Washington, D.C. – January 8, 2009 – The American Institute of Architects (AIA) have selected the 2009 recipients of the AIA Institute Honor Awards, the profession’s highest recognition of works that exemplify excellence in architecture, interior architecture and urban design. Selected from over 700 total submissions, 25 recipients located throughout the world will be honored in April at the AIA 2009 National Convention and Design Exposition in San Francisco.

2009 Institute Honor Awards for Architecture:

The 2009 Institute Honor Awards for Architecture recognize nine unique projects. The types of projects range from cathedrals to trend-setting residential projects. These projects have a tremendous impact on the social and physical fabric of the communities they serve. Many were designed with budget constraints and a number of projects were a reuse of existing buildings or an integration of old with new. Jury members include: Jury Chair David Lake, FAIA, Lake | Flato Architects; Carlton Brown, Full Spectrum of New York; Michael B. Lehrer, FAIA, Lehrer Architects; James J. Malanaphy, III, AIA, The 160 Group, Ltd; Paul Mankins, FAIA, Substance Architecture Interiors Design; Anna McCorvey, AIAS Director, Northeast Quad; Anne Schopf, FAIA, Mahlum Architects; Suman Sorg, FAIA, Sorg and Associates, P.C.; and Denise Thompson, Assoc. AIA, Francis Cauffman.

Basilica of the Assumption, Baltimore
John G. Waite Associates, Architects PLLC
Restoration of the Basilica of the Assumption (also known as the Baltimore Cathedral), a major architectural landmark and masterpiece of the Federal style, removes a century and a half of obscuring alterations to bring back Benjamin Henry Latrobe’s concept of luminosity and spatial configuration. The now fully functioning cathedral again serves the people of Baltimore while reclaiming one of America’s most brilliant architectural designs, by its first professional architect; one that greatly influenced the development of the country’s architecture.

Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP
The Cathedral of Christ the Light resonates as a place of worship and conveys an inclusive statement of welcome and openness as the community’s symbolic soul. The glass, wood, and concrete structure ennobles and inspires through the use of light, material, and form.

Charles Hostler Student Center, Beirut, Lebanon
VJAA
The Hostler Center integrates social gathering spaces for students and faculty with sports facilities, a theater, and underground parking. Challenging the idea of a single large-scale building and similarly scaled open plaza, the project instead proposes multiple building volumes interconnected into a continuous field of habitable space by its gardens and green roofs.