Twenty-five Year Award

Twenty-five Year Award
Chapel of St. Ignatius, Seattle
2022 award recipient, the Chapel of St. Ignatius (Seattle, Washington)
Awarded forLong-term excellence in American architecture
CountryUnited States
Presented byAmerican Institute of Architects
First awarded1969
Websiteaia.org

The Twenty-five Year Award is an architecture prize awarded each year by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) to "a building that has set a precedent for the last 25 to 35 years and continues to set standards of excellence for its architectural design and significance" and which was designed by an architect licensed in the United States.[1] The Twenty-five Year Award was first presented in 1969, and has been handed out every year from 1971 onward, with the exception of 2018. In 2023, the prize was awarded to the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Bilbao, Spain by Gehry Partners.

Five buildings in New York City have received the award, the most of any city. Washington, D.C., is second with three, while Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New Haven each have two. Only six buildings outside of the United States have received the award: two in London, England, and one each in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Barcelona, Spain; Bilbao, Spain; and Paris, France.

Finnish American architect Eero Saarinen designed or contributed to six buildings so honored, tied with the architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Louis I. Kahn and Frank Lloyd Wright each have five buildings that have been honored that were designed or contributed to by them; Frank Lloyd Wright has 4, and there are three apiece by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and the firm Pei Cobb Freed & Partners. Of the 53 projects that received this award through 2022, only three had women as contributing architects: the Eames House, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and the Sainsbury Wing at the National Gallery.

Eligibility

The Twenty-five Year Award can be awarded to any type of architectural project and may be either a single structure or a group of structures that compose a larger whole.[1] Winners have included monuments, such as the Gateway Arch and Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and groupings of buildings, such as the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. Most buildings nominated for this award are new structures but one winner, Faneuil Hall Marketplace, was a substantial renovation of warehouses into a festival marketplace.[2]

For a project to be eligible to win the Twenty-five Year Award, it must have been built between 25 and 35 years before the year of the award. It must also have been designed by "an architect licensed in the United States at the time of the project’s completion". This means that the award candidate can be anywhere in the world, but must have been designed by a licensed American architect, such as the Fundació Joan Miró in Spain.[1]

To be nominated the project must be in a "substantially completed form" as well as "in good condition". Potential candidates must not have been altered substantially since they were built. Change of use is allowed by the rules, but the "original intent" of the structure must still be intact.[1] These changes of use include reorganization of interior space. This was taken into account with the Price Tower, which when built was a mix of offices and apartments, but when awarded, had only one apartment remaining.[3] The award is presented at the AIA National Convention each year.[4]

Nomination procedure

"Any AIA member, group of members, component, or Knowledge Community" is allowed to nominate a project for the Twenty-five Year Award. A project may be nominated multiple times, as long as it still complies with the eligibility requirements. Nominees are judged by today's architectural standards in their function, execution, and creativity. The project and its site are judged together, with any changes in context taken into account.[1]

Award recipients

The "Year" column, which indicates when the building won the award, links to an article about the year's significant architectural events.

