KieranTimberlake was deeply honored last Thursday evening to receive five AIA Philadelphia Awards for Design Excellence. The honors included a Divine Detail and an Honor Award for the Sidwell Friends School Meeting House, an Honor Award for Brockman Hall for Physics at Rice University, a Silver Medal in the Unbuilt Category for Dilworth Plaza, and a Gold Medal for Morse and Ezra Stiles College at Yale University. Continue reading to see images of the winning projects and read the jury comments.

Divine Detail: Meeting House, Sidwell Friends School, photo © Michael Moran

Jury comment: "The jury was captivated by the many and varied ways light was introduced into the space, and the gentleness and warmth it imparts to the emotional magic within."

Silver Medal, Unbuilt: Dilworth Plaza, rendering © KieranTimberlake

Jury comment: "An intelligent strategy that uses an economy of means and a confident integration of art to create a strong public space and foreground to an historic building. The simplicity and power of the laminated glass pavilions link old and new in time relating the monumental form of City Hall to contemporary life as they also provide a welcoming transition and light to the movement systems below. A beautifully rendered and well-executed solution rich in thought, purpose and optimism."

Honor Award, Brockman Hall for Physics, Rice University, photo © Peter Aaron

Jury comment: "A richly layered response to context and program, the project achieves a marvelous balance; connecting with the typology of the historic campus, while expressing the materiality of a complex program. A creative site strategy adds new space, while not compromising the courtyard, below the narrow, raised north bar, which appears to hover above its site, tethered to the south bar. The subtle round concrete columns appear to be site features, rather than building, as the project pushes material expression and reference to program to a level of delight without seeming overwrought."

Honor Award, Meeting House, Sidwell Friends School, photo © Michael Moran

Jury comment: "An artful balance of elegant geometry with nuanced richness of expression, the project creates a sublime community space that respects traditions while creating place and surprise through the magic of daylight and the direct expression of structure and shelter.  A brilliant solution to the necessity of siting the Meeting House within an existing gymnasium, the architects buried the Meeting House within thick walls and layered planes, creating an immersive experience of natural light and silence. The jury found the meeting room’s simplicity, economy of means and quiet beauty truly inspirational."

Gold Medal, Morse and Ezra Stiles College, Yale University, photo © Peter Aaron

Jury comment: "This project rises to the great challenge of expanding an icon of modern architecture. The creation of a whole new world of subterranean experience of bold, robust new places and forms allows the new architecture to coexist in harmony with the well-known Saarinen canvas. The clever re-planning of residential floors responds to contemporary needs as the existing colleges are highlighted and enhanced by the lyrical additions. Dark and formerly maligned spaces are transformed into environments infused with natural light, that continually exchange interior with exterior, building with landscape. It is a tough task to add to the work of a master but here the solution is achieved with clarity, dexterity and delight."