AIA award winners step up to 'green' plate.

Over 750 guests packed Gotham Hall on Broadway last week for the Association of International Architects, New York chapter annual design awards, which were presented to 30 architectural teams selected earlier this year.

Milton Glaser, the celebrated graphic artist who was responsible for the creation of renowned images such as the 'I love New York' logo and the images associated with the subway campaign against the genocide in Darfur, set the tone of the afternoon when he called upon architects to integrate more socially conscious efforts into their work. "I am surprised by how passively architects and designers are reacting to political situations that affect their lives," Glaser said.

"Art remains one of the most benign ways of affecting other human beings and creating community. All of us who create things can help to shape our collective future." Though most of the award winning architects didn't have careers that were as obviously politically defined as Glaser's, many entries included some form of sustainability in their work.

From Foster and Partner's green superstar, Hearst Tower, to smaller projects that seek to empower recently dispossessed groups, like Peter L. Gluck and Partners Affordable Housing project in the mountains of Aspen, Colorado; and Ogawa/Depardon Architects Red Hook Workspace in Brooklyn; it is evident social consciousness is creeping to the forefront of the industry's standards.

"Whether at the scale of dense city fragments or the rural landscape with the solitary house, a deeper more comprehensive vision of humans and the earth they inhabit is an urgent issue for architects. The 21st Century presents us with one-third of the earth already developed, much of it in sprawling waste. A fundamental change of attitude, a revisioning of values must take place," said Steven Holl, principal of Steven Holl Architects, who scored three awards this year; for the Higgins Hall Center at Pratt Institute, the New Residence at the Swiss Embassy, and the School of Art and Art History at the University of Iowa.

nArchitects, Windshape in Lacoste France, which won a project honor award, provided one of the most intimate links between humans and the environment of the winning entries. Their project, created for the Savannah College of Art and Design, is a pavilion carved into a hillside above a lush grove of orange and lemon trees whose exterior is created entirely out of plastic pipe woven with 50 km of string. The pipes react to the strong mistral winds, either being swept up dramatically in a strong wind, or flickering with light winds which produce subtle changes to it's shape.

"We wanted to create a pavilion that would capture the intangible qualities of the setting, especially the wind and the light and that would be dynamic and engaging all the time and connect the visitor inside the building to the landscape, that would provoke them to look up and into the landscape. It was that immediate connection to the surroundings we were interested in," said Mimi Hoang, principal of nArchitects, who together with partner, Eric Bunge, created the project.

Other projects were produced as a direct response to environmental catastrophes. Fredrick Schwartz Architects ShotgunLOFT, an affordable housing complex in New Orleans, was built as a direct response to Hurricane Katrina.

"We have a Robin Hood-type practice and are committed to using our architecture and planning skills to address social and environmental issues here and abroad. This project rewards all of the young people from around the world that worked in our office to help the people of New Orleans,"

If nothing else, the forum's receptivity to these types of projects proves that the future of the industry may hedge closer to Glaser's vision than he might have expected.

"Windshape was a huge experiment for us. We had not done anything like that before and we weren't sure whether it would resonate with anybody or not. It feels great, because I think the project did ultimately resonate with a lot of people," Hoang said.