2016 AIA TAP/CCA Innovation Award winners announced

The American Institute of Architects Technology in Architectural Practice teamed up with the Construction Contract Administration (CCA) Knowledge Community to create the yearly AIA TAP/CCA Innovation Awards, which recognizes projects that integrate new practices and technologies that will enhance data-centric methodologies and project delivery in long-term building management — from design to construction.

For 2016, the jury selected award citations and honorable mentions in categories including: Stellar Design; Project Delivery & Construction Administration Excellence; Project Lifecycle Performance (none selected this year); Academic Program/Curriculum Development; and Exemplary use in a Small Firm.

Here's a glimpse of the winning projects.

CATEGORY A - Stellar Architecture Award

Award Citation: Astana Expo City 2017; Astana, Kazakhstan by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture

Project summary: “Currently under construction, Astana Expo City 2017 will embrace the exposition’s theme, “Future Energy,” with the aim of reducing the overall energy demand of the site by using both passive and active strategies. All opportunities for power generation were investigated and several were incorporated into the building-design guidelines, including high-performance glazing; energy piles that will reduce energy demand and provide temperature modulation during winter; energy storage capacity that can meet two days of emergency demand; 100% of rainfall from a 100-year storm event managed on site; and 90% of waste generated on site will be diverted from a landfill.”

Category A Honorable Mention: Epic Deep Space Auditorium; Verona, Wisconsin by Cuningham Group Architecture, Inc.

Project summary: “Situated on an 811-acre site, Deep Space is Epic Systems Corporation’s largest auditorium, seating up to 11,400 guests and was completed in less than 24 months. To create the rolling roof forms and building façade, a combination of hand sculpted and laser-cut models were developed concurrently in programs suited for generation of complex shapes. The final physical model was a large scale clay model that was 3D-scanned in order to produce a digital point cloud which was integrated with BIM software and became the engine that drove the other technical delivery tools of the project. The auditoriums 8-acre green roof provides visual and physical connections to the surrounding Wisconsin landscape.”

Category B - Project Delivery & Construction Administration Excellence

Award Citation: Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin Center for Advanced Care; Wauwatosa, Wisconsin | Mortenson Construction & CannonDesign

Project summary: “Utilizing the latest Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) building tools and technology, the design team developed and pioneered new ways to add value and communicate with each other. By implementing a one-model approach, the team was able coordinate in advance of construction, which reduced duplication of modeling efforts, and greatly accelerated the development of fabrication models. Compared to a previous project with the same construction management/architect team, the one-model approach resulted in a 50% reduction in Request for Information (RFI) and an 18% reduction in Architect Supplemental Instruction (ASI), as well as the addition of five floors per the owner’s request with no change to the original completion date of the project.”

Category D - Practice-based or Academic Research, Curriculum or Applied Technology Development

Honorable Mention: Glazing and Winter Comfort Tool, Boston by Payette

Project summary: “The Glazing and Winter Comfort Tool is based on existing scientific research that aims to improve the design community’s understand of the triggers of thermal discomfort in the wintertime. It was developed to be simple and intuitive so that architects and engineers can design glazed facades that provide the desired levels of transparency, comfort and energy performance at an ideal cost. The development of the tool involved contributions from building scientists, designers and web developers. Previously, the only way to understand which façade properties negatively or positively impact occupant comfort involved a costly and time-intensive Computational Fluid Dynamics simulation. The Glazing and Winter Thermal Comfort Tool was conceived to facilitate this decision-making process quickly and inexpensively early in the design.”

Category E - Exemplary use in a Small Firm

Award Citation: Youth & Opportunity United; Evanston, IL by Studio Talo Architecture

Project summary: “Youth & Opportunity United (Y.O.U.), a 45-year-old non-profit, youth development agency requested renderings of their new headquarters for a community outreach and fund-raising campaign. The architects understood that the youth, not the building, needed to be the campaign's focus, so they created multiple 360-degree virtual reality video renderings of spaces in the building, populated with video avatars of young people served by the organization acting as tour guides, explaining how Y.O.U. and the new building would impact their lives. Through the dynamic video rendering, community members and donors experienced Y.O.U's mission, rather than just their plans.”

Images and quoted text courtesy of 2016 AIA TAP/CCA Innovation Award.