News Releases
1998 GSA Design Award Winners Commended for Excellence in Federal DesignGSA #9570 March 25, 1999 WASHINGTON, DC - More than 20 of America's leading architects and artists gathered at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, DC, today for the U.S. General Services Administration's (GSA) fifth biennial Design Awards ceremony. The GSA Design Awards program, administered with the assistance of the National Endowment for the Arts, recognizes the collaboration between private sector design professionals and GSA to provide the American people with projects of exceptional quality. The winners, representing 23 projects nationwide, were selected by a ten-member jury chaired by architect Robert A. M. Stern, of Robert A. M. Stern Architects, New York. GSA Administrator David J. Barram said the projects represent excellence in architecture, art, engineering, graphic design, landscape and urban planning, historic preservation, interior design, and workplace environment. "Through collaborative partnerships, we are producing facilities that reflect the dignity, enterprise, vigor, and stability of the Federal government; avoiding official style; and incorporating the work of living artists in our public buildings," said GSA's Public Buildings Service Commissioner Robert A. Peck. "These award winning projects result from one of the most productive public-private partnerships in the Federal government - the GSA building program," said Barram. "They spring from the human mind and are made real though creative use of steel and stone, glass, paint and canvas, paper, and water. They are the works of individuals and of teams. Today's award winners represent the best of them. They epitomize design excellence in every sense of the word." Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan delivered the keynote address. National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Bill Ivey, American Institute of Architects President Michael Stanton, and architect Robert A. M. Stern also spoke at the ceremony. The Design Awards Jury cited a diverse range of projects for the 1998 awards. James Ingo Freed's design of the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, DC, was cited for its "successful completion of the Federal Triangle complex. . . it holds its own against the originals - a feat that is seldom accomplished." Barbara Chase-Riboud's sculpture, Africa Rising, at 290 Broadway in New York City "conveys the powerful emotions and meaning of this historic site. . . result[ing] in a symbolic landmark sculpture, stunning in formal beauty and rich in collective history." In the graphic design category, Tullier Marketing Communications was recognized for its marketing package to promote and educate the Federal community and the public about integrating accessibility into the workplace. The illustrations, by a paraplegic artist, symbolize accomplishments in advancing the civil rights of people with disabilities.
* Pei Cobb Freed and Partners for the design of the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, DC. The design fits into the urban context of Washington and the Federal Triangle of the nation's capital. The design merges traditional and contemporary themes both on the exterior and the interior to express a timeless quality of permanence and stature. * Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates PC and BOORA Architects, Inc. for the design of the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse in Portland, Oregon. The design achieves the goal of putting a modern, state-of-the-art building in the dense municipal core of downtown Portland. The asymmetrical, yet balanced, structure speaks to the language of courthouse in a refreshingly contemporary way. * Tobey + Davis / Davis, Brody, Bond for the design of the U. S. Bureau of the Census National Data Processing Center in Bowie, Maryland. This elegant and transparent structure marries the poetic and subtle role of technology and detail. * The Miller/Hull Partnership for the design of the Point Roberts Border Station in Pt. Roberts, Washington. David Miller's design at this border crossing is contextual with its surroundings, contemporary in its expression, and welcoming in its message. * Mayer/Reed's signage for the Mark Hatfield United States Courthouse in Portland, Oregon reflects the tradition and dignity of the judiciary while working within the context of a modernist building and the electronic information age. * Rick Helf's commemorative book, The United States Court of Appeals Building for the Ninth Circuit, celebrates the history and rebirth of this American treasure designed in the 1890s by James Knox Taylor. Projects Winning Citations * Skidmore Owings and Merrill for the design of the Robert C. Byrd U. S. Courthouse in Charleston, WV. GSA, in cooperation with the National Endowment for the Arts, assembled a jury of nationally recognized design professionals to review entries in the 1998 Design Awards competition. Serving on the jury with Chairman Stern were: William Hellmuth, Hellmuth Obata Kassabaum, Washington, DC; Allison Williams, Ai, San Francisco; Garth Rockcastle, Meyer Scherer and Rockcastle, Minneapolis; Charles Durrett, Space For Children, Berkeley; Arthur Gensler, Gensler Associates, San Francisco; Tom Moran, New Jersey Arts Council, Trenton; Pamela Hawkes, Ann Beha and Associates, Boston; Admiral Fred Kelley, Daniel Mann Johnson Mendenhall, Arlington; and Leslie Gallery-Dilworth, Society of Environmental Graphic Design, Philadelphia.
Last Reviewed 4/11/2006
|