ARCHITECT'S HONEYHOUSE HONORED AT INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A University of Arkansas architect recently received a prestigious international award for his building's sophisticated relationship to a natural landscape — within a small budget.
Marlon Blackwell's design of the Moore HoneyHouse was one of five designs chosen for the international ar+d awards. Sponsored by London-based magazine The Architectural Review and Danish industrial design company d lineT, the fourth-annual award is given to architects 45 years old and under, said Peter Davey, editor of The Architectural Review.
According to Davey, 700 entries were received from 60 different countries.
The HoneyHouse shares the award with four other designs located in Croatia, Germany, Japan and Australia and appears on the cover of the December issue of The Architectural Review (http://www.arplusd.com/).
"The jury decided to give the small building an award because it uses materials with great sensitivity and sophistication, and it suggests new relationships between artifact and nature with the simplest of means," said Davey.
The HoneyHouse sits on Little Terrapin Mountain in North Carolina and serves as a carport and a storage and processing area for honey. Built from tongue-and-groove pine boards and rectangular section steel tubes, the structure preserves Blackwell's trademarks: attention to detail and spectacular use of light. For example, his detail work included weathering the steel for nine months to give it a rustic look and placing the structure on concrete block piers to allow proper drainage and prevent bug infestation.
What is most spectacular about the HoneyHouse, however, is not its butterfly roof or au naturel look, but its resemblance to a honeycomb. A single load-bearing wall fabricated from steel plates and faceted glass planes provides multiple reflected images of the surrounding forest. Within this wall made of voids — yes, a wall made of empty spaces — sit jars of honey.
"Marlon's HoneyHouse is another demonstration of his unique sensitivity to the relationship of landscape and architecture," said Dean Jeff Shannon of the School of Architecture. "We are very pleased, but not surprised, at his growing international recognition."
The awards ceremony took place on November 28 at the Danish Design Center in Copenhagen, where Blackwell received his fifth of the £10,000-prize money and a trophy designed by Danish architect Knud Holscher. In March, the Royal Institute of British Architects in London will display the winning design as well.
"We were concerned to find invention, tectonic quality, exploration of ideas and respect for the planet," Davey said. "In different ways, all award-winning and commended projects improve the quality of human life."