6 Buildings Win Awards from American Institute of Architects

Averett University’s Student Center is among buildings winning awards. (Virginia Hamrick Photography)

Six higher-education buildings have won awards from the American Institute of Architects’ Committee on Architecture for Education. The six college structures were among 11 buildings that the committee selected for its 2008 awards. The other five house elementary and secondary schools.

The higher-education buildings are:

Averett University’s Student Center, designed by VMDO Architects and opened in 2006. The 41,860-square-foot building, constructed for just over $7-million, was intended to help transform Averett from a commuter-focused institution to a university with a lively student presence and on-campus extracurricular activities. The building won a merit award from the AIA committee.

(Robert Benson Photography)

Christopher Newport University’s Ferguson Center for the Arts, designed by Hanbury Evans Wright Vlattas + Company and Pei Cobb Freed & Partners and opened in phases, beginning in 2004. The complex houses a 1,700-seat concert hall, a 500-seat theater for plays and music, and a 200-seat studio theater, as well as rehearsal spaces, classrooms, dance spaces, scene and costume shops, design labs, and soundproof practice rooms. The building was awarded a citation by the AIA committee.

(The Collaborative Inc.)

Edison State Community College’s Regional Center for Excellence, designed by the Collaborative Inc. and opened last year. The 35,000-square-foot, $5.9-million building was designed to create an iconic entry to the college, as well as to house the Center for Nursing and a 20,000-square-foot library. The building was awarded a citation by the AIA committee.

The Johns Hopkins University’s Samuel Pollard Building, designed for the university’s Nanjing Center for Chinese and American Studies by Perkins Eastman and opened in 2006. The $19-million, 10-story building added 100,000 square feet of classroom, library, office, and residential space, as well as a new auditorium and conference center. The building won a merit award from the AIA committee.

(Pennsylvania State U.)

Pennsylvania State University’s Stuckeman Family Building, designed by Overland Partners Architects and WTW Architects and opened in 2005. Built for the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, this $26.5-million, 111,000-square-foot building houses design-studio space for 560 students on two floors, as well as a 4,000-square-foot shop for building models. The building, which earned gold-level LEED certification, received an excellence award from the AIA committee.

Santiago Canyon College’s library, designed by LPA Architecture and opened in 2006. The 40,000-square-foot building has space for 100,000 books, as well as for group-study rooms, a faculty-development center, 75 computers for students. The building was also intended to help redefine the entrance to the college’s campus. The building won a merit award from the AIA committee.