Residential (1-2 Family)

BQDA Award of Excellence
People's Choice Winner
Artist Residence - Lynch Eisinger Design Architects, LLP (Brooklyn, NY)

Photo Credit: Amy Barkow

This Brooklyn artist’s studio and residence explores the nature of the contemporary townhouse and of contextualism beyond mere appearance. A sculpture studio occupies the ground floor with an apartment above. What appears from the street as a third story is an outdoor room open to the sky. Accessibility concerns rendered front steps impractical, so the stoop is reinterpreted as raised planter providing both threshold and a place to sit facing the street. A double-height living room looks down to the backyard and up to the terrace, providing natural ventilation and connection across the site, end to end, top to bottom.

​Project Completion: 2016

BQDA Award of Merit
Prismatic Bay Townhouse - Peterson Rich Office, LLC (Brooklyn, NY)

Photo Credit: PRO

This 4,000 SF townhouse in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, revives a historic wood frame construction technique, but updates it with design features and details that reinterpret the townhouse typology. The project reconstructs an existing 2,000 SF wood frame building while adding an additional 2,000 SF in steel and glass.  The bay window, common to so many townhouses, is
interpreted here as a dramatic floor to ceiling prismatic glass wall on the upper levels. The building is primarily clad in a Manganese Ironspot Artisinal Brick, Mahogany Frame windows, and Flush Glazed Large Panel glass. These textured, refined materials at once relate the building to adjacent brick structures, and set it apart with contemporary detailing. 

Project Completion: 2016

Residential (Multiple Family/Multiple Dwelling)

BQDA Award of Excellence
Creston Avenue Residences - Magnusson Architecture and Planning, PC (Bronx, NY)

Photo Credit: Magnusson Architecture and Planning

Creston Avenue Residences is a 10-story, 66-unit development with 21 units set aside for chronically homeless adults utilizing Medicaid. It is the first building funded by the New York State Medicaid Redesign Team Housing Capital Program.

Project Completion: 2015

BQDA Award of Merit
​People's Choice Winner
365 Bond Street - Hill West Architects (Brooklyn, NY)

Photo Credit: Tim Williams

365 Bond, sitting on the Gowanus Canal at the edge of historic Carroll Gardens, is the first major development in Gowanus, an edgy industrial neighborhood that is quickly becoming a destination. The building is a 12 story, 394,000 square-feet, mixed-use building comprised of 430 residential units, retail space, parking, community space for kayak storage, and a boat launch. The design challenge for 365 Bond was to find a sweet spot between edgy industrial and Brooklyn brownstone, achieved by weaving some common materials through a varied landscape of height and scale.  

Project Completion: 2016

Residential (Mix Use Residential)

BQDA Award of Excellence
​People's Choice Winner
Navy Green - FXFOWLE (Brooklyn, NY)

Photo Credit: Lester Ali

Navy Green is a new cornerstone and catalyst for equitable re-investment in Wallabout, Brooklyn. The through- block complex is composed of four separate apartment buildings, enrolled in various affordable and supportive housing programs, with market-rate townhouses in between. An interior lawn – the “green” of Navy Green – is an oasis in a park-starved neighborhood, open and directly accessible to every resident, acting as a social aggregate for the complex.


Project Completion: 2016

BQDA Award of Merit
Fulton Street Development - GreenbergFarrow  (Brooklyn, NY)

Photo Credit: Lester Ali

The Fulton Street Development joins an existing New York City designated landmark building with a new four-story addition. The mixed-use facility features 180,618 square feet of commercial space and 66,601 square-feet of residential. Comprised of the landmark Offerman Building, executed in the Romanesque revival style, the new building addition is a steel-frame structure with a panelized, pre-cast concrete and glass storefront facade. A major design feature of the building the interior rotunda and skylight which is about 30 feet in diameter; this skylight was originally hiding behind various building materials, but has now become a focal point for the building.

