GSA #9397

March 20, 1997
Contact: Hap Connors

WASHINGTON, D.C.--Acting Administrator David J. Barram of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) today presented awards to the winners of the agency's 1996 biennial design competition at a ceremony at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. Photographs and models of the winning entries will be on display at the museum until May 4.

The winners, representing 20 GSA projects nationwide, were selected by a nine-member jury chaired by architect Cesar Pelli of Cesar Pelli & Associates, New Haven, Conn., who along with Barram, presented the awards.

Pelli said, "These are important awards, because in their quality they attest to GSA's commitments to design excellence."

In addition to Pelli and Barram, remarks were offered by other special guests, including Jane Alexander, chairman, National Endowment for the Arts; Judge Douglas P. Woodlock, U.S. District Court Boston, and Justice Stephen Breyer, U.S. Supreme Court.

The projects were recognized for excellence in architecture, art, engineering, graphic design, landscape architecture, interior design, historic preservation, and building designs in progress. Seven of the winning entries, selected from more than 140 projects, received honor awards; the others won citations.

To view photos and more information about the award winers, click here http://www.gsa.gov/pbs/pc/ds_files/awards/1996/winners.htm

Receiving honor awards were:

Diana K. Moore for the sculpture "Justice" at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Federal Courthouse, Newark, N.J. This heroic, but human scale, sculpture is an 11-foot head of Themis, the Goddess of Justice, placed at the entrance to the courthouse plaza.

Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates PC for the design of the U.S. Courthouse at Foley Square, New York. The modern, state-of-the-art structure respects its historic urban setting while blending harmoniously with the adjacent residential neighborhood, adding dignity and vitality to the area.

Dworsky Associates for the design of the U.S. Port of Entry, Calexico, Calif. This project presents a welcome gateway featuring a dramatic and dynamic tent-like structure which responds to the desert-like climate at the border crossing between the United States and Mexico.

Pei Cobb Freed & Partners for the design in progress for the U.S. Courthouse, Boston. This project, designed by Henry Cobb, occupies a key waterfront site on the Boston harbor. The low-rise building responds to the highly visible harbor site and the urban context of downtown Boston, aiming for a balance between context and judicial symbolism.

Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates for the design in progress for the Evo A. DeConcini Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse, Tucson, Ariz. This project, designed by Norman Pfeiffer, translates the integrity, dignity and permanence of the judiciary into the southwestern vernacular. The textures, colors and materials integrated into the building accommodate Tucson's harsh desert climate so that the building will respond to the climate changes.

Waggonner & Ball Architects for historic preservation of the U.S. Custom House, New Orleans. This project recaptured some of the fine spaces of the historic building by removing unsympathetic 20th century renovations and exposing the original volumes and details of the structure. The restoration of the main skylight has brought vitality and new life back into the center of the building.

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, LLP for historic preservation of the U.S. Court of Appeals, San Francisco. The Italian Renaissance style building, designed by James Knox Taylor and completed in 1905, is a civic treasure that historians have called the most opulent public building west of the Mississippi River. The earthquake-damaged landmark structure has not only been preserved and restored but adapted to today's complex judicial needs so that it will continue to function well into the 21st century.

The projects winning citations were:

Clyde Lynds for the sculpture "America Song" at the Federal Office Building, New York.

John Valadez for the mural "A Day in El Paso del Norte" at the Federal Building, El Paso, Tex.

Douglas Hollis for the landscape-sculpture "Watersongs" at the Vincent E. McKelvey Federal Building, Menlo Park, Calif.

Leers Weinzapfel Associates Architects, Inc. for design of the Harold D. Donohue Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse, Worcester, Mass.

Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates PC for design of the U.S.Courthouse, Minneapolis.

Kaplan McLaughlin Diaz for design of the Federal Building, Oakland, Calif.

MBT Architecture for design of the Vincent E. McKelvey Federal Building, Menlo Park, Calif.

Martha Schwartz, Inc. for landscape design at the U.S. Courthouse, Minneapolis.

Quinn Evans/Architects for restoration of the roof and upper facades of the Old Executive Office Building, Washington, D.C.

John Milner Associates, Inc. for conservation and restoration of "The Expanding Universe," a sculptural fountain at the State Department Building, Washington, D.C

Southern California Edison for an energy conservation project at the Chet Holifield Federal Building, Laguna Niguel, Calif.

RAW Architecture for interior design of the Little Aviators Child Care center at the Hawthorne Federal Building, Lawndale, Calif.

Joel Boches and David Hooper of GSA's Office of Graphic Design for design of Art-in-Architecture program brochures, U.S. General Services Administration, Washington, D.C.

Serving on the jury with chairman Pelli were: Carol Ross Barney, Ross Barney+Jankowski, Inc., Chicago; John Beardsley, Curator/Critic, Washington, D.C.; Adele Chatfield-Taylor, President, American Academy in Rome, New York; Jack Cowart, Chief Curator and Deputy Director, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; David Davidson, Borge Waggoner Sumner, Nashville, Tenn.; Emanuel Kelly, Kelly/Maiello, Inc. Architects and Planners, Philadelphia; Margaret K. Schwartz, Altoon+Porter Architects, Los Angeles; and Gregory Tung, Freedman, Tung & Bottomley, San Francisco.