The AIA Virginia Prize is a design charrette that engages students at all of the accredited architecture programs in Virginia. Conducted simultaneously at each institution, students are given the competition program Friday at 5 p.m. They work over the weekend to create a board presenting their design solution by 9 a.m. the following Monday. The competition is intended to promote collaboration between the profession, students and professors in Virginia.
The first round of submissions is juried at the university level and up to 10 finalists from each school will be sent to be juried at the state level.
The 2024 competition takes place over the Feb. 2-4 weekend. Faculty at Hampton University are finalizing the brief. The challenge brief will be posted to this page at 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 2 and submissions are due to the school at 9 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 5.
Students from Hampton University, Virginia Tech, Virginia Tech’s Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center, and the University of Virginia took part in the 32nd annual Virginia Society AIA Prize competition over the weekend of Jan. 27–30, 2012. From those submissions, each school advances 10 finalists; the winning design will be selected by a jury in February.
This year’s competition problem was developed by faculty at Hampton University and addressed our ability (or inability) to provide temporary emergency housing. Students were asked to propose a semi-permanent and reusable intervention in one of the region’s most naturally vulnerable locations — Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The problem asked students to design one prototypical unit, not to exceed 600 square-feet, capable of housing up to 4 individuals. Designs were to include a site plan demonstrating how four of these prototypical units could be arranged to form the embryo of a community. Students were also asked to envision how these structures could be used as housing for special events during non-catastrophic times.
The Virginia Society AIA Prize — along with the accompanying $2000 check — will be awarded during the Virginia Design Forum: Skins, March 16-17, in Charlottesville, Virginia. Best of School nods (and possibly an honorable mention or two) will be noted as well. An exhibition of all of the finalists will tour each of the schools and will wrap up in the ArchEx Exhibit Hall at Architecture Exchange East on Nov. 8–9.
Students from Virginia’s architecture schools competed in January in the 2011 Virginia Society AIA Prize competition, sponsored by The Whiting-Turner Contracting Co.
Students were given one weekend to create a solution to a design problem: design a new Amtrak station in the town of Clifton Forge, Virginia. The current passenger train stop at this location is equipped with minimal facilities, consisting of a very small waiting room and bathroom, and is housed in a structure that is primarily a freight yard office building.
Program elements included a waiting room for approximately 25-30 people, a ticket counter with attached office, a small room for office and custodial storage, bathroom facilities, and onsite parking for 24 cars. There is a vacant one-story building on the site, which formerly housed a diner, but the competition assumed that it could be removed and/or replaced at the competitor’s discretion. Competitors could also alter or adjust the configuration of existing parking areas and driveways on the site.
The site is located along the main commercial street in downtown Clifton Forge, and competitors were encouraged to consider both pedestrian and vehicular connections to the street, such that the project could improve both the quality of passenger service as well as make a positive contribution to the town.
Each entry was required to be the work of one individual — no collaborative projects were allowed.
The jury was comprised of Timm Jamieson, FAIA (chair), Michel Ashe, FAIA, Joe Atkins, AIA, and Steven McCurdy of Norfolk Southern Railroad. They met March 30, 2011, to deliberate and select honorees. Those honorees and the jury’s comments follow.
All the honorees had clear and complete communication of the elements and the plan. Those honored had the strength of an idea, coupled with representation that lifted the idea up and made it clear.
Noteworthy original thought was characterized in a number of entries.
2011 VSAIA Prize Winner
Siim Tiisvelt, Virginia Tech Washington Alexandria Architecture Center
Said the jury:
Click to enlarge
This entry made an interesting pedestrian connection to the town, providing a view of the river and trains. A simple, straightforward, and elegant solution. One simple gesture provided a drop-off for people coming by car and a straightforward procession to the platform, with an extension of the street above for anyone to view trains and river beyond. Civic minded seat steps reflected back to the main street. This entry clearly understood the topography of the site well, as the whole sense of arrival seems more in scale than any other scheme. This was the best implementation of the concept of giving people a place to watch trains.
Best in School Virginia Tech Blacksburg
Garrett Reynolds
Said the jury:
There was good recognition of the topography. The site section at the bottom grabbed our attention. The civic scale canopy was reflected in the mountains and to the town, almost as Saarinen did with Dulles Airport. Tucking the parking under was nice solution to a tricky problem. This is almost too much architecture for the town, but the resolution of the design was strong. The double acting canopy is very nice, however, the sense of arrival is not very sophisticated.
Best in School Hampton University
Biyengo Lwandiko
Said the jury:
Nice neoclassical set of pieces. In scale with the site; the entrance addresses the street and allows entry from the sidewalk into the building and progresses nicely as you get onto the train. The town would love it. Very nice presentation. Complete…we fully understood all the parts. The jury wished the two building components had been better connected somehow.
Honorable Mention
Gui Talarico, Virginia Tech WAAC
Said the jury:
This is a wild and wonderful concept. We laughed out loud at “Why the hell are we stopping a 750-ton, 800 foot long train for 180 pound people?” In all seriousness, we like that someone devoted thought to ecology and saving fuel.
Michael Smyles, Virginia Tech Blacksburg
Said the jury:
Very nice portal, with good imagery of the procession from platform to train. A container that has an object — it’s a nice miniature version of larger train station a la Grand Central. Special note: the jury members all mentally moved the newer building to be in harmony with the old building.
Recognition for Artistic Merit
Natalie Mutchler, Virginia Tech Blacksburg
Said the jury:
Very nice graphic representation. We would have liked to see more addressing of the site plan. It is Hopper-esque, almost a frame-able poster.
The Virginia Center for Architecture announced that it has received a $100,000 gift to its scholarship fund from the estate of Richmond architect Horace George Freeman, AIA.
The Virginia Center for Architecture was founded in 1954 as a scholarship fund for architecture students and over time has expanded that mission into a broader educational agenda.
“More and more students are seeking assistance in managing the increasing costs of attaining a degree in architecture,” says Executive Director Helene Combs Dreiling, FAIA. “Through Mr. Freeman’s generous bequest, the Center is able to fully embrace our heritage of scholarship by making architecture school more accessible to Virginia students.” Since 2005, the Center has awarded nearly 50 scholarships and more than $43,000 to students enrolled in one of Virginia’s accredited schools of architecture.
Horace Freeman co-founded Henrico-based Freeman Morgan Architects with John Morgan in 1975. He died on Tuesday, July 27, 2010, at the age of 94. The Center received his gift, which was dedicated to the memory of his partner A. O. Budina, FAIA, on February 25, 2011.
