Architectural Firms finalists in 1996 DuPont Benedictus Awards.

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 9, 1996--Eight finalists were named today in the 1996 DuPont Benedictus Awards for Innovation in Architectural Laminated Glass at the annual American Institute of Architects meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota, from the largest field of entries ever submitted to the competition.

One of these eight firms for each of two categories - residential and commercial - will be announced July 4, 1996, in Barcelona at the triennial meeting of the International Union of Architects (UIA).

The DuPont Benedictus Awards is an international architectural competition co-sponsored by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architects (ACSA), American Institute of Architects (AIA) and DuPont, with the worldwide support of the International Union of Architects (UIA). The 1996 competition is the first DuPont Benedictus to present a separate residential award, designed to allow for special consideration of residential architectural characteristics.

The judges designated eight projects for special recognition as Distinguished Finalists, from which one each will be selected as winner in both the commercial and residential categories. They are:

o bruderDWLarchitects, William P. Bruder, Phoenix, for the Phoenix

Central Library (commercial);

o Gabriele Bramante, Bramante architects, UK, "Citizens Advice

Bureau" (commercial);

o Hugh Newell Jacobsen, Hugh Newell Jacobsen, USA, "U.S. Capitol

West Terrace" (commercial);

o James Carpenter, James Carpenter Design Assoc., USA, "Dichroic

Light Field" (commercial);

o Jerome Brunet and Eric Saunier, Jerome Brunet/Eric Saunier,

France, "Centre Admistratif" (commercial);

o The Architects Practice, Simon Foxell, London, for his garden

pavilion in Highgate, North London (residential);

o Nico Steinmetz, Nico Steinmetz Architects, Luxembourg, "House

and Workshop Malakoff" (residential), and,

o James Carpenter, James Carpenter Design Assoc., USA, "Tension Net

Stair" (residential).

The finalists were praised by the judges for "achieving distinction not through a single heroic use of laminated glass in any one aspect but rather examining light and using light in very many ways." Each entry was examined for its appropriateness to its setting. For example, in appraising the Pool House in London, the judges said: "It's the singular location and function of this small pool house which allows such a heroic introduction of glass in both vertical and horizontal planes. This is a highly specialized setting in which this is completely successful."

The competition was named "The Benedictus" after the scientist who discovered the process for laminating glass, which is used by architects for its security, safety and energy-saving features, as well as for its absolute clarity. DuPont is the producer of Butacite(R)(a) polyvinyl butyral (PVB) interlayer for laminated glass.

The DuPont Benedictus also awards a student design prize, which this year goes to Romek Rutkowski and Wojtek Szklarczyk, architectural students at the Technical University of Wroclaw, Poland. The student design challenge was to incorporate laminated glass, often used in areas of high winds, into the design of a Visitors' Center to serve the many visitors to Sydney, Australia, in 2000. In selecting the Rutkowski/Sklarczyk entry, the judges said: "We thought this was the most elegant of all the solutions. It's a very simple, very direct solution."

Winning second place in the student competition was Simo Jaakko Hassi, Tampere University of Technology, Finland. Third place was won by Debbie Kuh, University of Western Australia. Winning students, their schools and faculty advisors are awarded cash prizes totalling $15,000 (see chart).

Contrasting the design approaches taken by the first, second and third place student winners, the judges said: "What you see here, and frankly you see in all three, is an integrity of understanding of the image which is the landscape. This sort of bigger idea organizes the direction of these big projects, and we saw that integrity in all three of the winning entries."

Student honorable mentions were awarded to: Duane Cash, University of Kansas, School of Architecture and Urban Design, Lawrence, Kansas, USA; James M. Hall, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois, USA; and Pekka Pakkanen, University of Technology, Helsinki, Finland.

The winners of the student competition were announced at a press luncheon at the AIA National Convention in Minneapolis, on May 10, 1996. Highlighting the 1996 DuPont Benedictus Awards winners' luncheon was a panel discussion entitled "The Intelligent Skin - 'Smart' Building Envelope Technology: Preview and Prediction." The prestigious panel, moderated by James S. Russell, managing senior editor for Architectural Record, included: Barton Myers, FAIA, Barton Myers Associates, winner of the 1994 Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Gold Medal; Cesar Pelli, FAIA, Cesar Pelli & Associates Architects, winner of the AIA Gold Medal for 1995; Mahadev Raman, Ove Arup & Partners, one of the world's largest mechanical engineering consulting firms, and Stephen Selkowitz, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the leading researcher into switchable glazing or electrochromic devices.

Jurors for the 1996 DuPont Benedictus Awards were: Dominique Perrault, Dominique Perrault Architecte, Paris; Robert Berkebile, FAIA, Berkebile, Nelson, Immenschuh, McDowell Architects, Kansas City, MO; Randolph Croxton, FAIA, Croxton Collaborative Architects, New York, and Henry Cobb, FAIA, Pei Cobb Freed & Partners Architects, New York. Cobb was unable to participate because of a last-minute shift in the judging date.

The 1996 professional competition attracted a record-setting number of entries - more than double the number in any previous year - from North America, Austria, France, Germany, Israel, Luxembourg, Poland, Russia, Spain, the U.K., Japan and Australia. Student entries topped 800, with participants from 123 schools in 27 countries.

The DuPont Benedictus Award carries with it a glass sculpture created exclusively for the competition by renowned German studio glass artist Hans Godo Frabel, now working in Atlanta, USA. The winning entries will be published in a competition summary booklet later this summer and were displayed at the AIA Convention. -0- Note (a): Butacite(R) is a registered trademark of DuPont -0-

BENEDICTUS STUDENT AWARDS DISTRIBUTION ($15,000 Total)

FIRST PRIZE:
Romek Rutowski and Wojtek Szlarczyk        $5,000
Technical University of Wroclaw, Poland    $1,500
Faculty Advisor: Pawel Jaszczuk            $  750

SECOND PRIZE:
Simo Jaakko Hassi                          $2,500
Tampere University of Technology, Finland  $1,000
Faculty Advisor: Juhani Katainen           $  500

THIRD PRIZE:
Debbie Kuh                                 $1,500
University of Western Australia, Australia $  500
Faculty Advisor: Nigel Westbrook           $  250

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

-- Duane Cash, University of Kansas,       $  500
   School of Architecture and Urban Design,
   USA
   Faculty Advisor:  Kent Spreckelmeyer

-- James M. Hall, Illinois Institute of
   Technology, USA
   Faculty Advisor: Gerald Horn            $  500

-- Pekka Pakkanen, University of           $  500
   Technology, Finland
   Faculty Advisor: Markku Komonen and
                    Jan Sederlund

CONTACT: The DuPont Benedictus Awards

Joanna Hanes-Lahr

202/393-5247

E-MAIL: [e-mail]

or

UIA

Francine Troupillon

011-331-4524-3688

or

ACSA

Christine Hess

202/785-2324