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Knowlton Hall honored for unique, inspiring design

Posted on | February 3, 2010 | 1,652 views |

Knowlton Hall, home of the Austin E. Knowlton School of Architecture, has been bestowed an Architecture Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

The award is the profession’s highest recognition of works that exemplify excellence in architecture, interior architecture and urban design. The building was designed by Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects of Atlanta, in collaboration with WSA studio of Columbus.

Knowlton Hall’s design reflects the school’s mission of excellence in education, innovation in design and planning and stewardship of a quality environment.
The 165,000-square-foot facility, located at 275 W. Woodruff Ave., is home to the three disciplines that make up the Knowlton School of Architecture — architecture, landscape architecture and city and regional planning. The building features six classrooms, four seminar spaces, the 200-seat Gui Auditorium, studio spaces, the Banvard Gallery, a materials/fabrication lab, a rooftop garden, a 30,000-volume library, a café and a central review space for critiques of student work.

The AIA Honor Awards program recognizes achievements in a broad range of architectural activity to elevate the general quality of architecture practice, establish a standard of excellence against which all architects can measure performance and inform the public of the breadth and value of architecture practice. All architects licensed in the United States were eligible to submit entries of buildings or building complexes that have been completed since January 1, 2003.

Knowlton Hall was one of 28 award winners chosen from more than 700 submissions from around the world. The building, dedicated in 2004, has been the recipient of awards from AIA Ohio, AIA Georgia and AIA Columbus.

Jurors who made the award were impressed by the details of the project, and it was evident in the Jury Comment section of the award.

“What architect would not have liked to have gone to school here?” the comment reads. “The project embodies everything I would want in an architecture building. It is full of unique spaces, an open flexible hall that beckons people to participate and seems to have surprises around every corner. ‘Our buildings shape us,’ as Churchill said, and to have future generations of architects learn and grow as designers within an inspiring building such as this is exhilarating.”

See the rest of the award winners at aia.org/practicing/awards/index.htm.

The makers of Knowlton Hall

Architect of Record: Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects in collaboration with WSA Studio.
Landscape Architect: Michael Van Valkenburg Associates
.
Structural Engineer: Shelly Metz Baumann Hawk.
MEP Engineer: HAWA Consulting Engineers.
Civil Engineer: Bird + Bull.
General Contractor: P.J. Dick, Inc.

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