Project Completion: 2017

Institutional

BQDA Award of Excellence
​People's Choice Winner
Elmhurst Community Library - Marpillero Pollak Architects  (Queens, NY)

Photo Credit: Marpillero Pollak Architects

A new 30,000 SF facility fulfills the library and community needs of 80,000+ users speaking more than 57 languages within an expanding immigrant population. Its combination of program and green spaces provide a full range of services, making them visible and accessible from the street. The terracotta and stainless steel cladding is complemented by two fully glazed reading rooms, which act as beacons during the day and night: one is in the center of the public park, the other above the main entrance, immersed in the urban bustle. Their subtle differences celebrate the multiple cultural identities of the library’s patrons.  

Project Completion: 2016

BQDA Award of Merit
The Novogratz Center for Athletics - Jack L. Gordon Architects (Brooklyn, NY)

Photo Credit: Tom Crane

Our challenge for the recently completed the 27,900 s.f. Novogratz Center for Athletics at Poly Prep Country Day School was to create a distinctive design utilizing a pre-engineered steel building system that would both relate to the existing campus and reflect the prestige of Poly Prep’s athletic programs.

The Novogratz Center features a dedicated wrestling facility on the top floor and six international competition-sized squash courts, including two all-glass courts on the ground floor with a viewing mezzanine.

Additional amenities include an outdoor viewing terrace, restrooms, concessions, locker rooms, and athletic offices. The field house also provides a connection to the school’s existing gymnasium.

Project Completion: 2016

Commercial - Small Projects

People's Choice Winner
CREATE - New York Design Architects (Queens, NY)

Photo Credit: Deborah Matlack

"Create" has provided the neighborhood with high quality food as well as a lot of vegetarian friendly options. Its innovative design, with hardwood floors, use of industrial material such as raw steel, polished concrete and corrugated metal, and clean warm elements fits perfectly in this booming, health conscious neighborhood. The space was designed in order to create an inviting, organic feel to it. Custom wooden furniture and living wall, "Create" feels like the perfect combination between "modern sleek" and "Organic" design. "Create" is a prime example of successfully meshing these two, seemingly opposing styles together into one inviting and cohesive design. This design is unique, warm, inviting and structurally beautiful. It fits perfectly in its neighborhood, and has been very well received by its multicultural population.


Project Completion: 2016

Commercial - Large Projects

People's Choice Winner
Apple Store Williamsburg - Bohlin Cywinski Jackson (Brooklyn, NY)

Photo Credit: Peter Aaron

The Apple Store, Williamsburg is a new store for a highly recognizable brand associated with innovation and modern design.  The architect and client both saw the inherent challenges of establishing a significant presence on a prominent corner of Bedford Avenue.  Apple wanted its store to be community focused, but many residents are understandably wary of new developments and large national brands changing the face of their beloved neighborhood. The solution was to design a highly-crafted building that recognizes the character, scale, and materiality of the neighborhood, while embracing the modernist rigor and design discipline associated with the brand.   
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Project Completion: 2016

Additions/Renovations

BQDA Award of Excellence
​People's Choice Winner
Olmsted Center Annex - BKSK Architects (Queens, NY)

Photo Credit: Raimund Koch

Located in the heart of Flushing Meadows – Corona Park in Queens, the recently-completed Olmsted Center Annex was Phase I of an expansion and renovation project providing additional program space for the Capital Projects Division of the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. The existing facility is a pre-engineered structure originally designed as an administration center for the 1964-65 World’s Fair. The agency had a desire to remain in their current location, situated four feet below the FEMA 100-year flood plain, in addition to a target of LEED Gold certification, which led to ambitious efforts in addressing the issue of rising currents. Both phases of this project provided unique opportunities for the use of innovative, pioneering sustainability strategies.


Project Completion: 2014

BQDA Award of Merit
Park Slope Townhouse - GRADE (Brooklyn, NY)

Photo Credit: GRADE

The classic Brooklyn townhouse takes a turn towards modernity in this project, exuding the clean and pristine aesthetic. The interior overhaul showcases dynamic textures and finishes, from the glossy allure of its lighting fixtures and marble counter tops to its silvered oak wood floors. The interior spaces, which utilize strategic layouts and details to draw the eyes up and back, feature distinctly contemporary furnishings and accent pieces, emanating confidence and appeal.

