The celebration will feature a juried architectural design competition, the announcement of the People’s Choice Award winner, and a chance for the public to appreciate the importance of good design and the skilled architects in the region over 125 years.
PITTSBURGH, Pa, October 24, 2024 – The Pittsburgh Chapter of the American Institute of Architects – AIA Pittsburgh – will hold its annual Design Pittsburgh celebration on Friday, November 8th at the Carnegie Museum Music Hall in Oakland starting at 5:30 pm. The event, which honors the best designed projects by AIA member architects, features a design exhibition, as well as the announcement of the winners of the juried Design Awards competition, the Young Architects Studio Competition, the coveted People’s Choice Award, an Excellence in Masonry Award and a Lifetime Impact Award, called a ‘Benno’. After the awards ceremony, there will be a Beaux Arts Ball from 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm to celebrate AIA Pittsburgh’s 125th anniversary and great design in our region since 1899.
“Design Pittsburgh is a yearly opportunity to give the public a chance to gain a new perspective into our built environment,” said Michelle Fanzo, Executive Director of AIA Pittsburgh. “We invite people to look deeper than the facades or house fronts, into how the building work and make them feel. This year is a big anniversary for the community so we are looking not only at our present award winners, but to our past and to the future of architectural design in our region. What might we look like in another 125 years?”
If you plan to do an awards story, please let us know and we will provide a media pass to the event as well as access to (embargoed) winners and professional project photos before the event.
Sustainability and Architecture
A key element sought in all of the design project submissions is the role of sustainability in the work. The AIA has developed a Framework for Design Excellence that includes 10 sustainability-related elements that can be considered in architectural design, including the conservation and improvement of water quality, designing for equitable communities, design that reduces energy use and dependence on fossil fuels, design that uses green and healthy materials, and design for human well-being and structural resilience, among others.
“Sustainability is being employed more than ever in architecture with architects considering the social, economic and environmental dynamics of the structures they design and materials they choose for our future,” says Fanzo.
“An opportunity for our region, which also presents a unique challenge for our local designers, is how to adapt existing structures to be more energy efficient and healthy for their users. This is an area where Pittsburgh architects have a national advantage because many of our architecture projects are adaptive reuses of existing structures,” continues Fanzo.
People’s Choice Award
An annual Design Pittsburgh favorite, the highly anticipated People’s Choice Award winner is chosen by the public at large through electronically voting on the submitted projects for this year. This award aims to engage Pittsburgh area residents by showcasing architecture, interiors, and other architecture-related projects created by AIA members of Southwestern Pennsylvania. When voting, AIA poses questions for voters to consider: Does the project inspire you? Would you enjoy spending time in that space? How does the project enhance or serve our community?
Past winners include: The Century Inn, Hillview Elementary School in Grove City, Presley’s Place at the Pittsburgh International Airport, and AHN Cancer Institute at Allegheny General Hospital.
Young Architects Studio Competition
Now in its fourteenth year, the Young Architects Studio Competition is a classic program of Design Pittsburgh dedicated to advancing the design and experience of the city. The competition engages students, young architects, and emerging design professionals by challenging them to find innovative ways to approach a regional design challenge.
This year’s challenge addresses Pittsburgh’s unique confluence of topography, urbanism, and architecture: design a circulation path that links a higher elevation point to a lower one, considering the obstacles and opportunities presented by the site’s natural and built environment.
Designers were asked to think about how to activate the spaces a path traverses, creating opportunities for social gathering, interaction, and community building among residents. Pittsburgh’s unique topography, with its many city stairs and vertical changes, provides a rich context for this exploration.
Awards and Juries
Design Awards: This year’s out-of-town jury for the AIA Pittsburgh Design Awards – given for excellence in architectural and urban design – is four accomplished architects from greater Detroit:
- Dorian Moore, FAIA, VP at Archive DS and an urbanist architect, educator, and entrepreneur – Jury Chair
- Tricia Beck, AIA, Vice President at SmithGroup
- Jeff Gaines, AIA, Associate Principal at HED
- Megan Martin-Campbell, AIA, Project Architect and Leader at INFORM Studio
Social Impact Awards: Social Impact awards in design are juried locally by professionals who work in some aspect of community building. This year’s jurors are:
- Bruce Chan, Senior Director of Urban Design, Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership
- Tamara Emswiler, Senior Program Manager for Social Impact Design, Neighborhood Allies
- Nazia Tarannum, Principal Planner, Dept. of City Planning, City of Pittsburgh
Benno Award: One exceptional AIA Pittsburgh member will be recognized with a “Benno” – a Lifetime Impact Award named after one of the region’s most highly regarded architects, Benno Janssen. Benno recipients are chosen by the AIA Pittsburgh Board of Directors.
Masonry Award: premiering this year, the Excellence in Masonry Award for best use of architectural masonry in a project was juried by:
- Howard Solomon, Mason Contractors’ Association of Western PA
- Brian Trimble, International Masonry Institute
- Omar Khan, Carnegie Mellon University School of Architecture
Media coverage opportunities:
- Announcing the 2024 award winners: Award winners will be announced the evening of Nov. 8th at Design Pittsburgh. We can provide a list of award winners – embargoed until 9pm Nov 8th – and make high-quality professional photographs of these projects available via Dropbox.
- Buildings and social impact: A more issue-focused story about the many ways in which architecture has a social impact, building on our Social Impact Award winners. This will be the 6th year we have given these awards.
- 125 Years of Shaping our Region: Winston Churchill said: “We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us,” meaning that the design and construction of buildings influence the people who live and work in them, essentially shaping their lives and behaviors over time. AIA Pittsburgh’s anniversary – our quasquicentennial – is an inflection point for how architecture has shaped and impacted the Pittsburgh region for 125 years, and / or what the next 125 years of architectural and urban design might look like.
About AIA Pittsburgh
AIA Pittsburgh strives to improve the built environment in which we live, work and play by raising the standards of architectural training and practice, supporting their members’ efforts to design healthy, safe and connected places and spaces, and promoting the value of architectural services to the public. To learn more, please visit aiapgh.org
About Design Pittsburgh
Presented by AIA Pittsburgh, Design Pittsburgh is a celebration of architecture and design, and honors those who create it. A signature program of AIA Pittsburgh, Design Pittsburgh highlights the outstanding architecture and design done by AIA architects in the Pittsburgh region. Held annually, Design Pittsburgh features an architectural design exhibition, a juried Design Awards competition, & public voting opportunity for the coveted People’s Choice Award.
Design Pittsburgh raises the profile of architects as critical resources and industry experts. Through collaboration, this program provides excellent exposure of architects’ and industry professional work to a wide variety of audiences. It highlights the importance of good design in our region – and how our members, partners, and the public support and promote the value of architecture and design in the places that we work, live, and play. To learn more, please click here.
For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact:
Media / PR contact:
Ronda Zegarelli, ronda@acrobatiquecreative.com / Mobile: 412-303-6456
AIA Pittsburgh contact:
Michelle Fanzo, Executive Director, mfanzo@aiapgh.org / Mobile: 917-609-3565
