The state's largest architecture and engineering firm, HGA, won the most 2011 Honor Awards from the state's chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA).
Three of the eight awards presented by AIA Minnesota in December went to the Minneapolis-based firm, including one for renovations at the Minnesota Zoo and two for new performing-arts centers in California.
Another Minneapolis firm, VJAA, which recently earned top honors from the national AIA, won two awards for residential projects. Additional shout-outs went to Alchemy for a prefabricated retreat in Texas and to Julie Snow Architects and to MS&R for renovation projects in the Twin Cities.
All of the winning designs are characterized by modernist lines, environmental awareness and a kind of boxy, no-frills understatement that appears to reflect today's tough economic climate.
"Our world really changed at the end of 2008 when the economy tanked," said Dan Avchen, chairman and CEO of the 650-member HGA firm. "It was boom times for architects before that and now basically there is a lot less work to go around for the same number of architects, so you have a highly competitive business environment."
With clients on tighter budgets, architects have to ramp up their creativity to assure successful designs for less money. Minnesota Zoo officials, for example, originally envisioned a more ambitious renovation at the 36-year-old facility, whose concrete buildings and enclosures are dated and environmentally insensitive.
When money grew tight, HGA pared back its plan and focused on remodeling the entrance and adapting two old spaces for new uses. It softened the harsh concrete of the original entrance by adding siding made from western red cedar and installing a plant-covered roof that will absorb rainwater. A new penguin exhibit was built in what was a bird theater, and an abandoned whale tank was converted into a new theater.
"The idea was to introduce new elements within existing buildings and try to make it appear seamless," said architect Steven Dwyer, who headed the zoo project. "I think people would be hard-pressed to imagine anything that had been there before. That's one of the things we're pretty proud of."
