The five chairs of the 2012 Virginia Society AIA Awards for Excellence in Architecture presented by IMAGINiT Technologies juries are Ronald J. Battaglia, FAIA, Historic Preservation; Joseph Bilello, Ph.D., FAIA, General Design; Mary A. Burke, FAIA, IIDA, Interior Design; Casius Pealer, Esq., Assoc. AIA, Residential Design; and Graham S. Wyatt, AIA, Contextual Design.
The awards are a celebration of the very best work from designers working from Virginia. Held annually, the Awards for Excellence in Architecture recognize projects no older than seven years that contribute to the built environment as clear examples of thoughtful and engaging design. Winners will be honored at a special session during Architecture Exchange East and at Visions for Architecture. Winning projects will also be the subject of the fifth annual Design Awards exhibition at the Virginia Center for Architecture, and featured in Inform magazine. Entries are being accepted through July 13. The 2012 VSAIA Awards for Excellence presented by IMAGINiT Technologies are sponsored by IMAGINiT Technologies, a Rand Worldwide Company, SKANSKA USA, Haynes Whaley Associates, Inc. and Vanderweil Engineers, LLP.
Each chair will convene jury deliberations in August.
Historic Preservation Jury Chair
Ronald Battaglia is the managing principal of Flynn Battaglia Architects. On a project level, he works closely with all project teams in design development. In his more than three decades of professional practice, Battaglia has led a wide variety of projects, a significant portion of which have involved historic sites, communities, and buildings listed on the local, state, or national register. Through this work, the firm has established a standard of care for projects based on thoughtfulness and sensitivity in the application of historic planning and design standards. Flynn Battaglia designers are noted for their careful evaluation of original techniques balanced with current technology to maintain the integrity of historic resources. Their range of services encompasses historic surveys and National Register nominations; design for restoration, rehabilitation, and adaptive reuse; preservation planning and design; conservation and cyclical maintenance plans; and interpretation of historic sites. His projects include restoration of Louis Sullivan’s Guaranty Building, Richard Upjohn’s St. Paul’s Cathedral, E.B. Green’s Administration Building at Niagara Falls State Park, restoration/adaptive reuse of H.H. Richardson’s Psychiatric Center Building 10, and various buildings in Buffalo’s Olmsted Park System.
Elevated to the AIA College of Fellows in 1995 for advancing the science and art of planning and building, he has received numerous state, regional, and national awards for design excellence and innovative use of building materials. His writings and work have been featured in numerous periodicals and books. In addition to his design leadership, Battaglia is avidly contributes to the advancement of the profession. He has been a staunch advocate for emerging professionals and the involvement of architects in their communities.
General Design Jury Chair
Joseph Bilello is a professor of architecture at the Ball State University College of Architecture and Planning. His current research is focused on the role of architects in enhancing community resilience by planning for natural and manmade disasters and facilitating post-disaster recovery. He is also actively studying crowd sourcing as a design and planning approach. Among the subjects he teaches are design studios at all levels, architectural research methods, creativity and risk, professional practice, drawing, and design communications.
Creatively, Bilello maintains a watercolor practice, designs small facilities, and facilitates interdisciplinary projects, which include business entrepreneurship and emerging media.
He was the associate dean responsible for establishing the Texas Tech Research Center and leading the university’s Wind Engineering Research Center. He also participated in field-based historic preservation documentation using laser technology and conducted applied research through the TTU Rural Assistance Initiative, which he chaired.
His work at the national AIA Architectural Education Initiative bridged gaps between education and practice; work that was formative in the AIA’s Building Community, a Carnegie Foundation Report.
He has also taught at The Catholic University of America, the University of New Mexico, California College of Arts and Crafts, and King Faisal University in Saudi Arabia in addition to being a visiting critic at other institutions. Bilello has served on the Boards of Directors for the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, Architectural Centers, and Research Centers Consortium, the Initiative for Architectural Research, Minnetrista Cultural Center, Indianapolis Regional Development, the Indiana Architectural Foundation, and others. He holds degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, Washington University, and the University of Maryland.
