Gehry, Morphosis Win Top Honors : Los Angeles AIA Presents Awards to Nine Area Firms

Frank O. Gehry & Associates and Morphosis are the recipients of the two honor awards presented by the Los Angeles chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

The two firms were among nine Los Angeles area architectural firms that were cited by the chapter, which chose the winners from among more than 160 projects.

Gehry won for a 1,500-square-foot guest house in Wayzata, Minn., a suburb of Minneapolis, while Morphosis received an honor award for an unbuilt residence in Santa Monica.

Architectural merit awards went to the Gehry firm for Fishdance Restaurant, Kobe, Japan; Morphosis for the Kate Mantilini Restaurant in Beverly Hills; Goldman/Firth/Associates for a 20,000-square-foot office project in Malibu, and Erlich Architects for the Ed Moses art studio in Venice.

Interior design merit awards went to Levin & Associates for a McDonald’s restaurant in the recently restored Fine Arts Building in downtown Los Angeles and to Rachlin & Roberts AIA Inc., for a 4,000-square-foot architect’s office in the restored Wiltern Center in Los Angeles.

Citation awards were given to Pereira Associates for the Ewa Town Center near Honolulu; Kanner Associates for a retail building in Santa Monica, and Architectural Collective for a small commercial project in West Hollywood.

Jurors for architectural entries were Thomas H. Beeby, Jorge Silvetti and Henry Cobb, while interior design entries were judged by Claude R. Engle, Charles Pfister and Andree Putnam.