New Buildings Win AIA Design Award

Indian Springs’ new classroom and administrative buildings are one of 12 projects to receive a 2016 Education Facility Design Award from the American Institute of Architects Committee on Architecture for Education.

 

Recognizing new and recently renovated schools across North America, the awards honor educational facilities that the Design Award Jury believes should serve as an example of a superb place in which to learn by furthering each school's mission, goals, and educational program while demonstrating excellence in architectural design, the AIA said in its formal announcement.

 

Other 2016 honorees include Tata Hall at Harvard Business School.

 

The jury applauded Springs’ recent construction, which received an Award of Merit, as “a different type of campus planning, where the buildings and landscape define each other.”

 

“It is a beautifully sited, culturally and architecturally sensitive addition to the campus,” the jury noted in the AIA release. “These buildings are pure buildings that provide rich, warm exteriors and interiors. The approach to daylighting within the building is well-handled and provides for more diffuse light from above.  The building connects to its place and makes the exteriors an extension of the interior experience.”

 

In its news post, Business Insider called the winners “the 12 most beautiful new schools in America.”

 

“What an extraordinary honor to be chosen for this prestigious award,” says Head of School Dr. Sharon Howell. “I believe it is a tribute to the vision of our exceptional architects, Lake|Flato and ArchitectureWorks, as well as to their collaborative approach, which incorporated important, thoughtful feedback from our school community. By honoring the original architecture and connection to the outdoors while allowing for new technologies and teaching methodologies, our new buildings are, as the American Institute of Architects notes, ‘Springsian in every way.’