Interior Design Jury Chair
Mary Burke founded her New York City-based firm in 2004 and is the driving force behind the firm’s elegant, distinctive, visually rich solutions for residential, hospitality, and commercial projects. Her 35 years of experience includes work in the U.S. and throughout Asia and Australia with such prominent firms as Cetra/Ruddy (with whom she successfully re-branded and launched Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town), Gruzen Samton (which included directing the design of offices for former President Clinton), HOK, Swanke Hayden Connell, and Tihany International. She led the KPF Interior Architects’ Singapore office, where she directed the design of major interior spaces for United Overseas Bank in their headquarters building designed by Kenzo Tange.
Recognized as a leader in the profession as well, Burke is the 2012 chair of the national Interior Architecture Committee and serves on the AIA New York State Board of Directors. She was the AIA New York Chapter vice president for design excellence and, for five years chaired the New York Chapter Interiors Committee. She is a former Board Member of the New York Chapter of the International Interior Design Association and serves yearly as a juror in the Best of NeoCon competition in Chicago, and is a frequent lecturer and contributor to design publications.
Burke is an Associate Professor in the Interior Design faculty at Pratt Institute and is a frequent guest critic for Pratt as well as for the Architecture School at City College. She holds a bachelor’s degree in art history from Fordham University, a master’s degree from Columbia University in preservation and restoration of historic architecture, and a BArch from City College.
Casius Pealer, Esq., Assoc. AIA
Residential Design Jury Chair
Casius Pealer is a principal of Oystertree Consulting L3C, a mission-driven limited liability corporation that provides real estate advisory services to affordable housing developers and public agencies. Oystertree specializes in using green building as an additional tool to achieve long-term affordable housing solutions.
Trained as an architect and a real estate attorney, Pealer has 15 years of community development experience, including 5 years as legal counsel for public housing authorities across the country implementing mixed-finance redevelopment projects. He served as the first director of affordable housing at the U.S. Green Building Council and is a senior advisor for the Affordable Housing Institute in Boston. He was the 2011 chair of the AIA national Housing Committee, which saw the establishment this year of the AIA Custom Residential Architects Network. He is also is an adjunct lecturer for the Tulane University Master of Sustainable Real Estate Development program.
Pealer has been published in the ABA Journal of Affordable Housing and Community Development Law, the AIA Journal of Architecture, and Architectural Record in addition to being a regular speaker at professional conferences nationally. His MArch is from the Tulane School of Architecture and JD from the University of Michigan Law School.
Contextual Design Jury Chair
Graham Wyatt is a partner with Robert A.M. Stern Architects, where he has worked since 1983. He has been responsible for a broad range of master planning and building design projects throughout North and South America, and in Europe and Asia.
Wyatt’s major buildings for institutional clients include academic and residential buildings at major universities and independent schools across the country. Among his major corporate headquarters buildings are the Mexx International World Headquarters in the Netherlands; the Gap Inc. Offices in San Francisco; the Philadelphia Comcast Center; the Plaza at PPL Center in Allentown, Pa.; and the Fed’s Sixth District Headquarters in Atlanta. His portfolio includes award-winning LEED Gold and Platinum buildings, often in historic urban or campus settings.
In 2001-2002 he was the Architect for Downtown Columbus, Indiana, helping to oversee that city’s reputation as an enlightened corporate patron of architecture.
Wyatt’s work has been published in Progressive Architecture, Architectural Record, Architecture, A+U, Baumeister, The New York Times, Time, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. He has also contributed chapters to two editions of Building Type Basics for College and University Facilities.
Wyatt is a graduate of Princeton University, Columbia University and the London School of Economics where he was a Marshall Scholar. He is a member of the Architectural League of New York, the Municipal Art Society, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, the Society for College and University Planning, and the U.S. Green Building Council.