Year Building(s)
city 		Image Architect(s)
1969 Rockefeller Center
New York City 		Rockefeller Center and surrounding buildings Reinhard & Hofmeister; Corbett, Harrison & MacMurray
1971 Crow Island School
Winnetka, Illinois 		Crow Island School Perkins, Wheeler & Will; Eliel & Eero Saarinen
1972 Baldwin Hills Village
Los Angeles 		Main building of Baldwin Hills Village Reginald D. Johnson; Wilson, Merrill & Alexander; Clarence S. Stein
1973 Taliesin West
Paradise Valley, Arizona 		Taliesin West with a pool in the foreground Frank Lloyd Wright
1974 Johnson and Son Administration Building
Racine, Wisconsin 		The Johnson Wax building with a large globe in the foreground Frank Lloyd Wright
1975 Philip Johnson's Residence ("The Glass House")
New Canaan, Connecticut 		The glas shouse surrounded by trees, pathways, and a lawn Philip Johnson
1976 860–880 North Lakeshore Drive Apartments
Chicago 		860-880 Lakeshore Drive with surrounding roads and buildings Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
1977 Christ Lutheran Church
Minneapolis 		Christ Lutheran Church Saarinen, Saarinen & Associates; Hills, Gilbertson & Hays
1978 Eames House
Pacific Palisades, California 		The front door and trees of the Eames House Charles and Ray Eames
1979 Yale University Art Gallery
New Haven, Connecticut 		Side View of the Yale University Art Gallery Louis I. Kahn
1980 Lever House
New York City 		Lever House, surrounding buildings, and plaza Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
1981 Farnsworth House
Plano, Illinois 		Farnsworth house during the winter Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
1982 Equitable Savings and Loan Building
Portland, Oregon 		The Equitable Savings and Loan Building and surrounding buildings Pietro Belluschi
1983 Price Tower
Bartlesville, Oklahoma 		Price Tower on an overcast day Frank Lloyd Wright
1984 Seagram Building
New York City 		Seagram Building viewed from its broad side Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
1985 General Motors Technical Center
Warren, Michigan 		General Motors Technical Center viewed from afar Eero Saarinen and Associates with Smith, Hinchman & Grylls
1986 Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
New York City 		The Guggenheim museum with taxis in the foreground Frank Lloyd Wright
1987 Bavinger House
Norman, Oklahoma 		Bavinger house and surrounding forest Bruce Goff
1988 Washington Dulles International Airport Terminal Building
Chantilly, Virginia 		Dulles Airport Terminal Building Eero Saarinen and Associates
1989 Vanna Venturi House
Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania 		Vanna Venturi House and front yard Robert Venturi
1990 Gateway Arch
St. Louis 		The Gateway Arch with the Saint Louis skyline in the background Eero Saarinen and Associates
1991 Sea Ranch Condominium One
The Sea Ranch, California 		Sea Ranch Condominium One viewed from land Moore Lyndon Turnbull Whitaker
1992 Salk Institute for Biological Studies
La Jolla, California 		The Salk Institute viewed from below Louis I. Kahn
1993 Deere & Company Administrative Center
Moline, Illinois 		Deere & Company Administrative Center with surrounding streets Eero Saarinen and Associates
1994 Haystack Mountain School of Crafts
Deer Isle, Maine 		— Edward Larrabee Barnes
1995 Ford Foundation Headquarters
New York City 		Ford Foundation Headquarters partially obscured by trees Kevin Roche, John Dinkeloo and Associates
1996 United States Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel
Colorado Springs 		Air Force Cadet Chapel against a blue sky Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
1997 Phillips Exeter Academy Library
Exeter, New Hampshire 		Phillips Exter Academy Library with surrounding lawn and trees Louis I. Kahn
1998 Kimbell Art Museum
Fort Worth 		Kimbell Art Museum and surrounding green Louis I. Kahn
1999 John Hancock Center
Chicago 		John Hancock Center and Chicago water tower Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
2000 The Smith House
Darien, Connecticut 		— Richard Meier & Partners
2001 Weyerhaeuser Headquarters
Federal Way, Washington 		View of the Weyerhaeuser headquarters showing a parking lot in the foreground and the cascadign plants over its facade. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, Fazlur Rahman Khan
2002 Fundació Joan Miró
Barcelona, Spain 		Fundació Joan Miró and entrance way gardens Sert Jackson and Associates
2003 Design Research Headquarters Building
Cambridge, Massachusetts 		Front of the Design Research Headquarters Building BTA Architects (formerly known as Benjamin Thompson & Associates, Inc.)
2004 East Building, National Gallery of Art
Washington, D.C. 		East Building of the national Gallery of Art with surrounding plaza I.M. Pei & Partners, Architects
2005 Yale Center for British Art
New Haven, Connecticut 		Yale Center for British Art with surrounding buildings and trees Louis I. Kahn
2006 Thorncrown Chapel
Eureka Springs, Arkansas 		Front of the Thorncrown Chapel partially obscured by trees E. Fay Jones
2007 Vietnam Veterans Memorial
Washington, D.C. 		Aerial view of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Maya Lin, designer; Cooper-Lecky Architects, architect of record
2008 The Atheneum
New Harmony, Indiana 		The Antheneum and surrounding lawn Richard Meier & Partners
2009 Faneuil Hall Marketplace
Boston 		Oblique view of Faneuil hall Marketplace and surrounding pedestrian mall Benjamin Thompson & Associates
2010 The Hajj Terminal at King Abdulaziz International Airport
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 		Interior of the Hajj Terminal Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP
2011 John Hancock Tower
Boston 		The John Hancock Tower with the Charles River in the foreground I.M. Pei & Partners
2012 Gehry Residence
Santa Monica 		View of Gehry Residence Gehry Partners LLP
2013 Menil Collection
Houston 		View of Menil Collection Renzo Piano Building Workshop LLP
2014 Washington Metro
Washington, D.C. 		Intersection of ceiling vaults at Metro Center station Harry Weese
2015 Broadgate Exchange House
London 		Exchange House seen from Exchange Square Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP
2016 Monterey Bay Aquarium
Monterey, California 		The main entrance of the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the smokestacks on its roof resemble the former Hovden Cannery that it replaced EHDD
2017 Grand Louvre – Phase 1
Paris 		Nighttime scene of the Louvre courtyard in Paris, with the iconic glass pyramid designed by I.M. Pei in the foreground and the palace in the background Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
2018 No award
2019 Sainsbury Wing at the National Gallery

London

National Gallery London Sainsbury Wing Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates
2020 Conjunctive Points-The New City

Culver City, California

The Samitaur Tower at Conjunctive Points-The New City Eric Owen Moss Architects
2021 Burton Barr Central Library

Phoenix

Burton Barr Central Library Will Bruder
2022 Chapel of St. Ignatius

Seattle

Chapel of St. Ignatius Steven Holl Architects
2023 Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

Bilbao, Spain

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao Gehry Partners

See also

References

General

"Twenty Five Year Award Recipients". American Institute of Architects. Retrieved July 3, 2013.

Specific
  1. ^ a b c d e "Twenty-five Year Award". www.aia.org. American Institute of Architects. Retrieved 2019-04-30.
  2. ^ Campbell, Robert. Two urban drawing cards are now in limbo. The Boston Globe. December 21, 2008. Retrieved July 1, 2011.
  3. ^ AIA honors Wright tower. Milwaukee Journal. May 8, 1983. p. 5. Retrieved July 1, 2011
  4. ^ John Hancock Tower in Boston selected to receive AIA Twenty-five Year Award[usurped]. Archinnovations. January 19, 2011. Retrieved April 9, 2011