Project Completion: 2016

Adaptive Reuse/Historic Preservation

BQDA Award of Excellence
Queens Chapter Award
Spire Lofts - Zambrano Architectural Design (Brooklyn, NY)

Photo Credit: ZAD

The former neo-Gothic St. Vincent de Paul Church, Rectory and School complex, has been transformed into Spire Lofts, Williamsburg’s latest residential building experience. Although not a city landmark, the building’s religious iconography is preserved and displayed prominently in its architecture and interiors.  Old world charm meets modern loft conveniences in a variety of residential designs: exposed structural lumber, blackened steelwork, masonry arches, original brick walls and stained glass.  All duplex apartments feature contemporary design within a historical interior envelope.  The exterior and interior restoration preserve the original architectural beauty, while modern industrial combined with luxury finishes give birth to a Brooklyn design typology.

Project Completion: 2014

People's Choice Winner
Brooklyn College Barry R. Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema & 25 Washington Restoration at Steiner Studios - Dattner Architects (Brooklyn, NY)

Within the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Steiner Studios’ historic 25 Washington has been fully restored and a portion of it transformed into the first film school embedded on a working film lot. Originally constructed in 1941 for the U.S. Navy, the building sat unused for years. With floor-to-floor ceiling heights ideal for large studios, shops, and post-production spaces, now the building houses space for media production needs and is Brooklyn College’s first off-campus facility and NYC’s first public graduate film school: Barry R. Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema. 

Project Completion: 2015

Interiors

BQDA Award of Merit
Maple Street School - Barker Freeman Design Office Architects, PLLC
​& Marvel Architect & 4Mative Design Studio (Brooklyn, NY)

Photo Credit: BFDO

In the Maple Street School, three interconnected classrooms open off of a shared multipurpose space and connect to a roof play space. The multipurpose space, cubby area and “food truck” kitchen are a locus for daily gatherings called “café” time.  Maple pocket door partitions with colorful cutouts at different heights give children and adults different views between spaces.  Large openings in the bathrooms and play sinks shared between classrooms allow adult supervision and give children glimpses into adjacent classroom.  On the roof, wide cedar board fencing and a patchwork of perforated aluminum screening frame tiled graphic of an island landscape.  

Project Completion: 2016

People's Choice Winner
Beyond at Liberty View - Zambrano Architectural Design (Brooklyn, NY)

The “Beyond at Liberty View” retail complex is the brainchild of the Bed Bath & Beyond Group and our firm.  Designed as a retail experience with public amenities, gathering spaces and seating areas in the midst of a new retail hub for the BBBG brand.  It is located in the adaptive reused Liberty View Industrial Plaza building, the most recent light industrial/retail space hub in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.  The resulting common lobby is a 23, 400 sq. ft. carved space that creates a double height Lobby and Food Hall area creating a seamless connecting public space, leading to a 116,000 sq. ft. second level retail store floor.

 
Project Completion: 2016

Small Firm/Sole Practitioner

BQDA Award of Merit
Warehouse Loft - studio modh architecture (Brooklyn, NY)

Photo Credit: modh

Situated within a landmarked warehouse, the project combined two apartments into one home for a growing family. With complex lives that required flexible live and work space, the design re-ordered the two apartments for the activities of life. The design reconciled the apartments, created an un-folding sequence of spaces, and surgically revealed the character of the building.
 
The project calibrated the domestic needs of the space within the deep, square footprint of a 19th century warehouse while avoiding the rote “loft” solution of “pouring” programmatic elements into a big container. Instead, large scale millwork elements, a grand bench, screen wall, and 24 foot long work table, ground the spaces with tactile, warm wood.
 
