For Immediate Release: September 30, 2008
HGA Wins Prestigious American Architecture Award
Minneapolis, MN - HGA Architects and Engineers (HGA) has won a 2008 American Architecture Award for the Museum of the North Addition at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks.
Sponsored by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design in collaboration with The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and Metropolitan Arts Press Ltd., the American Architecture Awards® recognizes outstanding architecture designed and built in the United States by national and international firms.
Designed by Joan M. Soranno, AIA, of HGA, with GDM, Inc., of Anchorage, Alaska, as executive architect, the Museum of the North addition consists of four abstract forms-angled, curved, tipped and cantilevered-to reflect the lines and shapes found in Alaska's coastlines, mountains, and glaciers. Clad in custom pearlescent-white aluminum composite panels with mica flakes, the addition subtly captures Fairbanks' varied light patterns, changing the building's hues throughout the day and seasons.
The museum's heart is a sculptural two-story lobby with floor-to-ceiling windows framing exterior views. From the lobby, visitors follow a monumental staircase up to the Rose Berry Alaska Art Gallery, a sweeping 10,000-square-foot volume that accommodates oversized objects from the museum's growing collection.
In addition to the American Architecture Award, the Museum of the North won an American Architecture Award in 2000 in the un-built category. Other major awards include the 2007 SCUP/AIA-CAE Excellence in Campus Architecture Honor Award, and the 2006 AIA Minnesota Honor Award.
This year's winners will form an exhibit, "New American Architecture," which will premier at SESV Santa Verdiana in Florence, Italy, in November before traveling the United States in 2009.
The international jurors included Maro Kardamitsi-Adami, Architect, and Curator, Neohellenic Archives, Benaki Museum, Athens; Pavlos Doukas, Architect, Pavlos Doukas Architect, Athens and Former Assistant Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago; the Honorable Christophe Farnaud, Ambassador, Embassy of France, Athens; Argyro Konstantinidou, Sculptor/Architectural Consultant, Greece; and Manolis Anastasakis, Architect and Editor, greekarchitects.gr., Athens.
:: View University of Alaska Museum of the North Expansion
HGA Contact: Julie Luers (612) 758-4000 e-mail JLuers@hga.com
Media Contact: Susan Evans, Evans Larson (612) 338-6999 e-mail susan@evanslarson.com