School of Architecture Faculty Members Take Home Eight Awards at American Institute of Architects Annual Meetings
Judith Chafee's Viewpoint residence, from the book Powerhouse by Associate Architecture Professor Christopher Domin and Kathy McGuire, recipient of the AIA Arizona 2020 Research-Design Award. Photo by Bill Timmerman.
Even the ongoing pandemic couldn’t dampen the spirits—and success—of faculty at the University of Arizona’s School of Architecture, who walked away from recent American Institute of Architects (AIA) Arizona and Southern Arizona chapter events with a combined eight awards.
AIA Southern Arizona Awards
Mary Hardin
Professor of Architecture Mary Hardin and her Drachman Design-Build Coalition won the esteemed AIA Southern Arizona 2020 Design Award for Stadium Rowhouse #1: Urban Infill to Stabilize a Challenged Neighborhood, a CAPLA Design/Build project completed on the UArizona campus this spring thanks to Hardin and Bachelor of Architecture and Master of Architecture students.
“This project is quite refreshing in its understated elegance and simple and poetic form,” says one judge, while another states: “Simple approach marrying volume and constructability with a cool factor.”
Hardin’s nonprofit Drachman Design-Build Coalition was also awarded the AIA Southern Arizona 2020 Distinguished Building Merit Award.
Michael Kothke, Professor of Practice in Architecture
Associate Professor of Practice in Architecture Michael Kothke and his partner Kathy Hancox of HK Associates received the AIA Southern Arizona 2020 Distinguished Building Award for their Ventana House, a 3,500-square-foot “window in the desert” built into a rocky slope near the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains north of Tucson.
AIA Arizona Awards
Kothke and Hancox in turn chaired the 2020 AIA Arizona Design Awards Ceremony, where the jury handed out several awards to College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture faculty at a gala “held with much frivolity and honking-of-horns in the Paradise Valley Mall parking lot in Phoenix, everyone staying masked or inside their cars,” reports School of Architecture Director Robert Miller.
Christopher Domin
Associate Professor of Architecture Christopher Domin won the AIA Arizona 2020 Research-Design Award, given for excellence in research devoted to the built environment that leads to improved design. Domin won the award with Kathy McGuire for their book Powerhouse: The Life and Work of Judith Chafee, which is “expanding the reputation of a hitherto lesser-known female pioneer of mid-century modern design and has freshly documented many of her most important commissions,” says Miller.
Dan Hoffman
Professor of Practice in Architecture Dan Hoffman was awarded the AIA Arizona 2020 Design Pedagogy Award, given for teaching and/or pedagogical excellence in a course, studio, project or other educational program. Hoffman won the award for his development and delivery of the B.Arch Foundation program. “Entirely transforming the character and design emphasis,” says Miller, “this pedagogy has injected fun into first-year studies while amplifying the agency and creative learning of these beginning design students.”
Lisa Schrenk
Associate Professor of Architectural History Lisa Schrenk was honored with the AIA Arizona 2020 Community Education Award, which is given for programs, institutions or individuals who advance the public understanding and appreciation of design in the built environment. Schrenk won the award for a body of initiatives conducted over the last 30 years, including serving as education director of the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio Foundation, curating public exhibitions at major institutions (such as her Women in Architecture: The Legacy of the Bauhaus exhibition) and other public outreach educational initiatives, including initiating and advising CAPLA’s Women in Architecture Society.
Oscar Lopez
Lecturer in Architecture Oscar Lopez, who co-chaired this year’s AIA Arizona state conference, was awarded an AIA Arizona Presidential Citation for his service to the state chapter as well as AIA Southern Arizona, where he serves as the chapter’s associate director.
And Robert Miller, who is both School of Architecture director and a professor of architecture, was honored with the 2020 Arizona Architects Medal, which is presented to AIA Arizona members who advance the profession of architecture. The esteemed award further recognizes “outstanding professional achievement and sense of social responsibility.”
Robert Miller, Director, School of Architecture.
“It is an honor to work with the architects, teachers, researchers and built environment leaders who won these impressive and well-deserved awards,” says CAPLA Dean Nancy Pollock-Ellwand. “The accolades not only recognize their service and accomplishments among their peers, but also honor the college and the university. I couldn’t be prouder of their success—a success that benefits those who both work alongside and study with these stellar individuals.”
