AIA Bucks County 2022 Design Awards
Excellence Award
Familial Traditions – Ralph C. Fey, AIA Architects
Honor Awards
Sustainable Farmhouse – Ralph C. Fey, AIA Architects
Modern Farmhouse – Raphael Architects
Small Project Award
Newtown Home Office – Raphael Architects
Juror Statement – William Spack AIA, Principal CGS Architects
Thank you for inviting me to jury the 2022 AIA Bucks County Chapter Design Awards program. There were thirteen submissions this year and I enjoyed the opportunity to read their projects descriptions and appreciate the great work of the Chapter’s talented membership.
Great Architecture doesn’t happen in a vacuum however. We know that the best designs reflect the needs and aspirations (and resources!) of our clients, the context of our surrounds, the environment, place, time, and all of the other forces that exert influent on the creative process. Design excellence has a myriad of facets and, from my perspective, is best judged by how well we’ve achieved what we set-out to accomplish.
To this end, it was a great pleasure to read the stories of these submissions; similar in many ways, but very different in their goals and their approach to the unique context they were asked to address. There is nothing easy about the process of design and its execution through construction, but the best solutions make this look simple – and even effortless – when we know it surely is not.
So in the context of so many excellent submissions in this year’s Chapter program, I offer the following projects that I believe have distinguished themselves through design excellence and the skillful resolution of the unique challenges they were presented.
Excellence Award
Familial Traditions – Ralph C. Fey, AIA Architects
Juror’s Comments
Familial Traditions is beautiful Architecture with a striking “spirit of place”. In the same family for generations, the structure incrementally expanded apace with growing and changing needs. This renovation skillfully links existing components to create a strong and cohesive whole. There is a clear distinction between the traditional expression and new, contemporary language that very successfully bridges between the original wood clad farmhouse and their historic guest cottage.
The response-to, and incorporation of, an existing tree planted by a previous generation of owners is masterful and an integralcomponentofthedesignsolution. ItisnowinseparablefromtheArchitecture.
This is a residential project that tells a beautiful story ; a family, a house and tree with deep roots (figuratively and literally) in the community and an architectural expression that bridges styles, materials and forms. A very deserving Winner of the Chapter Excellence Award.
Honor Award
Sustainable Farmhouse – Ralph C. Fey, AIA Architects
Juror’s Comments
Like many of the program submissions this year, Sustainable Farmhouse grapples with the challenge of integrating disparate structures into a unified whole. Through several modest, but considered additions, the project very successfully unifies two structures on the site in a way that respects, and expresses, their original forms and massing. Subtle modification of glazing creates unity and, in the case of “public” spaces, opens spectacular views to the surrounding landscape. The choice of color was BOLD, but pays-off – a winking-nod to the Owner’s environmental considerations.
And this aspect of the project should not be overlooked. The design goes to great lengths to incorporate local / reclaimed materials as well as geothermal heating and photovoltaics. This is a beautiful house with a conscious, and very deserving of a Chapter Honor Award.
Honor Award
Modern Farmhouse – Raphael Architects
Juror’s Comments
Modern Farmhouse is an excellent example of all-new construction that skillfully nods to the vernacular without being literal. It is strength through simplicity. Pure gabled forms define distinct program uses, unified through color and unrelentingly consistent detailing – which borders on sparce but in fact lends an unexpected sense of elegance to the home’s interior.
Many Architects talk of “connections” to their surroundings but often don’t fully deliver. Modern Farmhouse truly “walks-the-walk” with expansive glass planes – particularly in the great room – creating an axial transparency that allows the outside to visually pass-through the plan. To this end, the exterior wall of the yoga room is also a delight.
This an excellent example of appropriate residential design that respects regional traditions while clearly creating something unique and ‘of its time’. It is much deserving of a Chapter Honor Award.
Small Project Award
Newtown Home Office – Raphael Architects
Juror’s Comments
Newtown Home Office is a small gem hidden behind a fairly typical residential structure in a fairly typical residential neighborhood. It very skillfully speaks to the increasingly prevalent condition of remote work, and the tension between commercial activities in a residential setting. Considering commonalities, the project incorporates materials that are ‘of the house’ and integrates them in a way that makes it clear this is something different. The stair façade and its relationship to the rear garden is striking and modern yet appropriate for the use….and the existing house.
While small in stature, this design has large impact. I particularly enjoyed how it contributes to the growing dialogue about “office” and “home” and the appropriate expression of each in a singular structure. This is a very deserving Chapter Small project Awardee.
