The Call for Entries is now closed. This page is for informational purposes only.
Previous Award Recipients: 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013
Introduction
The CAE Design Awards is an Internet-based marketplace of ideas. Through this forum the committee disseminates quality ideas on educational facility planning and design to clients, architects, and the public. As how we educate ourselves continues to evolve, we must evaluate and measure our successes, and have an arena in which to test ideas. This awards program is an opportunity to engage in critical evaluation and experimentation, not as an end in itself, but always in the context of our clients and their needs.
New for 2013: The CAE has integrated the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) Shirley Cooper and Walter Taylor Awards into the CAE submission and jury process. Since 1949, AASA has given these two awards in recognition of the two projects judged most outstanding for educational environments. The Shirley Cooper Award is presented to the project that best meets the educational needs of its students. The Walter Taylor Award is presented to the project that best meets a difficult design challenge. If applicable, two CAE Design Award winners will be identified for these specific recognitions.
The CAE Design Awards seek to identify, honor, and disseminate the projects and ideas that exhibit innovation and excellence through:
- Demonstration of excellence in architectural design
- The enhancement of the client's educational program through the thoughtful planning and design of facilities
- Integration of the local environment as an integral part of the design and learning experience
- The integration of function and aesthetics in designs that also respect the surrounding community and context
- Understanding of social and emotional needs of learners and the corresponding manifestation into physical spaces
- A planning/design process that is educational, collaborative, and builds the capacity of the school and its community to support its students
- An understanding of the connection between the built and natural environment
This program will have two primary areas of focus:
- The first area will focus on how individual projects further the client's mission, goals, and educational program. The entire story will be told with respect to how each submitted project is conceived, planned, designed, built, inhabited, and evaluated. This area will portray quality within both the process and the product. The best processes exhibit authentic collaboration between the design team, the client, and the community as they work together to fulfill the project’s goals. These are projects that show exemplary care in serving the client and ensuring a quality built environment, both functionally and aesthetically.
For those projects that have a specific element or elements that set them apart, the path of experimentation and discovery will be told. Engaging the imagination of the participants through the process of conceiving, planning and designing should be apparent in the result.
- Unique Learning Environment Category
This category is open to academics, nonprofits, or individuals whose aim is to design or generate new thinking in learning environments, but who are not architects and are not in the for-profit sector. There will be no registration fee for entrants into this category. An award may be given at the discretion of the jury to a person or group who submits commissioned and completed research projects that have made a significant contribution to the uniqueness and effectiveness of learning through the physical environment. Academics who have credentials or businesses outside of academia must apply through the other category.
Eligibility of Projects
All entries must meet the following requirements:
- Educational facilities that are eligible for consideration include domestic and international early childhood learning environments (including Head Start); public, private, and parochial elementary, middle/junior high, and high schools; alternative schools (i.e., charter schools, magnet schools, vocational/technical schools, and at-risk schools); innovative learning centers (i.e., museum schools, environmental learning centers, and high-tech learning environments); community and technical colleges; schools of higher education; and corporate or other specialized training centers. Non-traditional learning environments may include community centers, museums, libraries, etc.
- Projects may include new construction, additions, and renovations/modernizations.
- Master plans, including multiple sites and/or multiple phases, will be considered.
- Submissions of commissioned and completed research projects are encouraged; however, hypothetical projects are NOT eligible.
- Entries are limited to projects that have been completed since January 1, 2008. If the project has not yet been built, it must be completed through design development, with the owner's approval, to proceed with construction documents before September 1, 2012.
- Individual designers, educational planners, academics, and nonprofits other than architects are eligible to submit in the Unique Learning Environment category and are highly encouraged to participate. In all other categories, only projects designed by architects licensed in the United States are eligible.
2013 Jury
Steven M. Shiver, AIA, Chair, NAC Architecture, Seattle
John R. Dale, FAIA, Harley Ellis Devereaux, Los Angeles
Linda Nelson Keane, AIA, Studio 1032, Shorewood, WI
Victor Sidy, AIA, Taliesin School of Architecture, Scottsdale, AZ
C. Kenneth Tanner, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA
Costs
Unique Learning Environment Projects Only: $0.00
AIA Member $500.00
AIA Non-Member: $600.00
Questions?
kcawards@aia.org
1735 New York Ave., NW
Washington DC, 20006
United States of America
Sponsor
The AIA Committee on Architecture for Education Knowledge Community