(August 8, 2024. Sacramento, California)—A sweep of ambitious projects awarded 2024 AIA California Urban Design Awards demonstrate California architects’ ongoing commitment to address pressing issues. Amongst the societal challenges architects worked to resolve: the reactivation of post-COVID urban space; facilitating supportive communities for those affected by the justice system; and the growing threat of fires to communities driven by climate change. The awards program jury also noted the ongoing increase of urban design projects that blend planning, landscape, and urban design.
The six recognized projects selected forty-three submitted by AIA California members from across the state, more than doubling the submissions received in 2023.
“AIA California members continue to use their expertise to reinvent a better California for all,” said 2024 AIA California President Winston L. Thorne, AIA. “As an organization we are humbled by the dedication of AIA California members to deliver urban design excellence at a critical time.”
The 2024 AIA California Urban Design Awards marks the second year of the Student award category. “The Student category is an essential component of AIA California’s support of next generation architects. It is an opportunity to recognize their vision and developing design skills in advance of them becoming professionals. We welcome them to the field,” noted Thorne. “We are appreciative of the work of all students in this area, taking the time to produce thoughtful submission packets for their projects.”
Please find the recipients of all awards below. Projects are honored at two levels, Honor and Merit, Honor being the highest.
HONOR
The Crossing at East Cut (San Francisco, California)
Populous
Jury Notes: Cities aren’t permanent; they can change over time; this is a vision of what cities can be–the jury appreciates The Crossing at East Cut’s temporary character. The dynamic approach to developing urban open space feels vibrant, new, and exciting! This plan features a replicable urban strategy for site transformation over time. Excellent activation with diverse programming as temporary space.
MERIT
Hope Village (Los Angeles, California)
Practice
Jury Notes: This project embodies great design and urban connectivity with a needed set of programs. It realizes excellent process, principles, and design for a future community. It does a lot of the right things.
Playbook for the Pyrocene: Design Strategies for Fire-Prone Communities (California)
SWA Group
Jury Notes: Timely and necessary, this project is a resilience resource in urban design with strategies addressing fire in communities, including education, practical advice, and recommended concrete actions. It addresses the complexity of the issues in a graphically clear way for both laymen and professionals.
Pleasant Hill Library (Pleasant Hill, California)
EinwillerKuehl Landscape Architecture and Bohlin Cywinski Jackson
Jury Notes: A community library rich in outdoor amenities and natural renovation. The site intervention to provide retention and flood control is beautifully done: it’s an innovative infrastructure improvement that makes the library project much more expansive and provides an important community experience.
Sepulveda Basin Vision Plan (San Fernando Valley, California)
Bureau of Engineering – City of Los Angeles, Geosyntec, and OLIN
Jury Notes: An excellent plan for an incredible public asset. This is a very well-integrated project that will help improve environmental conditions and engage communities along the Sepulveda basin.
The Strand (Placer County Town Center) (Auburn, California)
Gensler
Jury Notes: The jury commends this county government for seeking an urban design situation that marries the agricultural aspects of the county with an urban form. This is part of a larger trend to create urban structures for agriculture which the architects respond to thoughtfully—this is a good model. The architecture is appealing and relates to the vernacular. It is an interesting urban arrangement, using light and trees for its organizational logic.
STUDENT AWARDS
STUDENT- HONOR AWARD
Truely TREBA (San Jose, California)
Sovann Muni Visal Lay
Jury Notes: – This project is a good analysis and strategy for sustainability and urban revitalization of a California suburban neighborhood.
STUDENT- MERIT AWARDS
The Lincoln Park Exchange (Lincoln Park, Los Angeles)
Benjamin Rahbaek Sperry
Jury Notes: The program creates a building very specific to its site that expands the idea of what housing, program, and community can be to serve a park and to serve formerly homeless people as well as the community. The elements are interwoven in this site in a meaningful way.
The Digester
Justin Zhu & Adrian Aranda
Jury Notes: It has it has a joyful vision for a place that has been largely neglected. The jury found its playful, sculptural, and theoretically forward-looking qualities compelling.
Selecting the 2024 Urban Design Awards recipients was a jury composed of: Tina Chee, AIA, ASLA – Tina Chee Landscape Studio; Frank Fuller, FAIA – Partner, Urban Field Studio; Stephanie Reich, AIA – Design and Historic Preservation Planner, City of Santa Monica; Quilian Riano – Dean, Pratt Institute, School of Architecture; Katherine Spitz, ASLA – Principal, Katherine Spitz Associates.
About the American Institute of Architects California (AIA CA)
AIA California is dedicated to serving its members, and uniting all architecture professionals in the design of a more just, equitable, and resilient future through advocacy, education, and political action. The organization represents the interests of more than 11,000 architects and allied professionals in California. Founded in 1944, the AIA CA is the largest component of the national AIA organization. For more information, visit www.aiacalifornia.org.
