The most competitive and prestigious awards bestowed by the American Institute of Architects Los Angeles were announced last night at the 2019 AIA|LA Design Awards Ceremony + Party. Selected from hundreds of entries, winners were chosen by juries composed of leading figures and experts in the architectural world.

“At a time when Los Angeles turns to its architects to address some our greatest challenges, these winning projects contribute to quality of life in Los Angeles and points beyond, through the realization of design excellence,” stated 2019 AIA|LA President Barbara Bouza, FAIA.

“Winning entries represent work which seamlessly blend aesthetic and function to produce buildings that elevate design excellence,” continued Bouza. “They also demonstrate attainment of demanding sustain ability performance goals, and new means for architecture to fulfill city building.”

The City of Santa Monica City Services Building received the
2019 AIA | LA COTE NEXT Honor Award.

The jurors commented on it’s smart and sophisticated water catchment and treatment systems in such an arid environment and how the glass facade opens the civic functions to the public, just as the City wishes them to be.
(Full project details HERE).

The ceremony, which was followed by a party, took place at the Saban Media Center Wolf Theatre in North Hollywood and was presented by Sharpe Interior Systems, Inc. Six-hundred architects, designers, individuals from companies related to the field, and supporters of architecture gathered in the venue, which is located on the campus of the Television Academy.

“The evening is an opportunity for the entire design community to come together,” said AIA|LA Executive Director Carlo Caccavale, Hon. AIA|LA. “We are not only celebrating design, but the process of realizing architecture and those who do so. Each year, in staging the Design Awards, our intention is to provide a backdrop that encourages camaraderie and connection.”

In addition to the juried awards, Presidential Honorees, selected by Bouza and the 2019 AIA|LA Board of Directors and announced previously by the AIA|LA, were also celebrated. Among these was the winner of the 2019 AIA|LA Gold Medal, who received it posthumously, Norma Merrick Sklarek, FAIA. Sklarek becomes the first black woman to be presented with the medal. Though Sklarek passed away in 2012, her influence on the profession remains profound: through the buildings she oversaw—such as the Pacific Design Center’s Blue Whale, MOCA and Terminal One of Los Angeles International Airport—and as a mentor and inspiring figure to many.

View the full list of winners:
COTE LA/COTE NEXT Awards Winners
NEXT LA Awards Winners
Design Awards Winners

The AIA|LA Design Awards program consider and award entries in four separate categories: AIA|LA Design Awards, NEXT LA awards, AIA|LA COTE (AIA|LA Committee for the Environment) and AIA|LA COTE NEXT. The first, the namesake AIA|LA Design Awards, recognizes the design excellence of some of the most significant completed projects in the country at this time. Unbuilt or are still-to-be-completed-commissions are considered and awarded through the AIA|LA Next LA awards program. AIA|LA COTE (Committee for the Environment, AIA|LA) Award recipients are bestowed for demonstrable achievement in sustainable design and acknowledged for performance, systems integration and other such components. COTE NEXT awards recognize COTE projects that are as yet unbuilt.

Completed projects, located anywhere, that are designed by AIA members from firms based in the Los Angeles area, and architecture constructed in Los Angeles by any AIA member, no matter their base of operations, are eligible for submission for Design Awards entry.

This text excerpt courtesy of the AIA | LA.
Tibby Rothman, Hon. AIA|LA
Director, Marketing and Public Relations
p: 213-639-0763, e:tibby@aialosangeles.org

View full AIA | LA Press Release HERE.