Fay Jones School Hosts Exhibition of 2016 AIA Arkansas Design Awards Project Boards

Photo by Timothy Hursley

The Riggs Cat Corporate Headquarters won an Honor Award and the Members' Choice Award in the 2016 AIA Arkansas Design Awards competition. The design is by Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — An exhibition of the 40 project boards prepared for the 2016 AIA Arkansas Design Awards competition will be on display Monday, May 22, through June 16 in the Fred and Mary Smith Exhibition Gallery, in Vol Walker Hall, on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville. It is presented by the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design and the Northwest Arkansas Section of AIA Arkansas.

In order to encourage excellence in architecture, the Arkansas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects holds an annual Design Awards program, in which AIA Arkansas seeks to honor works of distinction by its members and bring public attention to outstanding examples of architecture.

The categories include both built and unbuilt projects, and projects are judged against the jurors' standard of great design, rather than against other projects in the category. There are three levels of AIA awards selected by the jurors: Honor Awards, Merit Awards and the Citation Award. The newest award started in 2015 — the People's Choice Award — which is intended to increase public awareness of the level of design excellence produced by Arkansas architects.

This exhibition is an opportunity for the public to view high-caliber, architecturally designed projects of all types from across the state, in addition to the award-winning designs. Each of the 40 project boards measures 3-by-4 feet, and each board was prepared by the individuals or firms that participated in the AIA Arkansas Design Awards program.

Seven of the design award winners have primary or branch firm offices located in Northwest Arkansas. Competition winners were announced last November in Rogers at the AIA Arkansas state convention.

The winning projects in the 2016 AIA Arkansas Design Awards competition were:

• B House, Skiles Architect PA – Merit Award
• Brough Commons Starbucks Addition and Remodel, Miller Boskus Lack Architects, PA – Merit Award
• Fayetteville Montessori Primary School, Marlon Blackwell Architects – Honor Award
• Hayden Padgett Memorial Press Box, Morrison Architecture, PC – People's Choice Award
• Jim and Joyce Faulkner Performing Arts Center, Allison Architects – Honor Award
• Manzeum, Modus Studio – Honor Award
• Parking Deck 101: A Study in Urban Fill, AMR Architects – Citation Award
• Riggs Cat Corporate Headquarters, Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects – Honor Award and Member's Choice Award

Award winners from the 2016 competition, along with details about each project, can be found on the design awards page of the AIA Arkansas website. 

 Admission to the exhibition is free. The exhibition gallery is located on the first floor of Vol Walker Hall, and it is open to the public from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.