2018 AIA Arkansas Design Awards Competition Project Boards on Display Through July 25

Michelle Parks

An exhibition of the 2018 AIA Arkansas Design Awards competition project boards will be on display through July 25 in Vol Walker Hall.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – An exhibition of the 51 project boards prepared for the 2018 AIA Arkansas Design Awards competition will be on display through July 25 in the Fred and Mary Smith Exhibition Gallery, in Vol Walker Hall, on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville. It is presented by the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design and the Northwest Arkansas section of AIA Arkansas.

In order to encourage excellence in architecture, the Arkansas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects holds an annual Design Awards program, in which AIA Arkansas seeks to honor works of distinction by its members and bring public attention to outstanding examples of architecture.

The categories include both built and unbuilt projects, and projects are judged against the jurors' standard of great design, rather than against other projects in the category. There are three levels of AIA awards selected by the jurors: Honor Awards, Merit Awards and the Citation Award. The newest award started in 2015 — the People's Choice Award — which is intended to increase public awareness of the level of design excellence produced by Arkansas architects.

This summer exhibition is an opportunity for the public to view high-caliber, architecturally designed projects of all types from across the state, in addition to the award-winning designs. Each of the 51 project boards measures 3-by-4 feet, and each board was prepared by the individuals or firms that participated in the AIA Arkansas Design Awards program.

The winning projects in the 2018 AIA Arkansas Design Awards competition were:

• Heart of the Park Buildings at Shelby Farms Park, Marlon Blackwell Architects – Honor Award
• Sutcliffe House, DEMX Architecture – Honor Award
• Robinson Center Renovation and Expansion, Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects – Honor Award
• Paschal Heat Air and Geothermal, DEMX Architecture – Merit Award and People's Choice Award
• Amy Sanders Library, Taggart Architects – Merit Award
• Church + Center, Modus Studio – Merit Award
• Hillside Rock, Silo AR+D – Merit Award
• MAIN x MDRN, Modus Studio – Merit Award
• Mountaintop Residence, Fennell Purifoy Architects – Merit Award and Members' Choice Award
• Two Rivers Point, Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects – Merit Award
• Uptown Apartments and Shops, Modus Studio – Merit Award
• Freeman Performing Arts Center, University of Arkansas Community Design Center – Citation Award

Award winners from the 2018 competition, along with details about the winning projects, can be found in this awards publication.

Admission to the exhibition is free. The exhibition gallery is located on the first floor of Vol Walker Hall, and it is open to the public from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. The University of Arkansas will be closed Thursday, July 4.