World hunger. Climate change. Natural disasters. Conservation. Anyone who questions architecture’s relevance to the big issues should look no further than the 14 recipients of this year’s R+D Awards, ARCHITECT’s annual celebration of innovative research and technology. From 100 submissions, jurors Mic Patterson, Doug Stockman, AIA, and Elizabeth Whittaker, AIA, selected five winners, five citations, and four honorable mentions, all by impassioned, interdisciplinarily minded designers using advanced computation and fabrication technologies to tackle problems of all scales and scopes.
This year marks the R+D Awards’ 10th anniversary, but we’re not patting ourselves on the back. One decade is but a blip in the history of human habitation. We are content to help provide, as one of this year’s recipients describes it, “validation that all the time spent working on this project has meant something.”
Winners
Award: BayArc: A Tidal Responsive Barrier by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
Award: Cricket Shelter—Modular Edible Insect Farm by Terreform ONE
Award: LELU Exit Sign by Interloop—Architecture
Award: Tally by KieranTimberlake
Award: The Tower at PNC Plaza by Gensler
Citation: Chicago Horizon by Ultramoderne and Guy Nordenson and Associates
Citation: Nanobiome Building Skin by Michael K Chen Architecture
Citation: Pulled Plaster Panels by Young Projects
Citation: Spray-On House by Patrick Tighe Architecture
Citation: Vegas Altas Congress Center and Auditorium by Pancorbo + de Villar + ChacĂłn + MartĂn Robles
Honorable Mention: Blooming Bamboo House by H&P Architects
Honorable Mention: Grove by GLD Architecture
Honorable Mention: Infundibuliforms—Kinetic Tensile Surface Environments by Matter Design and RVTR
Honorable Mention: Timber Waste Modular Unit by IKD
Jury
Juror bios by Selin Ashaboglu
2016 R+D Jury (l to r): Mic Patterson, Doug Stockman, and Elizabeth Whittaker
Mic Patterson is founding principal of Los Angeles–based Design Tectonics, a consultancy that focuses on innovative façade technology applications and research. He was formerly the vice president of strategic development at Enclos. Patterson is a Ph.D. candidate in the University of Southern California School of Architecture with a focus on sustainable façade renovation practices.
Douglas Stockman, AIA, is a founding principal at El Dorado in Kansas City, Mo. He also serves on the Kansas State University College of Architecture, Planning, and Design Dean’s Advisory Council, and is chair of the Downtown Council of Kansas City. Stockman received a B.Arch. from Kansas State University.
Elizabeth Whittaker, AIA, is founder and principal of Merge Architects in Boston. In 2015, she was a recipient of the AIA Young Architects Award and the Emerging Voices award from the Architectural League of New York. Whittaker received an M.Arch. from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where she is an assistant professor in the practice of architecture.
