The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has announced the winners of the 2020 Architecture Awards. Snøhetta and DIALOG are among eight recipients. They have received an award for their Calgary Central Library project.
The 2020 Architecture Awards program celebrates the best contemporary architecture and highlights the many ways buildings and spaces can improve lives. The nine-member jury selected submissions that demonstrate design achievement, including a sense of place, purpose, history, and environmental sustainability.
The new Calgary Central Library is located on a former brownfield infill site and accommodates more than twice as many annual visitors as the facility it replaced. The library boasts 75,000 square feet of entry plaza and outdoor amphitheater that allows its programming to expand outside.
The facility is wrapped in a triple-glazed façade composed of a modular, hexagonal pattern with variations of the pattern scattered across the building’s curved surface in alternating patterns of fritted glass and aluminum. The whole building is encased in the same pattern, allowing every side to operate as the “front” of the library.
“Thoughtful, integrated and exemplary design that artfully weaves together the collective vision and values of design, client, community and sustainability…. a true reflection of Calgary as well as this AIA Honors Award,” commented the jury.
This year’s other AIA Award recipients included: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport Terminal 2 in Mumbai, India; John Ronan Architects’ Ed Kaplan Family Institute for Innovation and Tech Entrepreneurship in Chicago; Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates’s Floral Court project in London; Thomas Phifer and Partners’ Glenstone Museum in Potomac, Maryland; ATELIER FCJZ’s Jishou Art Museum, Jishou, China; HGA’s Minnesota State Capitol Restoration in St. Paul, Minnesota; and Pei Cobb Freed & Partners’ Tivoli Hjørnet in Copenhagen.