FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Faculty, staff and alumni of the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at the University of Arkansas were recently recognized with awards handed out by the Arkansas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

Design awards and other awards were given during the 2018 AIA Arkansas State Convention banquet, held Oct. 19 in Hot Springs. Projects by Fay Jones School faculty, staff and alumni won all 12 awards given in the Design Awards program — three honor awards, eight merit awards and one citation award — plus the People's Choice award. This year, 51 design entries were submitted by member firms, and the jury selected the winners from 16 finalists.

In addition, Joe Stanley, (B.Arch. '69) founding principal of Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects in Little Rock, received the E. Fay Jones Gold Medal Award; Thad R. Kelly III, (B.Arch. '95) principal of StudioFive Architecture Landscape Interior LLC in Fayetteville, won the Dick Savage Award; Lori Yazwinski Santa-Rita, (B.Arch. '05) partner at Jennings and Santa-Rita Architects, was named the 2018 Emerging Professional; and Ted (B.Arch. '81) and Leslie (B.Arch. '79) Belden, co-owners of Old Buildings Inc., were honored with the Award of Merit.

The design Honor Awards were given for the Robinson Center Renovation and Expansion in Little Rock designed by Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects, Shelby Farms Park in Memphis designed by Marlon Blackwell Architects, and the Sutcliffe House, a private home in Eureka Springs designed by DEMX Architecture.

The Robinson Center's complete renovation and expansion dramatically reimagines the beloved historic landmark as a state-of-the-art performance and conference venue. Sculptural ceiling, forward-leaning faceted interior wall panels and wood balconies further enhance the acoustic and visual environment.

The project team included David Porter (B.Arch. '82), Cindy Pruitt (B.Arch. '95), Wesley Walls (B.Arch. '92), Wendell Kinzler (B.Arch. '05), Dian Bartlett, Laura Hendrix, Heather Davis and David Rogers (B.Arch. '91).

The buildings at Shelby Farms Park, one of the largest urban parks in the country, are located around the 80-acre Hyde Lake and imagined as the "Heart of the Park." The structures live between a balance of the local and the universal, introducing one to another and honoring the value of both.

The project team included Marlon Blackwell, Meryati Johari Blackwell, Jonathan Boelkins (B.Arch. '04), David Jaehning, Kertis Weatherby, William Burks (B.Arch. '09), Stephen Reyenga (B.Arch. '13), Justin Hershberger, Bradford Payne, Stephen Kesel and Spencer Curtis (B.Arch. '14). Blackwell is a Distinguished Professor and the E. Fay Jones Chair in Architecture in the Fay Jones School. 

The Sutcliffe House was designed for a local landscape photographer and was inspired by the economy of regional vernacular forms. The shell of the house projects eastward, capturing and emphasizing the views of the surrounding landscape, and the plan reinforces transparency and encourages social interaction and fluidity throughout the entire residence.

The project team included Tim Maddox (B.Arch. '02), Seth Spradlin (B.Arch. '15) and Josh Danish (B.Arch. '02).

The Merit Awards were given to Paschal Heat Air and Geothermal in Springdale, Amy Sanders Library in Sherwood, Church and Center in Fayetteville, the Hillside Rock private residence in Fayetteville, MAIN x MDRN in Bentonville, the Mountaintop Residence in Pulaski County, the Two Rivers Point private residence in Little Rock and Uptown Apartments and Shops in Fayetteville.

Paschal Heat Air and Geothermal provides a warehouse that supports the company's expanding inventory as well as an office space that integrates with its evolving business model. The exterior reinforces the company's industrial character, while the department offices are organized in blocks, stacked around an open office that encourages transparency and collaboration. It also received the People's Choice Award, which was voted on by the public.

The project team included Tim Maddox (B.Arch. '02), Seth Spradlin (B.Arch. '15), Julie Chambers (B.Arch. '99), Josh Danish (B.Arch. '02), Leana Fischer and Ben Cruce (B.Arch. '11).

The Amy Sanders Library capitalizes on the ground's steep terrain by projecting a reading room elevated on columns out into the surrounding woods, giving the impression of being in a treehouse. Setting the building within the existing trees and steep slope allowed the building to take advantage of the natural topography by facilitating easy entry from parking into the building without stairs or ramps.

The project team included Steve Grisham (B.Arch. '75), Alan New and James Bakanovic.

The 15 Church and 200 Center buildings of Church and Center have been transformed from the bones of an electric co-op to a series of sustainable office, retail and living spaces. Remaining true to its industrial heritage, the interior is clean and flexible with exposed structure, and skylights and steel window apertures amplify the connection to the exterior and reduce the need for artificial lighting.

The project team included Chris Baribeau (B.Arch. '03), Josh Siebert (B.Arch. '02), Jason Wright (B.Arch. '04), Austin Chatelain (B.Arch. '06), Aaron Speaks, Suzana Annable (B.Arch. '12), Joshua Jewett, Matt Poe (B.Arch. '12), Jody Verser (B.Arch. '10), Scott Penman, Paul Siebenthal, Alex Cogbill, Cory Meyer, Jeremy Hudson, Corey Runnells, Chris Lankford (B.Arch. '03), David McElyea (B.Arch. '06), Graham Patterson (B.Arch. '11), Lance Mallette, Kevin Brown and Cesar Chacon (B.Arch. '16). 

The Hillside Rock residence's architecture emerges from interactions with its environment, without attempting to recede into nature. The use of simple corrugated metal emphasizes the house as a solid mass embedded into the sloping three-quarter-acre site, and the façade's punctures are choreographed to create more singular connections to the land at different scales.

