AAI Awards 06.

yea! does anyone know??

ive checked the aai website but no luck there.

the results are normally embargoed to the spring – stupid but hey its the AAI

I have them – they will be released Monday afternoon

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A r c h i t e c t u r a l

A s s o c i a t i o n o f

I r e l a n d

http://www.irish-architecture.com/aai

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Event Alert Vol 5. No. 19
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AAI Awards 2006

These are the results of the AAI Awards 2006, the 21st in this series of annual awards for excellence in architectural design, adjudicated on Friday, December 09, 2005.

The assessors for the AAI Awards 2006 were as follows: ANDREJ HRAUSKY, architectural critic, architect, and director of DESSA Architecture Centre and Association, Ljubljana (Slovenia); CARMÉ PINÕS, architect, Barcelona (Spain); DOMINIC STEVENS, architect, Leitrim; Prof. CIARÁN BENSON, professor of psychology, University College Dublin (distinguished non-architect).

The 5th assessor, HRVOJE NJIRIC, architect, Zagreb, (Croatia) withdrew at short notice. There were 73 applications, and 71 entries received by the deadline; all were deemed eligible.

MEDAL

The Downes Bronze Medal may be awarded at the discretion of the Assessors. This year, the jury awarded the Downes Bronze Medal to:

#23 POUSTINIA, Glencomeragh House of Prayer, Kilsheelan, Clonmel, Co Tipperary.
‹ Kevin Bates, Tom Maher, ARCHITECTS BATES MAHER

AAI AWARDS

The maximum number of AAI Awards is seven. This year the jury selected seven projects for Awards. They are (in alphabetical order by architect):

#72 SORRENTO HEIGHTS, Dalkey, Co Dublin
‹ Boyd Cody Architects

#47 CITY HOUSE AND WORKPLACE, 41 Francis Street, Dublin 8
‹ Will Dimond, Susan Cogan, DONAGHY + DIMOND Architects

#45 MME, Extension to Dept of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Trinity College
‹ GRAFTON Architects

#14 ENGINEERS IRELAND, 20 Clyde Road, Dublin 4
‹ McCULLOUGH MULVIN Architects

#33 HOUSE AT CROUCH END, London
‹ NIALL McLAUGHLIN Architects

#27 BROOKE HEUSSAFF LIBRARY, 607 South Circular Road, Dublin 8
‹ Noel J Brady, NJBA Architects

#3 13a THOR PLACE, Stoneybatter, Dublin 7
‹ David O’Shea, Darrell O’Donoghue, ODOS Architects

SPECIAL MENTIONS

A number of entries may be selected for Special Mention. This year the jury
selected 8 projects for Special Mention. They are (in alphabetical order by
architect):

#70 HOUSE, RICHMOND PLACE, Rathmines, Dublin 6
‹ Boyd Cody Architects

#29 TWO UP TWO DOWN, John Dillon Street, Dublin 8
‹ DE PAOR Architects

#48 KITCHEN-GARDEN-PARTY-WALL, 13 Arran Road, Drumcondra, Dublin 9
‹ Marcus Donaghy, Will Dimond, DONAGHY + DIMOND Architects

#67 MARTIN VALLEY SCULPTURE PARK, Cork
‹ Michelle Fagan, Paul Kelly, Gary Lysaght, FKL ARCHITECTS

#18 REUBEN STREET APARTMENTS, Dublin 8
‹ FKL Architects

#31 IJBURG, Blok 4, Amsterdam
‹ GE Maccreanor, Maccreanor Lavington Architects

#1 No.33 ST KEVIN’S ROAD, PORTOBELLO, Dublin 8
‹ David O’Shea, Darrell O’Donoghue, ODOS Architects

#41 ATHLONE CIVIC CENTRE, LIBRARY & TOWN SQUARE
‹ Keith Williams, Richard Brown, KEITH WILLIAMS Architects

Well done Bates Maher!
Great to see some new names on list, and a young firm getting the medal. It looks like a lovely project too.
Does anyone know when the exhibition is on? I think sometime in the Spring, but I’m not sure.

Bates Maher – Deservedly So – great project

However it’s gettin more and more of a useless exercise every year,
was anyone really surprised?
Where is the B in AAI – B for backslappers

Would I be right to say that jurors don’t even visit the buildings?

