Design Awards Given to 13 Fay Jones School of Architecture Alumni

The historic home of blues musician Memphis Slim was reconstructed into a music “collaboratory.” (Ken West Photography)

The collaboratory design takes elements of the original house and celebrates them. (Ken West Photography)

The brick was saved from the existing fireplace and rebuilt in the original location. (Ken West Photography)

The new recording studio is clad in metal, and a cedar rainscreen wraps around the two-story front. (Ken West Photography)

A residential section rises above the original space at 315 Mountain, providing views of the area. (Joe Wittkop Photography)

Just off the main gallery, the staircase is supported by tension rods from above. (Joe Wittkop Photography)

The new owners of Crater Hill wanted to drastically update the floor plan and existing amenities of the 1980s house.

The new motor court, front lawn and entrance steps leading to the transformed residence. (Photo by John Chiasson)

560 Vinson is an expansion of a modest ranch-style home on Mount Sequoyah in Fayetteville. (Photo by Timothy Hursley)

The new design opened the living areas and blurred previous spatial boundaries. (Photo by Timothy Hursley)

Galveston Fire House No. 4 has an elevated command area, living quarters and observation decks. (Photo by Andrew Pogue)

The second-level kitchen is next to an observation deck. (Photo by Andrew Pogue)

The roof of the elevator and stair tower at ASMSA Residence Life and Student Center resembles an open book. (Photo by Timothy Hursley)

The Living Room Pavilion is a freestanding, glass pavilion in the new student courtyard space. (Photo by Timothy Hursley)

Photo by Ken West Photography

Jason Jackson has received an Honor Award for Preservation for the Memphis Slim Collaboratory. Image by Ken West Photography.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Jason Jackson of Memphis, Tennessee, has received an Honor Award for Preservation, the highest award in this year’s Fay Jones Alumni Design Awards from the Fay Jones School of Architecture. Jackson and several other alumni were recognized for their design work April 17 during the school’s annual Honors Recognition Reception and Ceremony, held at Vol Walker Hall on the University of Arkansas campus.

Billie Tsien, who is a John G. Williams Distinguished Visiting Professor in Architecture in the school and a principal and co-founder of Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects in New York, served on the awards jury this year. This is the first time an alumnus of the school also served on the jury.

Designs for residential, educational, commercial, medical, retail, entertainment, historic and public urban spaces were among projects vying for recognition in this year’s alumni design awards competition. Entries came from Fay Jones School alumni practicing in cities around the state of Arkansas, as well as in Texas, Missouri, Tennessee, Illinois and Florida. A five-member jury chose six projects for accolades – resulting in one Honor Award for Preservation, three Merit Awards for Architecture, one Merit Award for Landscape Architecture and one Merit Award for Interior Design.

Jackson won his Honor Award for Preservation for Memphis Slim Collaboratory, located in Memphis, Tennessee. In this project, the historic home of Memphis Slim, the famed blues musician, has been reconstructed into a music “collaboratory” where local artists can work together. Jackson, who graduated from the U of A in 2006 with a Bachelor of Architecture, is with brg3s architects in Memphis.

Jury members called the project “an innovative take on preservation, juxtaposing new and old forms” and “a project with intriguing designs of multiple disciplines.” It was deemed a “complete” project and proof that “preservation can coincide joyfully with the fresh and the new.” The jury noted that a “provocative and innovative approach to preservation makes this project shine.”

Two architecture alumni won a Merit Award for Interior Design for their Fayetteville project 315 Mountain. David McKee, of David W. McKee Architect PLLC in Fayetteville, received a Bachelor of Arts in 1976 and a Bachelor of Architecture in 1982, both from the U of A. Matt Hoffman,who worked at McKee's firm on this project, received his Bachelor of Architecture in 2010. The pair collaborated to transform what was once a tire store and then, most recently, a restaurant into a mixed-use facility, creating what the jury called “a refined interior solution that shows a creative freedom in contrast to a more restrictive exterior.”

Michael Gavin Duke received a Merit Award for Landscape Architecture for Crater Hill, a private residence in Nashville, Tennessee. Duke, of Page Duke Landscape Architects in Nashville, graduated in 1987 with a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture. The jury said Duke designed a “luscious landscaping strategy” that “completely transforms” a once “very conventional home.” That strategy “creates a sense of grace, serenity, order and most importantly – beauty,” the jury noted.

Four architecture alumni with Modus Studio in Fayetteville won a Merit Award for Architecture for their 560 Vinson project, also in Fayetteville. The members of the project team, Chris Baribeau, Graham Patterson, Suzana Annable and Josh Siebert, each received a Bachelor of Architecture from the U of A in 2003, 2011, 2012 and 2002, respectively. The jury said that the team combined “quiet materials and strong form” in the renovation of this suburban ranch-style house for a design that “avoids cliché” and is “powerful in its subtlety.” The jury also noted that “the newly open interior space, and its connection to the outdoors, is inviting and well aligned with the contemporary needs of its occupants.”

Alumnus James Henry won a Merit Award for Architecture for Galveston Fire House No. 4 in Galveston, Texas, which replaced the previous fire house that was destroyed by Hurricane Ike in 2008. Henry, who received his Bachelor of Architecture in 2000, was part of the design team at HDR in Dallas, Texas. The jury called the design “an elegant solution to a simple program” and one that “responds to extreme site constraints in a clear and comprehensive” manner. They also noted that “the functions of the fire house are expressed with clarity, intention and exuberance.”

Four architecture alumni with Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects in Little Rock won a Merit Award for Architecture for the Residence Life and Student Center at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts in Hot Springs. The members of the project team, Sarah Bennings, Ross McCain, Reese Rowland and Joe Stanley, each received a Bachelor of Architecture in 2004, 1977, 1990 and 1969, respectively. The jury called the work “an impressive design for an important program on a challenging site” and commented on the way the pavilion “uses transparency to form a light-filled heart for student living.”

Jury members for the awards competition included three faculty members of the Fay Jones School: Kim Furlong, assistant professor of interior design; Noah Billig, assistant professor of landscape architecture; and Jeff Shannon, professor of architecture. Two additional jury members were Robert Kerr, an architecture alumnus of the school and principal and founder of Robert Kerr Architecture Design in Santa Monica, California, and Tsien.

In addition to the alumni design awards, the Fay Jones School also presented a special Distinguished Service Award to Sandra K. Edwards, deputy director of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville. This award is given annually to a selected member or members of the Fay Jones community, alumnus or benefactor, who has provided significant and enduring service to the school in its teaching and learning programs, community relations and civic engagement activities.

About the Fay Jones School of Architecture: The Fay Jones School of Architecture at the University of Arkansas houses professional design programs of architecture, landscape architecture and interior design together with liberal studies programs. All of these programs combine studio design education with innovative teaching in history, theory, technology and urban design. A broad range of course offerings equips graduates with the knowledge and critical agility required to meet the challenges of designing for a changing world. Their training prepares students with critical frameworks for design thinking that also equip them to assume leadership roles in the profession and in their communities. For more information visit architecture.uark.edu.

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among only 2 percent of universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.