Friday, JULY 17, 2009

Media Release: ACSA Announces 2008-2009 Preservation as Provocation: Re-thinking Kahn’s Salk Institute, International Student Design Competition Winners

WASHINGTON, DC--(July 17, 2009) The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) is pleased to announce the winners of the PRESERVATION AS PROVOCATION: RE-THINKING KAHN'S SALK INSTITUTE, International Student Design Competition. Administered by ACSA and sponsored by The American Institute of Architects, Historic Resources Committee (AIA HRC), the program challenged students to envision the preservation of Louis H. Kahn’s Salk Institute while rethinking current conventions about composition, construction, and building performance. The goal was to envision a new type of facility that would be unimaginable without the existing structures.

During the weekend of July 11, 2009, the design jury convened in Washington, DC to select the winning projects for the “Re-thinking Kahn’s Salk Institute” student competition. The three-person jury, composed of 2009 chair of the AIA Historic Resources Committee David Woodcock, Texas A&M, Mehrdad Hadighi, SUNY at Buffalo, and Kiel Moe, Northeastern University, awarded a first place winner and five honorable mentions. The decision to award five Honorable Mentions demonstrated the jury’s belief that the First Place team was indeed the most “comprehensive” while recognizing significant unique merits in each of the five other schemes. The 122 entries revealed a great interest in the challenge of adding to an iconic building complex, with schemes being submitted from around the globe.

The jurors were impressed by the overall quality of the submissions and agreed that the challenge of designing and building in the context of an iconic building of the 20th century represents a worthy endeavor. "The most interesting proposals allowed us to understand the Salk Institute in a way that we could not have before seeing the scheme," said Mehrdad Hadighi.

The winning projects will be on display at the ACSA Annual Meeting in New Orleans, March 2010 and at the American Institute of Architects National Convention in Miami, June 2010. In addition, the projects will be published in an online Competition Summary Website in fall 2009.

·         First Place: "Looking into the Distance"
Students: Brian Bedrosian and William Huie
Faculty Sponsor: David Heymann
University of Texas at Austin

Juror comments: This is the most comprehensive submission, possessing a clear organizational scheme and a strong physical connection to the existing Kahn building. From a preservation standpoint, this design is both complimentary and complementary to Kahn’s design but in a new and different way. The architectural form draws on Kahn’s use of materials and light and the proposal draws better attention to Kahn’s work without copying it. The scheme would also perform very well environmentally, and programmatically it ties into the way the existing labs are used and maintained, which is critical to the way the Salk Institute is currently used. This was one of the few proposals that conducted a thorough and critical analysis of the programmatic construct of Kahn’s Salk in relation to the labs and the service zones.

Honorable Mentions
The jury thought that the following projects had compelling aspects and that the designs presented the Salk Institute and its landscape in a new and provocative way.

·         Honorable Mention: "Parts to Whole: Expanding the Serial Front of Louis Kahn's Salk Institute"
Students: Justin Hiu, Andrew Nahmais, Gary Huafan He, & Justin Chu
Faculty Sponsor: Jeffrey Wells
Cornell University

Juror comments: The high-quality and clarity of this representation allowed us to understand the experiential quality of the design. The tectonic qualities described in the diagram of the parts show a clear connection to Kahn’s work but the fragmented nature of the final proposal does not present the counterpart to the existing Salk.

·         Honorable Mention: "Aerated Concrete"
Student: Chenxi Hu
Faculty Sponsor: Erik M. Hemingway
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Juror comments: The project provoked a discussion of radicalizing the man made and the green landscape. Ideas of inventing new ways of constructing with concrete were appreciated. The fundamental provocation of this project to is to engage the dialogue between the two landscape proposals of the built Kahn-Barragán courtyard, with an earlier proposal by Kahn and Halprin.

·         Honorable Mention : "Into the Light: (re)Discovery at The Salk"
Student: Clayton Adkisson
Faculty Sponsor: William E. Martella
University of Tennessee-Knoxville

Juror comments: The site strategy is interesting but the most provocative piece of this proposal is the renderings that put together the material sensibilities of concrete water and light and gave us a sense of the quality of the spaces you would expect. The sumbission is well presented, well explained, demonstrating an understanding of Kahn’s original building through materiality.

·         Honorable Mention: "Completing the Loop for Kahn's Salk Institute"
Student: Daniel Ankri
Faculty Sponsosr: Garth Rockcastle and B.D. Wortham-Galvin
University of Maryland

Juror comments: Very successful site strategy that connects the Anshen + Allen addition to the original institute to form a second courtyard that would have been more powerful without unconsidered landscape. The use of landscape to close off the central axis on the street is a wise decision as it terminates that axis. The lateral section through the north-south courtyard and labs is well developed and builds on Kahn’s thinking and is enhanced by the diagrams showing the environmental performance aspects.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• Read the Competition Program

The 2008-09 Preservation as Provocation will be available in fall 2009.

Visit the ACSA Online Store to view publications from our previous student design competitions.

ABOUT THE SPONSORS

The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture is a non-profit, membership association founded in 1912 to advance the quality of architectural education. Members consist of all college and universities that offer accredited degree programs in architecture in the United States and Canada, candidate schools seeking accreditation, and affiliate membership for two-year and international programs and others ineligible for accreditation. Through these schools, over 5,000 architectural faculty are represented. In addition, over 500 supporting members composed of architecture firms and practitioners, product associations, individuals and students add to the breadth of the association’s constituencies and programs.

The mission of the AIA Historic Resources Committee (AIA HRC) is to identify, understand, and preserve architectural heritage, both nationally and internationally. The AIA HRC is engaged in promoting the role of the historic architect within the profession through the development of information and knowledge among members, allied professional organizations, and the public. The educational goal of the AIA HRC is to integrate an understanding of preservation practice into the preparation of all architects, and to demonstrate that the design values for practice are universal.

Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture . (c) Copyright 2009.