The project team included Frank Jacobus, Marc Manack, Shane Maloney (B.Arch. '16) and Cesar Chacon (B.Arch. '16).

MAIN x MDRN's four-story form includes balconies that are carefully carved from the building's taut forms, and corners that are cut away to reveal expressive cantilevers. The modern yet raw interiors allow the rigid steel structure to stand proud over flexible and open spaces while concrete walls and countertops provide texture and character.

The project team included Chris Baribeau (B.Arch. '03), Josh Siebert (B.Arch. '02), Matt Poe (B.Arch. '12) and David McElyea (B.Arch. '06).

The Mountaintop Residence nests atop the Ouachita Mountains in a remote forest, and its seclusion offers dramatic and expansive views after rising above the tree canopy. Exposed glue-laminated structure and light-filled space in the upper levels of the home mimic moving up through the branches of a tree.

The project team included Phil Purifoy (B.Arch. '87), Tom Fennell and Ben Hartter.

The Two Rivers Point residence stretches above the tree line, channeling a treehouse through the collection of wood and steel, glass and sky. Negotiating an extremely steep site with panoramic views of the Arkansas River and Two Rivers Park, the house was realized as a narrow 22-foot-wide bar, anchored by stone into the hillside and supported by piloti.

Wesley Walls (B.Arch. '92) designed the project.

Uptown Apartments and Shops created a decisively new living model by crafting a series of concise urban spaces that creates a "pop-up" neighborhood within the 15-acre site. The project elevates the architecture of the garden apartment model to create an anchor at the scale of the district and the city.

The project team included Chris Baribeau (B.Arch. '03), Cory Amos (B.Arch. '09), Michael Pope (B.Arch. '09), Matt Poe (B.Arch. '12), Hannah Breshears (B.A. '13), Cory Meyer and David McElyea (B.Arch. '06).

The Citation Award, given each year to an unbuilt project that has been designed in theory, was given to the Freeman Performing Arts Center in Freeman, South Dakota. Designed by the University of Arkansas Community Design Center, the project marks the threshold between prairie and civic life. The center's massing projects an ascending system of familiar gable roofs, which absorb the fly tower into a composition reflective of the region's pragmatic building traditions. 

The project team included Steve Luoni, Jeff Hazard, Stacey McMahan, Jessica Hester, Jonathan Martinez, Raheel Ahmad, Francisco Mejias Villatoro, David Marroquin Juarez, Maranda Gerga and Linda Komlos. The U of A Community Design Center is directed by Luoni, Distinguished Professor and the Steven L. Anderson Chair in Architecture and Urban Studies.

Joe Stanley, AIA, a founding principal of Polk Stanley Wilcox, received the E. Fay Jones Gold Medal Award, the highest award AIA Arkansas can bestow. The award recognizes an architect who has demonstrated excellence through artistic vision and design, leadership and service to the state and chapter, and who is held in high regard by the profession and community at large. Stanley has met those rubrics, and has been widely recognized in the construction industry and public communities statewide for his passion and commitment to the state.

Stanley is a 46-year veteran of the design and construction industry, and he has managed the design and construction administration of more than 600 projects in Arkansas. He has been inducted into the Arkansas Construction Hall of Fame and presented with a Career Distinguished Service Award by the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design. He is a founding board member of studioMAIN, an all-volunteer organization of design professionals aiming to create a higher-quality built environment in central Arkansas, and has been heavily involved in the organization since 2012.

Thad R. Kelly III, AIA, principal at StudioFive Architecture Landscape Interior LLC in Fayetteville, received the Dick Savage Award for notable and significant contributions to AIA Arkansas and the profession of architecture. He has been active in the AIA since the early 1980s, and he has served on the state board (2002-2009), served as president of AIA Arkansas (2008), chaired the state's annual convention (2005) and served as AIA's secretary. He has also chaired the AIA Gulf States Region's design awards jury, was on the Professional Advisory Board of the U of A Interior Design Program (2000-2010) and the Professional Advisory Board of the Fay Jones School (2007-2011), and was the Gulf States Representative on the AIA National Board of Directors (2012-2014). He was instrumental in moving the interior design program from Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences to the Fay Jones School, and he has championed newly licensed architects by starting the MileStone recognition program, which has been adopted and adapted nationwide.

Lori Yazwinski Santa-Rita, AIA, LEED AP, NCARB, partner at Jennings + Santa-Rita Architects in Fayetteville, was honored as the Emerging Professional for AIA Arkansas. She is currently serving as the vice president of Arkansas AIA and is a founding member of Women in Architecture Arkansas. Her dedication to the profession of architecture and her work with the Gulf States Emerging Professionals Symposium was recognized in 2017 with an AIA Component Excellence Award, and she was included in the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal's 40 Under 40 Class of 2015.

Ted and Leslie Belden, co-owners of Old Buildings Inc., received the Award of Merit. Ted Belden is the chairman of Lomanco Inc., and Leslie Belden serves as the temporary stated clerk for the Presbytery of Arkansas. They reside in Fayetteville, where they are partners in Old Buildings Inc. Through that, the Beldens have invested in the revitalization of downtown Fayetteville and the renovation of contributing historical structures, including the Inn at Carnall Hall on the U of A campus. They have served on several boards and commissions tied to architecture and historic preservation, including the Fay Jones School's Dean's Circle and serving as past co-chairs of the school's Campaign Arkansas committee.