AAF, AIA Put the Accent on Architecture
American Architectural Foundation and American Institute of Architects honor "America's Architectural Best."

Earlier this month the American Architectural Foundation and the American Institute of Architects held their 18th annual “Accent on Architecture” Gala at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. Recipients included Save America’s Treasures, Leers Weinzapfel Associates, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and Edward Larrabee Barnes, FAIA. The gala celebrates the best in architecture and design, and this year also concurrently celebrated the 150th anniversary of the AIA.

The AIA/AAF "Accent on Architecture" 18th annual Gala was held February 9th at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC. (photo courtesy American Architectural Foundation)

The American Architectural Foundation Keystone Award
The AAF Keystone Award was presented to Save America’s Treasures, a public–private partnership between the National Park Service and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Since its inception in 1998 by executive order, Save America’s Treasures has designated more than 1,500 official projects and has awarded more than $300 million in public and private grants to preservation efforts across the country. Some of the projects include the preservation of the Star Spangled Banner, the Founding Fathers’ papers, and the only remaining model of the World Trade Center. Current Honorary Chair First Lady Laura Bush sent her congratulations via a letter, and Founding Chair and former First Lady Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton appeared via video to express her appreciation for Save America’s Treasures’ continuing work.

The American Institute of Architects Twenty-Five-Year Award
The AIA Twenty-Five-Year Award was presented to honor the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Maya Lin, principal, Maya Lin Studios, designer of the wall, was joined for the award’s acceptance by Kent Cooper, FAIA, and William P. Lecky, FAIA, principals of Cooper–Lecky Architects, Washington, D.C., who served as architects of record for the project; John Parsons, associate regional director for lands, resources, and planning for the National Park Service, sponsors of the project; and Jan Scruggs, founder and president of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. Richard Logan, AIA, and chair of the 2007 architecture jury, said of the Memorial, “It creates a magical moment of the living and the dead touching, and it is still as potent as the first time you saw it.”

Architect Maya Lin accepts the AIA Twenty-Five-Year Award for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC. (photo courtesy American Architectural Foundation)

The American Institute of Architects Architecture Firm Award
AIA’s highest honor for an architectural firm was presented to Leers Weinzapfel Associates of Boston. Andrea Leers, FAIA, and Jane Weinzapfel, FAIA, founding principals of Leers Weinzapfel Associates, accepted the award. This was the first time the AIA has bestowed the honor on a woman-owned practice. James Steward Polshek, FAIA, commented, “It would be nice to be gender blind, but our social construct is not yet reconfigured to allow that luxury. The fact is that for a woman-owned firm to succeed as spectacularly as Leers Weinzapfel has required persistence, diligence, and inventiveness.”

Mrs. Mary Barnes and her son John Barnes accept the AIA Gold Medal, awarded posthumously to Edward Larrabee Barnes, FAIA. (photo courtesy American Architectural Foundation)

The American Institute of Architects Gold Medal
The AIA Gold Medal was bestowed posthumously to Edward Larrabee Barnes, FAIA, in recognition of his significant body of work of lasting influence on the theory and practice of architecture. Barnes's widow, Mary Barnes, and his son John, both architects, accepted the gold medal on his behalf. Henry Cobb, FAIA, said of Barnes, “Although [he] was modest perhaps to a fault and often seemed to operate ‘below the radar’ of critical acclaim, his influence has nonetheless been broad and deep.” Some of Barnes’s most recognized work included the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts on Deer Island, Maine, and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.

The AIA College of Fellows Latrobe Prize
The Latrobe Prize, a biannual $100,000 grant whose goal is to engage education and practice in the pursuit of knowledge, was awarded to seven architects. The grant will be used to support a two-year program of research selected by jury review for its promise to advance professional knowledge in architecture. Awardees were: Guy Nordenson, with Stan Allan, Catherine Seavitt, and James Smith, Princeton University; Michael Tantala, Tantala Associates; and Adam Yarinsky and Stephen Cassell, Architecture Research Office.