grand award
cabin on a pond, eastbrook, maine
perfido weiskopf architects
pittsburgh
Alan Weiskopf, AIA, and Kevin Wagstaff, AIA, spend most of their working time on large-scale institutional, commercial, and multifamily projects. But that didn't stop them from designing this 1,495-square-foot gem for some friends of Weiskopf's. “It's not our basic practice,” he says. “But when an opportunity like this comes along and the timing is right, we'll take it.”
The clients wanted a true vacation cabin for their pond-side property in Maine—no air conditioning, no central heating system, and no unnecessary rooms. Weiskopf and Wagstaff obliged with a low-key, gable-roofed structure built almost completely of unfinished wood. The interiors contain no drywall or plaster, and exterior cladding comprises cedar shingles and plywood. The sequence from the entry, through the house, and down a wooden
 The ribbing of wood slats along the home's gables and lake side provides shade and casts interesting interior shadows.
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ramp to the water roughly follows an existing footpath, establishing a deeper tie to the site. The project's one concession to luxury is its view: The architects raised it 5 feet off the ground on steel piers and a concrete foundation to ensure sightlines to the pond. But that didn't bother the judges. “It has all the beauty of Shinto shrines,” one said.
project architects: Alan Weiskopf, AIA, and Kevin Wagstaff, AIA, Perfido Weiskopf Architects; project size: 1,495 square feet; site size: 2.5 acres.
grand award
schindler residence, san francisco
 Louvers and a low-slung roofline help tie the upper-level addition to the original house. Serrao set the addition back, deferring to Schindler's work while also creating private space outside the master suite.
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serrao design | architecture
san francisco
Adding onto an iconic piece of architecture can be intimidating, but the seamless extensions proposed for this 1950 house by Rudolph Schindler earned nothing but praise from the judges. They agreed that “the work added enhances the original.” The low-slung house is spread out on a double lot, a little world unto itself with a courtyard and garden, but it's something of an oddball on the street. “The other homes are tall and compact and go right up to the property line,” says Jay Serrao, AIA. “Our challenge was to add onto the house in a respectful way, while relating it to its surroundings.”
A thin upper-level addition follows the spatial logic of the original house, flipping its L shape to accommodate a master suite and private deck. That move floats the addition's bulk against the property line and helps to mediate the scale difference. Another L form projecting into the lower rear garden will house an office/guest room and provide a roof deck outside the living room above. The additions' louvers reference the opaque operable louvers designed by Schindler, but they're smaller than the originals and made of frosted glass, deftly playing old against new.
principal in charge / project architect: Jay Serrao, AIA, Serrao Design | Architecture; project size: 3,603 square feet (1,401 new, 202 remodeled); site size: 0.11 acre; construction cost: Withheld.
 Orange and yellow accents distinguish the building's north and west sides, respectively. Corner units take in top-notch views of San Diego Padres games.
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grand award
fahrenheit, san diego
studio e architects
san diego
Michael Graves may design toasters, but Studio E Architects is right on his heels. The firm has designed what it refers to as a “toaster cover” for the parking garage at PETCO Park, the home of baseball's San Diego Padres. The cover will come in the form of an L-shaped multifamily building slated for completion this fall. “The garage, which we also designed, has two very elaborate facades,” says Eric Naslund, a Studio E principal and the project's architect. “The city redevelopment agency wanted to completely mask the other two sides.”
In response to varying site conditions, Naslund designed two very different unit types. The 24-foot-deep north end of the building features double-level stacked townhomes, a strategy that reduces the required amount of common circulation space. On the 60-foot-deep western facade, high-ceilinged lofts take advantage of ample sunlight and ballpark views. Storefront windows and corrugated metal siding complement the cast-in-place concrete structure, and ground-floor retail spaces enhance the project's lively connection to the street. “There's not one gratuitous plan gesture,” remarked a judge. “It yields a rich, dynamic facade.”
principal in charge / project architect: Eric Naslund, FAIA, Studio E Architects; architect of record: Martinez + Cutri Corp., San Diego; developer: Citymark, San Diego; general contractor: Turner Construction, San Diego; landscape architect: Deneen Powell Atelier, San Diego; interior designer: Megan Bryan Interiors, La Jolla, Calif.; project size: 727 to 1,335 square feet per unit; site size: 0.4 acre; construction cost: $150 per square foot; sales price: approximately $300,000 to $800,000; units in project: 77.
 Given a tight construction schedule and a shortage of local labor, the house's frame and floor, wall, and ceiling systems will be precisely fabricated off site. The entire assembly, from the piling platform on up, is designed to be completed in 30 days.
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merit award
loblolly house, taylors island, md.
kieran timberlake associates
Philadelphia
This house on the Chesapeake Bay defers to the natural site and distills its essence. Located on a cordgrass marsh, the house rests on random pilings that blend in with the pine grove. Water from a shallow pond under the house is pumped to the cordgrass-covered roof. The runoff flows through an oval aperture in the atrium and back down into the pond, offering a cosmic metaphor for the way that water unites the landscape and sky.
That reductive approach to architecture led KieranTimberlake to invent a hybrid house that combines site-built and prefab components. Its parts include an aluminum frame that clips together on site, floor and ceiling coffers with integrated wiring and mechanical systems, and pre-assembled kitchen and bathroom boxes. “Most architecture is space, and we're mostly just shipping the materials around the edge,” says Stephen Kieran, FAIA. The exterior skin features retractable glass doors and polycarbonate shutters on the waterfront side of the house that can close it off completely—site-responsive solutions that impressed the judges.
principal in charge / project architect: Stephen Kieran, FAIA, KieranTimberlake Associates; general contractor: Chip Arena, Arena Co., Wallingford, Pa.; landscape architect / interior designer: KieranTimberlake Associates; project size: 2,200 square feet; site size: 3.7 acres; construction cost: To be determined.