No the jurors don’t visit the sites, but I think they allow unfinished or unbuilt projects enter, so I don’t know then could you include a site visit in the judging process.

I think the Bates Maher project is a worthy winner. But yes, only a couple of new names besides the usual clique.

The AAI awards are widely considered to be a closed shop by many who work in larger firms and for that reason they consider it a waste of time entering their projects.

Why is it that every year the assessors make the same complaints i.e. projects not being viewed on site, (if that is what happened again) and nothing is ever done about it? There has often been the call that there should be a separate award given for the best unbuilt project, and this appears to have been ignored yet again, and of course the creation of such an award would solve the problem that maggie mentions.

I think the AAI do a decent job with their limited resources, however considering the apparent incapacity of the RIAI in getting their own annual awards into book form the onus is on the AAI to become more attractive & inclusive if for the sole purpose of demonstrating to people with less familiarity of the Irish architectural scene that there is a much wider pool of talented architects operating in Ireland beyond the former associates of Group 91 and the usual suspects that the AAI awards to date.

I do not mean to imply that the likes of FKL, Grafton, OD+T and Boyd Cody are undeserving, I like much of their work, but when it’s two or three firms picking up the lions share of the awards in any one year it creates the perception that this country lacks depth in architectural talent.

What I’ve outlined in my last post is a general opinion held by many architects and onlookers of the architectural scene here, including people I’ve talked to who worked for firms that received AAI awards over the years.

On the issue of visiting the projects surely a shortlist could be drawn up of finalists, of say 4 or 5 projects, from whom the winner of the Medal is chosen, as is the case with the Stirling Prize. Even the OPUS awards have incorporated site visits in their decision-making process. With the buildings short-listed this year it should have been quite easy to do, considering that 3/4s of the projects are in Dublin.

Originally Posted by what?
The idea that the awards list should be more varied this year is ridiculous.
Out of the 14 projects that got something this year 11 of them are by architects that didn’t feature at all last year.
Only 2 architects on that list were given anything last year.

What?, I think you’ve been quite selective with your statistics here. Only 4 of the architects have not featured in the AAI awards previously. From your extremely defensive post I suspect my comments may have been too close to home, but I won’t pry. I think the point you make about the award boards being ‘anonymous’ is irrelevant here due to the relatively small size of the architectural scene in this country and considering that several of the projects have been featured in international publications. I certainly have no resentment towards the current or previous winners, in fact I applaud them for doing so well.

In defence of the AAI, they can only award what has been submitted. I do take issue however with what I perceive to be a lack of representation in the projects chosen; of those from Ireland only 3 are outside of Dublin. I find this troubling because it suggests that not a lot is being done in Ulster or west of the Shannon. This topic itself is worthy of a separate discussion.
Also there are very few large-scale projects here, the biggest probably being Athlone Civic Centre. Large projects offer the capacity to fulfil some of the intentions of the AAI awards; to inform the public of movements in contemporary architecture, as unlike with many of the private dwellings selected, here the public can interact and use and thereby appreciate more the value of well-designed buildings.

Maybe type-specific awards can deal with this problem; for instance an award for the best unbuilt project. Perhaps a special award is required for larger projects such as retail, industrial projects & hospitals, and looking ahead, perhaps an award for the best
Public Private Partnership project.

It could be argued that this is stepping on the toes of the RIAI awards. Again however I’d point out that as they have not been published in several years, the AAI awards book is now the de facto annual resource on quality Irish architecture, and because of this I feel that the AAI awards should broaden it’s representation to reflect that.

I had a look on maccreanor lavington’s website; which is worth a look; they’ve done some really nice stuff, and hopefully we’ll be seeing more of them in the future now that they’ve got an award!

@what? wrote:

the architecture scene in Ireland is extremely rich in comparison with the
population size, and there is no reason to begrudge those people who
consistently produce architecture of particularly high quality.

I agree that there is some fantastic design work being done; sadly however as bourne out in many of the recent awards the winners are for extremely small scale projects which are often tucked away down back lanes or on Secondary thoroughfares as exampled by Boyd Codys recent award.

There is hope for the future if planners start to embrace contemporary architecture and reward higher design standards.