Every year, three nationally known architects travel to Minnesota to review the work of the state's architects and select projects to receive Honor Awards. This year, Bruce Fox of FXFowle Architects in New York City, Merrill Elam of Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects in Atlanta and Sebastian Schmaling from Johnsen Schmaling in Milwaukee looked at 104 projects and picked 11 winners. In addition to the three projects by VJAA of Minneapolis, the eight below won 2008 Honor Awards. Also this year, the Gold Medal, the Minnesota architects' highest individual award, was presented to Duluth architect David Salmela, one of the last architects to receive his license through apprenticeship rather than schooling.

PINE/CONE

Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Chaska • SALA Architects, Minneapolis

Small, simple and intriguing, the outdoor room sits lightly on the land and is open to the trees and sky above. A granite water basin in the middle reflects both nature and human visitors.

ST. CLOUD TECHNICAL COLLEGE, WORKFORCE CENTER ADDITION AND RENOVATION

St. Cloud • Perkins + Will, Minneapolis

Basic materials are used skillfully to create an elegant building that brings together two institutions that develop job skills. Inside, a generous main street links activity areas and a central hub provides student services.

WHITNEY LOFT RENOVATION

Minneapolis • Alchemy LLC, St. Paul

Alchemy is a good name for what the architects pull off in the former turbine room of the Whitney mill (previously the Whitney Hotel). Office space for six and living space for two are cleverly combined. One room works as a conference space or guest room. Tables move on tracks. A big red door closes off the private space.

GLADSTONE COMMUNITY CENTER AND NATATORIUM

Gladstone, Mo. • Ankeny Kell Architects, St. Paul

With the roof and each façade "pinched" to reduce its scale, the community center provides athletic and social spaces for a Kansas City suburb. A big window illuminates the pool, which has room for 1,500 spectators.

HAWKS BOOTS

Duluth • Salmela Architect, Duluth

A derelict industrial building is brought alive by adding a glass box and cladding it in the sturdy material the company produces for skate parks. The jury found it brilliantly simple and, at $63 a square foot, incredibly inexpensive.

B'NAI ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE

Rochester, Minn. • Hammel, Green and Abrahamson, Minneapolis

Brick, wood and glass establish a dignified presence for the synagogue on the city's main street. Inside, the restrained aesthetic focuses on a wall holding the ark that is layered and naturally lit from above.

MAYO WOODLANDS PLAN NO. 1

Rochester, Minn. • Altus Architecture and Design, Minneapolis; Salmela Architect, Duluth; Coen + Partners, Minneapolis

This is one of the first houses in the Mayo Woodlands development near Rochester, Minn. Architects David Salmela and Tim Alt and landscape architect Shane Coen reworked an existing layout for a suburban subdivision to be more in sync with the site. Prairie grasses are preserved and a flat-roofed modern architectural vocabulary is employed in a plan jurors called "a brilliant reinterpretation of large lot development."

YINGST RESIDENCE

Empire, Mich. • Salmela Architect, Duluth

David Salmela designed what jurors called a "deceptively simple" flat-roof house with four black boxes flanking the outdoor courtyard. They can be used for storage, guest quarters or cars. "These are places I wish I had," said one of the jurors. A sauna and Salmela's trademark fireplace extend the house into the landscape.