Project Completion: 2016

People's Choice Winner
House Front Addition - Architecture Studio (Queens, NY)

This house is in a quiet residential neighborhood in Queens. The previous owner had sustained fire damage but unable to build a new addition.  My client purchased the house many years ago and wanted to reconstruct the destroyed front of the house.
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Since they wanted a roof deck, skylight, outside stairs and an octagonal shape, we changed the original design to accommodate the program. The new space has access from the living room and serves as a family room or extra bedroom. The windows and skylight allow for natural light and air into the addition.  There are great views of the local neighborhood from the house, so we created a roof deck for the second floor.

 
Project Completion: 2017

Local Firm/Beyond BQDA/International

BQDA Award of Excellence
Resort in the Maharashtra Hills - Khanna Schultz (Shillim, India)

Photo Credit: Edmund Sumner

The project is the design of the interior architecture and custom furniture for a 100 room spa resort on a remote site in India’s Western Ghats mountain range.

The interiors are developed using an ecological sourcing philosophy, focusing on materials and techniques native to India.  The interiors reflect the strong architectural forms and varied roof lines of the buildings, unifying the exterior and interior, allowing the guests to focus on the landscape of the valley. An atmosphere of calm prevails on the property, with simple forms and a harmonious palette.

The site is remote and high tech fabrications and􀀃esoteric materials are not readily available.  In addition, the buildings were spatially and geometrically complex.  These conditions pointed to an approach based on a luxurious simplicity.  All loose furnishings were designed by our office  and fabricated for the resort.
 
Project Completion: 2014

BQDA Award of Merit
Josai i-House Dormitory - Studio SUMO & Obayashi Corp. (Tokyo, Japan)

Photo Credit: Studio SUMO

This dormitory for international students efficiently integrates a culturally and economically diverse population through a collection of shared public spaces and diverse room types. Sited between a university campus and an expanse of rice fields, a 9-meter wide dormitory bar hovers a volume that houses group programs. A louvered façade, interspersed with projecting balconies, lines exterior walkways that serve dormitory rooms that look northward to rice fields. Multiple sliding glass doors open onto the walkways, recalling the ‘engawa’ space of traditional Japanese houses. The south-facing louvers reflect the sun’s daily cycle, going from white, to silver, to orange at sunset. 
 
Project Completion: 2016

People's Choice Winner
University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Forman Active Learning Classroom - Studio Modh Architecture (Philadelphia, PA)

Educational institutions must constantly evolve their pedagogical approach to meet or even define how their particular discipline confronts the modern world. At the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, this evaluation led to a decision to remove the Engineering Library and replace it with an Active Learning Classroom. The design process of the Forman Active Learning Classroom began with a rigorous understanding of the experience of a student seated at a table. Each subsequent decision grew out of this moment including the sightlines of the projectors, shaping of the tables, accessibility and size of white boards, the position of lighting and speakers, and where the instructor would be (everywhere). 

 
Project Completion: 2015

Local Firm/Local Project

BQDA Award of Excellence
​People's Choice Winner
Courtyard House - vonDalwig Architecture (Brooklyn, NY)

Photo Credit: Dean Kaufman

The property is an existing 15’ wide x 100’ long single-story brick building – a commercial garage space within a residential zone.
It became a study of typology, volume, program and light. The first deletion, a compact 10’x 12’ volume, creates an interior courtyard for light and air. What proceeded was the insertion of a new volume with a core of functions (bathrooms, laundry) and a second floor. This insertion has in itself a sequence of deletions – skylights that draw light into the stair hall. The resulting courtyard house as a whole creates a clarity of volumes and program. 
 
Project Completion: 2013

Chapter Award

Brooklyn Chapter Award
Casa de Sombra - Bade Stageberg Cox (Rollingwood, TX)  

Photo Credit: v+b

The design of a house in Texas for a family of 7 promotes integrated indoor and outdoor living. The courtyard house forms a central south-facing pool court. Large roof planes float over the house, casting slowly moving shadows. Outdoor spaces connect to the interiors through shaded glass walls. Movable shutters provide sun control, letting dappled light through to animate the interiors. The shutters are formed from water-jet cut aluminum panels inspired by moon phase charts. Naturals materials used throughout the house form a palette that speaks of the desert climate, our sense of touch, and the patina of time.

