University of Arkansas; Greg Herman, Associate Professor, University of Arkansas.

The challenge of the studio is to assist Northwest Arkansas (NWA) in understanding the community design possibilities in the development of a regional rail transit system.

Jury comments: “This is an effective use of scenario planning with legible, impactful graphics that can be shown to the community. There is an appealing levity in the work.”

About The American Institute of Architects
For 150 years, members of The American Institute of Architects have worked with each other and their communities to create more valuable, healthy, secure, and sustainable buildings and cityscapes. AIA members have access to the right people, knowledge, and tools to create better design, and through such resources and access, they help clients and communities make their visions real. www.aia.org