Staten Island Chapter Award
Midtown Redevelopment Project: The City of Monessen - v+b Architects (Monessen, PA)

Photo Credit: v+b

Monessen, Pennsylvania, had fallen victim to the closing of its steel-belt plants, to dwindling population, aging infrastructure and environmental deterioration. The Mayor of Monessen had one request, "Help me save my city". Monessen embarked on a master plan for its historic Midtown.
 
Revitalization springs from the introduction of new uses and businesses, the preservation of the historic fabric, the recovery of the riverfront as a recreational amenity, and the restoration of environmentally damaged areas. The Midtown Redevelopment Project plan and new zoning codes provide a framework for recovery, revitalization and incremental redevelopment which has renewed local community engagement and investment.

Unbuilt

BQDA Award of Excellence
North Brother Island School + Habitat - Ian M. Ellis and Frances Peterson (Bronx, NY)

Photo Credit: Ian M. Ellis and Frances Peterson

North Brother Island School + Habitat is an adaptive reuse project for an inclusionary learning facility for Autistic children, including supplementary public landscapes, research buildings and wildlife conservation areas. It is a necessary resource for New York City, which is heavily underserved in terms of schools addressing Autism Spectrum Disorder.
 
With an equal focus on buildings and landscapes, the project is realized with the intention to dissolve the negative history and stigma of the island, stabilize its naturalized growth as a habitat for protected birds nesting there, and introduce research and education programs to provide a comprehensive, innovative learning environment.
 

BQDA Award of Merit
1490 Southern Boulevard - Bernheimer Architecture (Bronx, NY)

Photo Credit: Bernheimer Architecture

1490 Southern Blvd, a 50,000sf all affordable mixed-use residential development for seniors, is located in the Crotona Park East neighborhood of the Bronx, NY. The general massing responds to both local context and cardinal orientation while the main required zoning setback is given back to the residents of the building as a communal outdoor space for gathering and growing – both symbolically and physically. The project provides a rich array of indoor and outdoor amenities for the residents of the building including significant landscaped zones on multiple levels, following the tenets of active design guidelines and encouraging health and physical movement.

People's Choice Winner
The Table Top Apartments: Affordable Housing in New York City
​Kwong Von Glinow Design Office (Brooklyn and Queens, NY)

The design of the Table Top Apartments as Affordable Housing in New Yolk emerges from the use of a few simple modular elements taken from a table top with four legs. The table top serves as the slab, shaped as either a circle, square or rectangle, and the table legs or columns serve as the building's structure and space for vertical services. These units aggregate and stack to create a diverse, dense, healthy, and sustainable living environment. The use of three different table top shapes, which are deliberately misaligned when stacked, create vertical courtyards, bringing in light and air.

Student - Urban Design 

BQDA Student Award of Merit 
​People's Choice Winner
​Brooklyn Cinematic Hotel - Yasmine Zeghar (Brooklyn, NY)

Hotel (private space) + Cinematic space (public space) in an urban space.  The goal of that project is being one strategic place of the city. The idea of the project consists of an urban project by creating a square as a public open space at street level followed by a space with similar features underground and connected to a hotel in some strategic points of public space. The square is composed of four theaters which develop at different levels obtaining an interesting section with visual connections and spatial relationships in different levels. Exterior theaters have been created by references of urban city environment which in turn are strategically creating the joint spaces of the project. These theaters have elements that are connected to them. Those vertical elements are screens outdoor and indoor theaters, speakers and service uses.It is important to say that in the plaza exists the combination between two different scales. One of them is small screens at pedestrian scale with the other one that is a huge screen at city scale.This project solves an urban conflict because being a public space for people creating a pedestrian continuity and increasing importance of the city making an attractive activity for everybody by combining different scales which exist in the city.

Jury: Mark Vincent Kruse, AIA; Joseph Iannucci, AIA; James Prisco, AIA; Joseph Chearmonte, AIA; Martin Hero, AIA